OPENING OF THE DISTRICT COURT AT AHAURA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1331, 4 November 1872, Page 2

OPENING OF THE DISTRICT COURT AT AHAURA.

[from our own correspondent.] The first sittiug of the District Court was held at Ahaura, on Saturday, 2nd November. His Honor Judge Harvey took his seat on the Bench shoitly after eleven o'clock :n the forenoon. The bar was represented by Mr W. S. Staifce. The crier opened the proceedings by reading the proclamation authorising the holding of the Court. Mr Staite then rose and said it devolved upon him as the sole representative of the legal profession resident at Ahaura, to welcome his Honor to the district. There" certainly was not much business before the Court on this occasion, but his Honor would be aware, from the amount of business coming before the Courts at Greymouth and other places from this district, that the establishment of tho Court was a great and long-existing necessity. He was warranted in saying that his Honor had done everything laying in his power to bring about the establishment of the Court. The holding the Court would be a great personal inconvenience to his Honor, from the nature of the country and the difficulties and dangers of travelling, and he was therefore satisfied his Honor had acted solely in the interest . of the public and for the general convenience, in his efforts to procure the opening of the Court. Litigation was only a doubtful benefit, and he con3cienciously trusted they would not have much of it, but it might be called a necessary evil, and he felt confidence in the assurance that his Honor would pay close attention to, and act with strict impartiality in causes coming before him. His Honor replied and thanked Mr. Staite, and through him the other members of the bar, for the good wishes and the kind welcome accorded him on his first official visit to the district. He was long aware that great expense and inconvenience had been entailed upon litigants in the Ahaura and Reefton districts being compelled to attend the Courts at Greymouth and Westport. The matter had been brought under his notice by Wardens Broad and Whitefoord, and he was long ago^ convinced if the roads were in a sufficiently advanced state to allow his moving about, the holding the Court would be a great public benefit. Hereceived a communication from the Government requesting him to report upon the advisability of establishing the Court, and the representations he made in reply had resulted in the present appointment. Almost the only extra charge to the Government would be his own travelling expenses, but if the sitting of the Court would be the means of saving the cost of forwarding the prisoner ' and witnesses, with the other expenses of even one criminal prosecution, the Government would be recouped the extra outlay. Mr Staite hoped the opening of the Court would not lead to increased litigation, nd he agreed with him, but he trusted that the fact of his coming to the distr'ct, would be the means- of 'lessening the necessity for the interference of the law in its criminal jurisdiction. The application of quick, sharp, and decisive measures, convinced offenders against the criminal code of the country that they could not break the law with impunity, and the best preyentative was the knowledge that retribution followed quickly upon the commission of crime. With respect to the civil jurisdiction of the Court, men will always have disputes in which each side will think the other in the wrong, and the sooner 'such differences were settled the better. His Honor concluded by again thanking the bar for the courteous reception he had received. There being no business before the Court, the crier by direction of the Judge adjourned it sine die.