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Mr. E. A. Hewett, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce (and
a Member of both Councils) addressed to me the enclosed
letter covering a Memorandum he had drawn up on the subject
and made a request for a formal interview with myself. At
this interview he informed me that he had prepared the
Memorandum with the view that the Chamber should transmit
it to Government but the members after discussion were
unwilling to do so lest they should be dragged into a
controversy with the Chief Justice and should be unable to
substantiate by satisfactory proof matters which were
nevertheless within the knowledge of everyone. In these
circumstances he had decided to himself lay the Memorandum
before me,
and he absolutely and to the fullest extent
accepted responsibility for every statement made in it.
He reiterated the facts and arguments which it contains
and laid special stress on the following points:-
(a).
That under present circumstances
the Mercantile Community in a civil action where
enormous interests might be involved were absolutely
at the mercy of a single individual - an individual
moreover in whom they had largely lost confidence.
Questions of fact had to be decided, if a Jury were
refused, (and its refusal was optional to the Chief
Justice) by the Chief Justice from whose judgment
there was no appeal since in the local Full Court he
had a predominant voice over his colleague,and the
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