MASTERTON'S COURTHOUSE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9179, 31 August 1908, Page 5

MASTERTON'S COURTHOUSE.

YET ANOTHER COMPLAINT. STRONG CASE FOR A NEW BUILDING. I There was more than one very obvious reason on Friday and Saturday why Masterton should have a new Court building. Not only was the body of the Court packed to suffocation for two whole days and well into the evening, but the officials found their work hampered on all ha.ids through the utter lack of , sufficient accommodation. An army of witnesses had to remain outside in the open through there being no wttness-room, and the Ikaroa Land Board had to transact a sheaf of business in a lumber room of paltry dimensions at the rear of the Court. It was little wonder that Mr Pownall, •who had just conducted ; iwo strenuous cases, thought on Sa'turday evening that while the jury werj deliberating over their verdict in the second one (the stuffy Court being filled with a perspiring and ex; ectant mass of humanity in the auditorium, and the officials " and counsel being likewise wedged into a miserably inadequate private enclosure), it was a fitting moment to ask His Honor Judge Haseldsn to make official recognition of the plight of Masterton in respect of iis Courthouse. The interlude between Judge «nd counsel was interesting in several respects. Mr Pownall opened by asking His Honor if he could see his way to make representations to the Department of Justice regarding the inadequate Court accommodation -for District Court work at leaut. His Honor: "No, no, Mr PuWnall. I once said sometning very mild in this respect oi-ce before, but when I saw it reported it was magnified far beyond whut I ever said—or thought." His Honor naively suggeatcd that if Mr Pownall made some remarks on the subject it would be reported and might be as efficacious. Mr Pownall, with whom the subject is uuch a well-worn theme that it cor.es to him now dmost as a recitati n, glared towards the Pns3 table and-proceeded. There were, he said, over ccventy witnesses subpoenaed in the case Morris v. Ogilvy, heard on Friday last, and of these fifty were ordered out of Court. "Fortunately," said counsel, "jt was a fine day, otherwise the circumstances would have been most unpleasant for those witnesses, as there is no proper room in "ithe building for their convenience." His Honor: "But you are not helpless." Mr Pownall: "It seems we are, your Honor. We have memorialised the Minister of Justice, sent petitions down, and done sundry other similar things time and again ' —all to no t fleet."

Counsel said that tlie place was the habitat of the District Court, the Magistrate's Court, the Arbitration Court, the Native Land Court, the Native Land Board, and the Conciliation Board. He did not know what would happen if they all were to ait at the eama time, "unless," added Mr PovvnaH, "some of them sit on the roof!" His Honor: "I was surprised that I found myself with a Court to sit

in. Mr Pownall, continuing, said the Court building was obsolete, and ha J been so for ten years past, and its inadequacy had been pointed out time out of number. He thought that if it had been the Empire Citv their cry would have been answered long ago. His Honor pointed out that even there the subject of inadequate Court accommodation had been one which had long been neglected. Counsel concluded with a remark that the least that might be done at Masterton was to study the convenience of witneses by providing them with a waiting-room.