West Coast Times. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 216, 29 May 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1866.

The Bar in Hokitika has of lato boon largely recruited. Tho legal mind has clearly the faculty of appreciating the attractions of a gold country. With the development of great commercial interests on the West Coast, has come an increase of litigation. We regret also, to add, there has come an increase of crime. Altogether, tho practice of the law thrives apace. And it is not a matter to be wondered at, that under the circumstances, professional men should flock to the district. It is, however, to be regretted that there is uo established law of professional practice, and no immediate and direct judicial supervision over the manners and customs of the Bar. Wo have recently referred to the case of the information laid against Mr Barton, in Dunedin, and to the revelations it afforded of unhealthy relations existiug under the present system between advocates and their clients. It is surely essential to the maintenance of tho dignity of the Bar, that its members should receive their instructions from solicitors, and be kept freo from personal communication with thoir clients. In the recent case in Dunedin the anomaly displayed itself in the shapo of a quarrel as to fees for professional services between a barrister and his client, and the former was reduced to the necessity of justifying his charge by evidence as to tho amount of money he could have made during tho time occupied if he had been ' employed in other work. Such a controversy is altogether alien to tho genius of an honorable profession, and in England would bo regarded as a scandal. Yet we havo had too much of the same thing here. We desire to avoid oflence, by refraining from making specific allusions; but it is notorious, and has long been a matter of public comment, that suits for the recovery of fees have developed aspects of professional life that could only exist under a system which brings the advocate into direct contact with his client, as a man undertaking to do work for wages, and holding the right to sue for payment as a tradesman has the right to demand satisfaction for goods delivered.

! The scene which occurred in tho Resident Magistrate's CouH yesterday, afforded an unusual illustration of the inconvenience resulting from the pro sent consolidation of the two branches of the profession. On behalf of the accused three counsel were engaged. Engaged by whom? Instructed by whom ? Directly by the defendant himself. There was no intervening medium. Mr Bracken agreed to fee threo gentlemen for conducting his defence, and he thought naturally enough that he had a right to the best services of each. They all stood in tho same relation to him, It was not his part to understand or to consult professional etiquette. And the consequence was that two of his counsel throw up their briefs, because the third, acting under the immediate instructions of his client, assumed a more prominent part in the proceedings than his leaders thought becoming his position as a junior counsel. Such a contretemps could never have occurred if tho case had been placed in the hands of a solicitor charged with tho preparation of tho defence, and thp choico and instruction of advocate^ to conduct it. Wp nyo bouncj ty> say fllftv tUove WQ

many incidents of the practice of the law in Hokitika that do not reflect lustre on the profession. It is a subject very difficult to deal with, but one, nt tho same time, that requires to be handled, however lightly. It is inconsistent with an Englishman's recollection of the public proceedings of the higher courts, that the bairister and his client should bo brought into direct collision on a disputed question of fees, or that the former should appear in Court uuiustructed by an attorney, by whom all the arrangements for tho conduct of tho case, outsido tho Court, have been made.