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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 206, 22 January 1866, Page 2

The purity of its judicial bench has been for centuries the pride and boast of G-reat Britain — the honor and integrity of Judges and Magistrates has been maintained with the most determined and persistent endeavor to keep the bench free from spot or blemish. The colonies have striven with honorable energy to maintain the position and keep the pride and boast of their forefathers untarnished. From the time when Judge G-ascoig]n*e taught the British public to feel that justice was no " respecter of persons " — its administrators paid no greater deference to Eoyalty itself than to the meanest subject of the Crown — to the present day no country can point to so unsullied a tribunal. There are instances when a Jeffrey's has prostituted his position for political purposes, but the prominence with which history records such cases proves that they are rare exceptions, which serves the more forcibly to point the rule j and the execration in which the memory of such men is held by the people ieovitleaceof thedeep-eeatedlovQ of justice, i

which, is perhaps the chief characteristic of British minds. It is not sufficient that the I individual occupying a judicial position should be satisfied of his own integrity — he must so conduct himself that even Mes. G-bundt cannot with any degree of credibility impugn his character. The most vulnerable point in the present century is political bias. It is seldom indeed that bribery and corruption can be recorded against any Minister of Justice. Political partizanship is the rock to be avoided — it is the most seductive of alltemptations to a magistrate. Many a man who would scorn to listen to the faintest insinuation of a douceur, will think nothing of entering heart and soul into a political contest, bringing the weight of his official position to bear on it, akd by it influence some, not perhaps directly, to take the side he advocates, the voter not unfrequently being coerced by fear of consequences rather than led by conviction. This may be more clearly seen and convincingly felt in small communities. Human nature is weak and erring. The elector whose vote has been solicited and secured by a Magistrate not unnaturally conceives that he has established an obligation: — when he appears in Court as plaintiff or defendant he expects that obligation to be discharged. The Magistrate may think otherwise, but nevertheless he cannot eradicate the impression his own conduct has created. If he decides in favqr of his quondum associate at the hustings, the adjudication is attributed, not to an impartial exercise of justice, but to the cancelling of a debt ; if adversely, it is received as a breach of faith, and openly commented upon accordingly. In either case, justice is brought into contempt. In another column will be found a letter from "Inquirer" which calls for some attention. The questions put by the writer, though pertinent, are rather puzzling. We must confess that we have for some time been at a loss to understand the exact nature of Mr. Isaac Newtox Watt's duties at Campbelltown. Ostensibly he is a Resident Magistrate, though it would appear that he considers other functions are combined with his gazetted office. Either the work of his judicial department is not sufficient to occupy his time, or his energies are so superabundant that he overleaps it. We are not aware that Mr. Watt has ever distinguished himself on the Bench, but as an electioneering partizan he deserves commendation. In the last two elections for seats in the Provincial Council for the district of Campbelltown, Mr. Watt showed a degree of tact, a readiness to grapple with circumftances, and a fertility of resource which marked him as one who was "by nature born " for an electioneering celebrity — cannot but lead to the conviction that like many another genius, he has mistaken his vocation, and that to devote any portion of his time to the administration of justice is an injustice to that other field which circumstances have proved to be so peculiarly his own. If we are unable to define the exact duties for which Mr. Watt is paid, we have no difficulty in arriviug at the cost to the Province of his valuable services. From the date of his appointment to the 31st December, 1865, the cost has been — Salary, £850 16s Sd ; clerical assistance to same date, £274 8s 6d ; contingencies, £117 17s Sd. Total expenditure, £1243 2s lid. Against this we place the fees of Court, which amount to £573 Is Od, thus leaving a loss to the Province of the large sum of £670 Is lOd. Bat this is not all. In addition to the office of Besident Magistrate at Campbellcown, Mr. Watt enjoys the dignity, as well as the emoluments of the appointment of native officer, and in this capacity has drawn at the rate of £50 a year, £125 ; the account therefore with the Province will stand, on 31st December last, as follows : — Total cost of Mr Watt, £1368 2s lOd. Total receipts, £573 Is Od. Balance, in favor of Watt, £795 Is lOd. It is still rSore difficult to define the duties of a "native officer" for the Province of Southland, than those of the present Eesident Magistrate at the Bluff. Beyond drawing his salary in this capacity, with a regularity which, to a methodical mind must be satisfactory, we are not aware that Mr. Watt has done anything. Considering the spareness of the native population of the Province, together with that of Buapuka, and that they are pretty well able to take care of fchemselve v s, without the assistance of a native officer, we cannot but think it a luxury which we cannot afford. Horace Walpole relates that a coach full of "fair and fat " foreign mistresses of the First Gteobge, of pious memory, passing through London, was assaulted by the crowd, when one of the ladies deprecated the action of the people, assuring them they had come over " for all dere goods ; " and " our chattels too " cried a burly Eadical. Mr. Watt, we are given to understand, was imported from Taranaki ; whether he has come down for " all our goods " we cannot say, it ia pretty evident, however, he is obtt^iicg ft $ux ehw of " our $$$8*"