South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY JULY 14, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2594, 14 July 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY JULY 14, 1881.

Where were the legal gentlemen of i the House yesterday when Sir George Grey introduced the Law Practitioners Bill? Lawyers are as plentiful as blackberries in the Legislature, and yet not one of them raised his voice against the measure intended to abolish in a very large degree the monopoly of the profession. The Bill has passed the critical ordeal of a second reading, and now stands a good chance of being placed upon the statute book. The measure is one which will commend itself to the country. Its passage will throw open the profession to all welleducated men who deem themselves endowed wi + h the special kind of ability which would enable them to hold their own in the forensic arena. The Bill by no means is intended to open the profession to the “ rag-tag and bobtail ” of humanity. It will remain closed to those who have not cultivated their talents. It will require hard and earnest work for a .man to qualify himself to enter upon the practice of the law. The measure simply provides that if a person possesses the necessary knowledge there shall be no bar or hindrance to his admittance. He shall not be required to sit at a lawyer’s desk quilldriving for a number of years before he can come up before His Honor the Queen’s Judge for examination —thus often wasting years of his life in obedience to a senseless rule supposed to have been, framed in the interests of the public,, but really to make the profession as close as possible. It is said that lawyers as a class are incapable of taking a comprehensive view of things ; they are so accustomed to argue the question from a particular standpoint, namely, the interest of the client. If they can elevate themselves above a narrow groove of thought, we think they will find hhat Sir George Grey’s Bill neither aims at the profit nor respectability of the profession. Take America as phi illustration. In that country admission to the law is regulated by similar principles as are provided in tKe measure now before the New Zealand Assembly. In the United States, in public life lawyers invariably come to the front. Writing from memory, during the past fifty years the majority of the Presidents have been lawyers. In every department of the State they occupy prominent positions. A considerable number also hiave become possessed of great wealth through the practice of their profession. In social position lawyers rank a s high as the members of any other j.trofession in the United States. Should. Sir George Grey’s Bill become law, it will tend to the improvement of the pr ofession generally. The Jaw of “ natu tral selection ” as applied in this case < jannot fail to be beneficial. In the ra .ce the strongest in intellect and energ_ f must prevail. In New Zealand the legal profession is overcrowded. There is no occa eioa to seek far for the reason. It

is the very check placed upon admission which has . brought about the undesirable state of things. This is an age of “ genteel ” employments, and the calling of a lawyer comes within the category. Parents very foolishly object to their children soiling their hands with manual labor. The. carpenter, the tailor, and the blacksmith, if they themselves are moderately successful, think it decidedly vulgar for the son to follow the calling of the father when such calling does not confer social distinction. The ambition in a certain sense is laudable, but it is often decidedly neither for the interests of the youths nor the country. The legal ladder to social position is handiest in this colony. We have not yet approached the stage at which doctors can be turned out, and the calling of a clergyman, we are sorry to say, is not popular with our colonial youth. There is too much restraint and too little pay. Workshops for the production of lawyers are scattered all over the country, and they are availed of freely. “In the bright lexicon of youth there is no such word as fail,” and most certainly not’in the lexicon of the young New Zealander. Scores of youths are consigned to lawyers’ offices whether they are naturally fitted or not to make good lawyers, and once in there is no redemption. They are bound to swell the ranks of the “ black brigade.” As we said before, there is no process of natural selection at work. The “ law students ” —save the mark—may be plucked time after time, but too many years have been wasted to allow of their devoting their attention to another calling. Hence a vast number of naturally incompetent individuals are foisted upon the public to practice a profession which should truly require an extended knowledge of men and things, a high power of concentration, and readiness of resource. The reason of this is, that the bulk of them enter upon the study of the law at an age when they have little self-knowledge and less comprehension of what will be required to ensure success in actual practice. Sir George Grey is not only deserving of praise for introducing such a desirable measure of reform, but should be congratulated on the wellreasoned and temperate speech be made on the Bill. If he would confine himself to measures of so useful and practical a nature, he would again assume a position of power in Parliament. The Bill was subjected to no carping criticism, and should recommend itself to the common sense of the General Assembly and the country. It was not ridiculed out of the House by the lawyers, as has been too frequently the case with measures aiming at legal reform. Mr Hall cordially supported the Bill, and his criticism of its provisions was of the most generous nature. In fact, his object in pointing out certain defects appears to have been to ensure its passage through Parliament. We will conclude by wishing that the Law Practitioners Bill may be placed on the Statute Book. It is really of greater importance than a whole score of other measures over which Parliament wastes so much time.