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to spend more on Legal Aid than at present far from it, but it can only be expanded pari passu with the expansion of revenue in the budget. Meanwhile the Director of Legal Aid has been asked to prepare an estimate of the cost of extending legal aid to all District Court criminal cases and an assessment of the legal profession's ability to cope.
we
c) Terms of appointment of magistrates: are quite prepared to consider the possibility of changes in appointment, but we cannot at this stage say what the outcome will be. Incidentally, I do not think there is all that wrong with the magistrates that we have, who seem to me to be a reasonably competent lot.
a
As you will see, the Chief Justice favours a raising of the retiring age for Supreme Court and District Court Judges. This is not, however, simple matter. Apart from the implications for the Judiciary itself, there are other service implications. I am asking the Secretary for the Civil Service to consider this question (and the question of pension, or some alternative, for late appointees) urgently. We shall also consider the suggestion with respect to fixed term appointments on contract, which seems acceptable.
3.
We have examined the suggestion that there should be committal proceedings before trial in the District Court, but it has been urged that an equally effective step from the point of view of the accused would be the adoption of a practice whereby the Crown provides copies of the statements of its witnesses. That is what we shall do as a first step at least. Then there is the idea that we might have a Judicial Service Commission. The Chief Justice has no objection and the Secretary for the Civil Service will be asked to pursue the matter. We accept the suggestions in paragraphs 10 and 14 of the Legal Adviser's note.
4.
I don't at all like the idea of my calling for an outside panel to review the administration of justice here at this stage. We have a new and
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