Mr. Travers’s refusal of the position of Attorney-General, and the consequent necessity of finding some other gentleman competent to fill the post thus vacated, come very inopportunely on the heels of the necessity of tilling up, with efficient men, so many anticipated vacant seats on our judicial Bench. These necessities, thus simultaneously thrust upon us, of looking round for so considerable a number of first-class legal men, have placed the present organisation of the profession of the law in a light, however unlovely, yet so very clear, that the moat indifferent persons, professional or unprofessional, cannot mistake its character.' The plan now existing in this colony, under which every one who is a ; solicitor is also in a position to act as a barrister, though in the existing state of the colony to some , extent unavoidable, is in many aspects, and those the highest aspects, unsatisfactory. We before said that the tone of the profession was on the whole not at all high ; we also pointed out reasons for not indulging the hope that much improvement in that way could; be anticipated. There are several obvious causes for this, the chief of them being that as a rule; solicitors do not obtain the broad and liberal culture, not only of the intellect, but the equally or even more indispensable culture of the feelings, which is thought a necessary part of the training of a barrister. Indeed, we may assume that a lawyer who : contemplates confining himself to the lower branch of the profession, can never, as such solicitor, make much practical use of that liberal culture, if ha had it. To this must be added this other unanswerable consideration, that the great amount of energy, and the long time needed to master the purely routine work of his profession, make this breadth of training, 1 to the great majority of attorneys, both: undesirable and unattainable. In fact, it may be accepted as a truism, that as a body they never can, and never will, undergo the expense and the labour of acquiring it; —it will notin any sense pay' to do so. That from this should result the prevailing tone of the legal profession in this colony is merely a natural instance of effect following cause. And quite natural no doubt it is ; buo when in our present emergency we look round us over the whole field of the legal profession for gentlemen with the requisite qualifications ofexperienco, professional skill, andstatus, and the no less requisite breadth of culture of mind and feelings, and after the survey have to turn our faces towards, another colony this confession is, we think, humiliating. There can, however,' be little doubt that such men as we hero describe are not at all numerous in the ranks of the profession in this colony. The qualities, in every one of the aspects dwelt upon by us, of the gentlemen who, till this time, have so worthily filled the seats on our judicial Bench, are so un-; mistakeably high that it never will do, and; thecolony neverwill consent, that this high, judicial tone and pitch should in any 1 way be suffered to deteriorate. By some means this high character must be sustained. And yet, how in the teeth of' these difficulties is this to be done 1 Certainly, we do know of a few gentlemen— | a very few.—who, in all points, social, in-, tellectual, educational, come up to the ideal above sketched. But our public duty impels us to add that we also know another, perhaps more numerous “ few ” in professional experience, skill, sagacity, and dexterity, equal to the requirements of a judicial or any other position, but yet wofully deficient on the score of, culture. The elevation of -'such; men to. the Bench is—we say it without reserve—a consummation most devoutly not to be wished. The Police Court is certainly! by no means the "most fitting training ground for the men who are to sit some, day on our judicial Bench, We repeat, wo trust the seats on the Bench will not be filled up by such gentlemen as these; latter. While it would be invidious to' mention, names which we should be disposed to' place in either category, it would serve no good, purpose to bo so .specific. But wo have a very strong feeling, which' we wish to make quite unmistakoable, for wo believe it is the general feeling both within and without the profession, that the high status of our judicial Bench must riot be deteriorated. Rather than; this should be, we greatly prefer the alternative, however humiliating, of procuring suitable men from another colony, dr from England. The Government may' •rest assured that their action in filling up those posts will be most narrowly scanned and sharply criticised, and if they should
fail in the points .here'insisted on by us, they, may depend upon it. dissatisfaction, •both loud and deep, will be the result.- - The whole system of the legal profession among us, its organisation and the ,mode of the admission to it, are most .unsatisfactory. On a previous occasion, we showed in what respect these we’re ‘unsatisfactory ; on this occasion, it is our duty to point to one of the results, so entirely unsatisfactory and at the same 'time so generally and practically felt, as to be obvious to the most obtuse and shallow expediency-mongers among us.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4308, 11 January 1875, Page 2
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897Untitled New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4308, 11 January 1875, Page 2
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