THE TARANAKI LAW SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 7, 3 July 1911, Page 3

THE TARANAKI LAW SOCIETY.

To the Editor. Sir, —I notice in a recent issue of your paper that the Taranaki Law Society have at last awakened from their apparent state of ■somnolency, and taken steps to expunge the name of an "undesirable" from their honorable roll. As Waitara people have been victimised heavily through two solicitors lately practising in that town, there is a feeiing of wonder that the bigger defaulter has not I yet been dealt with. The public arc wondering what hidden influences are at work to prevent the proper handling of this case. • There are several very sad features in the cases of those who have been cruelly wronged by. men whose very profession necessarily implies trust, that • it is nothing short of a public scandal to ' I see how these grave defalcations have been apparently winked at. The manner in which justice (?) has been dispensed in the Dominion within recent years lias caused thinking men to prophesy a drastic change in the comparatively near future. I will conclude mv remarks j with an extract from a recent issue of | the London Daily News, in which it [ states that "admission into the Bar is limited, by the heavy entrance fees, to tne fairly well-to-do and rich classes. The. Bar is the material from which* judges are drawn. The opinions of the masses of the people, as things are at present, rarely receive fair consideration from judges. There is nothing more irritating to an impartial observer than to watch the courtesy with which a wealthy witness is treated by a certain eminent judge, and the hectoring tone adopted by the same judge to a witness from the clerk, petty tradesman or working classes. The confining of the Bar to the middle and upper classes has created that class administration of justice which is felt so strongly amoiig the trade unions and the general body of the working classes. The dissatisfaction arising from political and olass bias in the administration of justice has assumed grave proportions in the last few years, and action of some sort wi!! have to be taken to restore the confidence of the masses in the. impartiality of the judges. The whole system of the ap. pointment and training of the persons holding judicial office' needs drastic reconstruction. The fees for admission into the Bar should De reduced, and thn many expensive forms and ceremonies, by which democratic influences are repelled should be swept nwav as relics of bygone days. The layman ought to he given the same protection against the irregularities of barristers and solicitors, I as he has against other professional men. The administration of the Bar might lie subjected to a public investigation which could be best secured through a Royal Commission , upon which. laymen were represented. The liar, so far from oiling the machinery of justice, Ims clogged it with every kiiul of obstacle. The doing of justice should be the sacred duty in any community, and it is deplorable that iii England this duty has been entrusted to men whose training is one routine of class prejudice and educational cynicism. Until the constitution of the Bar is altered, the administration of justice will steadily drift irom bad to worse." The above."though written on the legal aspect in England is I also applicable to New Zealand, as will |be readily seen on perusal. Thanking I you for space—l am, etc., j JUSTICE. ' Waitara, SO/6/11.