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Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1845, 28 August 1906, Page 2

Tiikrk is ample excuse for the introduce tion of some measure that will have the effect of lowering legal bills of costs and ensuring to the public a greater measure of protection against fraudulent and incompetent legal practitioners ; but it may be doubted whether the Bill introduce!' into the House of Bopresentatives by the member for Lyttelton will have any effect in that direction. Indeed it would seen: on the face of it that this Bill would but open the door wider to a class of practitioners of whom wo have alas, already fai too many, for of late years the ancient and honorable traditions of this ancient and still in part strictly honorable profession have been ruthlessly shaken by 1101113' of its members, who have shown by their dealings that they' arc not to bo trusted by clients as honorable men should be trusted, especially’ those upon whom the mantle of respectability’ and trustworthiness is thrown because of their membership of tlii* traditional caste. It is in itself a dishonorable thing to betray the sacredncss of that mantle which im poses upon its recipients the sacred oblb gation to maintain its unsullied and time' honored reputation ; but that, apparently, does not deter the avaricious scoundrel who manages to creep into the profession from taking advantage of the opportunities for personal gain which 11 is profession alone affords him, and lie hesitates not to lamb down a client in a legal way when be can get the client unwary and confiding enough to append his signature to some, to him, mystifying jumble of words called a deed, instances of tin's description arc not singular, and there is therefore no occasion to bo more spccilic in order to substantiate the argument, for there are few people who have not heard of one The incompetent lawyer is another expensive luxury foisted on to the .community by a system well meaning enough in its aims and provisions, but which nevertheless sadly needs alteration, for it lets loose upon the public a number of practitioners whom nature never endowed with the qualities necessary’ to cany oil the intricate business which the practice of the profession imposes flu in each ease the public are the sufferers and they have little or no protection Sound, honest lawyers there arc of course V1 1 o are worth the big fees which they t'hargo: but the public who need legal assistance nowadays at almost every turn have not the means to discriminate between the good and the ball until some fortunate incident happens to expose the rascality’ on the one hand or the incompetence on the other, when it is usually too late to retrieve what is lost by one or the other. The competent, honest lawyer has our sincere sympathy in his enforced professional association with sonic of his professional brethren ; while the fox who preys upon the public undei flic mantle of that profession merits nauglil but execration. Mr Laurenson's Bill i.not designed to r i that animal to earth, whereas it may lave the effect of increasing his rank . so we have nothing to say in its favor