ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN THE R. M. COURT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5391, 8 July 1878, Page 3

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN THE R. M. COURT.

The Dunedin, Herald says the following address has been numerously and influentially signed ; Dunedin, Ist July, 1878. To his Honor Judge Bathgate, Dunedin. Dear Sir, —We, the undersigned residents in Dunedin and settlers in tho neighborhood, take this early opportunity of assuring you that we entirely disapprove of the recent action of one of the morning papers, and of a section of the legal profession, to your prejudice. We have no sympathy whatever with the cowardly and unjust attacks made in the leading article of the Daily Times of the 25th ult., or in the singularly illogical, inconsistent, and impotent resolution passed at a meeting of lawyers on , the 29th, believing as we do that there is no foundation whatever for the implied reflections therein contained as to your conduct on the bench. We look upon you as an able, painstaking; patient, courteous, independent, impartial Magistrate and Judge, and are satisfied that the public 'generally, along with ourselves, have entire confidence in the administration and purity of justice in the Courts over which you preside ; and we emphatically protest against the attempts which aro being made, whether from professional jealousy, or .other equally unworthy motives, .with the view of impairing your usefulness and destroying the confidence which has enabled you to fill your present position with such satisfaction to the fjyiblic, whose interests alone should be conygnlted in such circumstance. * Th e Otago Daily Times of the 4th instant thus refers to the above address 1 “ If ever a man should cry ‘Save me from my friends !’ it is tlio Resident Magistrate. We learn that it is intended to-day to send round a ‘ round robin’ for the purpose of getting signatures to a memorial on the subject of the matters in dispute between the Bench and Bar. We further know that this ‘ round robin’ is intended to convey censure on tho Daily Tirges for venturing to allude, though never so tenderly, to the delicate subject; and we here distinctly say that, if so, we shall accept the challenge. We have said they are not the true friends of Mr. Bathgate who are pro- . leasing and pretending to defend him. Time will show it.” .