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-ates postponements of hearing and produces a congestion of work.
Mr. Justice Wise had occasion recently to remark on the pro-
-crastination of the Bar; and if the Bench were firm, Barristers,
Solicitors, and litigants would soon toe the line of punctuality.
1 do not understand why a heavy case should
produce a deadlock: it does not do so in England. An action known
as the Li Sing Will Case occupied the Full Court 18 days a few
years ago, and the Cheung Sha Wan Case claimed the attention of
the Full Court for, I think, 18 days early last year, but in
neither case was either a deadlock or any confusion caused.
When I was laid up for a fortnight in
February, 1905, the Chief Justice Sir Henry Berkeley did my work
as well as his own and in 1904 when Mr. Justice Wise was similer-
-ly laid up no deadlock or confusion occurred.
7.
With reference to paragraph 7, I do not
deduce a threatened deadlock from the work enumerated. The diary
of work seems to show merely that the time of the Chief Justice
is fully booked up to the end of April in which there is a
vacation during which he can prepare any reserved Judgments.
I have already shown how the work has been
carried on during the temporary absence of a Judge.
Judges in England plod through the list of
cases each term not being anxious about the morrow, but letting
the morrow take care of itself.
As soon as litigants and the legal profes-
-sions are inconvenienced by the paucity of Judges and the delay
in hearing actions resulting therefrom, they will not hesitate
to ask for an addition to be made to the Bench.
8.
Paragraphs 8 and 9, in my judgment, throw
a flood of light on the reason of the Chief Justice's proposal.
He has come from a Colony where the system of law and practice
is
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