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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5217, 11 December 1877, Page 2

A letter signed “ Scrutator,” which appears in another column, calls attention to a fact which has been patent for some time past, that there is an urgent need of the establishment of District Courts at such of the chief centres of population as do not at present boast of such an institution. Our correspondent’s letter applies more particularly to Napier, where such a tribunal did exist at one time; but the necessity of such a Court applies with equal force here in Wellington. In any civil case where the amount exceeds £IOO, recourse must be had to the cumbrous and expensive machinery of the Supreme Court; and in criminal matters also a District Judge could deal with a great number of cases which now go to the higher Court, which might also be relieved with advantage of a great deal of bankruptcy business. Why Wellington has been so long without a District Court, which has been found so useful in other cities of the colony, it would be difficult to say. It cannot have arisen from want of business to be transacted, nor from the lack of competent men to preside over it if a reasonable salary were paid in proportion to the responsibility of the office. A good income paid to a really competent District Judge here would be true economy. In the sister colony of Victoria, County Court Judges have a jurisdiction up to £SOO, and the system has been found to work admirably, justice being speedily, cheaply, and on the whole quite as satisfactorily administered as under the expensive method adopted here. Day by day the trade and commerce of Wellington is increasing, and as a matter of course legal business will increase in proportion, and unless some alteration takes place in the direction wo have indicated, the Supreme Court will not he able to get through the work without a large accumulation of arrears from time to time. A Royal Commission to inquire into the details of the administration of justice, which has been talked of, if judiciously chosen, would, there can bo no doubt, elicit an amount of evidence sufficient to prove unmistakably, were such testimony needed, that at present there is a great want felt of n District Court here. The advantages which resulted in England from the establishment of the County Court system there ore known to almost everybody, and here in New Zealand the same sort of thing under another name has been found to work well ; but curiously enough, in the capital city, where it is as much required as anywhere, no such tribunal exists, and any unfortunate citizen, whose claim against another exceeds the amount to which the Resident Magistrate’s Court is limited, must either forego his claim altogether or be put to an amount of extra trouble and expense out of all proportion to the amount in dispute. This is a manifest injustice, and it requires no argument to show that it should be remedied. It has been said that for the amount which would bo paid as salary to a District Court Judge hero, probably some £7OO or £BOO a-year, it would bo difficult to find a trained lawyer of experience to fill the post, and anyone else would not be fit to discharge the duties efficiently. Wo do not think there is much force in this argument. A young lawyer in largo practice would not bo likely to seek such a situation; but

there must be several amongst the large numbers of practitioners in the colony of more advanced years and of long experience who would be glad to give up the more active duties of the profession for the dignified and comfortable position of District Judge, at such a salary as we have named. A large proportion of the legal profession and the public seem to be convinced of the desirability of establishing a District Court here, and if the idea is carried out we do not think there will be any difficulty in finding more than one candidate in every way qualified to preside over it.