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Report of President's Visit to
New Zealand
When the New Zealand Law Society invitation was
received last November to attend the 16th Triennial
Conference in Wellington from 3rd to the 8th April,
this seemed
a
long
way
off. I
wondered,
when it was suggested that the invite tion should be
accepted, whether a trip to New Zealand, would in
any way be of benefit to the Society. I must confess
that the measure of my interest and enthusiasm for
the suggested journey was so great that it outweighed
any reservations which I had as to the benefit which
would be gained. My acceptance in the end was more
than justified. In fact I find it difficult to curb my
enthusiasm.
Before arriving in Wellington I was uncertain as to
what exactly lay before me. On arrival I found within
a very short space of time that my wife and I had the
very good fortune to meet people who had a
natural ability to extend a very sincere and warm
welcome, and we evidenced a friendliness and a con-
cern for our welfare which went far beyond our great-
est expectations. The Conference Chairman was Mr.
M. O'Brien, Q.C., his Assistants, Mr. John McGrath
and Mr. Michael Shanahan. One might assume that
they were by reason of bearing such surnames the
purveyors of the traditional form of Irish hospitality.
It fact it was something more oxtensive than that and
was in no way confined to those of Irish ancestry. While
many New Zealand Lawyers are of Irish decent, there
are equally as many with English, Scottish and Welsh
ancestry and all displayed a similar sincere and ex-
cellent form of hospitality; it was evident everywhere
in all the people we met, and in all the areas we visit-
ed from Mr.Lester Castie, President of the New Lea-
land law Society and his wife, through the whole
range of Secretaries and Staff of the
New
Zealand and District Law Societies. I met Lawyers
who attended The International Bar Conference in
Dublin in 1968 and they were very anxious and in-
deed determined to repay in kind the Irish hospitality
extended at that time.
The open and friendly approach and the interest
displayed in Ireland and in our Society presented a
continuous flow of questions which led to two news-
paper interviews, many luncheons and dinners and
private functions apart from the official functions of
Conference. We were hosted, wined and dined by the
the
Auckland,
Christchurch,
and
Canterbury
Societies and on our homeward journey by the Victoria
Law Society (Australia). Our Hotel Expenses in New
Zealand were paid for by the New Zealand Law
Society.
Conference
The papers a't the actual Conference and the sub-
sequent discussions dealt with the following matters: —
(1) Private right v Public interest by C. I. Patterson,
of the Legislation Committee of the New Zea-
land Law Society.
(2) The legal problems of Inflation by I. L. McKay,
of the Law Revision Committee of New Zealand.
(3) Dangerous Products and the Consumer in New
Zealand by Geoffrey W. R. Palmer, a Consul-
tant 'to the Australian Government and to the
Zealand Accident Compensation Committee.
(4) Court Structure and Procedure by A. D. Holland.
Council member of 'the New Zealand Law Society
and a past lecturer in Commercial Law in the
University of Canterbury.
(5) The Land Transfer System by F. M. Brookfield,
Editor of Goodall & Brookfield on Conveyancing.
(6) The Right to Life by The Hon. Mr. Justice
Beattie.
(7) Administrative Law — The vanishing Sphinx by
the Hon. Mr. Justice Cooke who is a member of
the Law Reform Committee, and Chairman of the
Commission of Enquiry into Housing.
All of the papers which were read and discussed
were of immense in'terest. My intention is to present
the papers to the library and it is hoped that edited
editions of some of the papers may be worthy of re-
porting in the Gazette in due course.
Apart from the official papers read at the Confer-
ence, I was invited 'to, and sat in on, a closed meeting
of the New Zealand Law Society, which lasted four
hours. It was a most interesting experience. The
most notable general feature was that the various
problems and matters which came up for discussion
were very largely in line with matters which would
come up for discussion at any meeting of the pro-
fession in 'this country. Among the topics discussed
were the following: —
Taxation legislation and the inroads into the quest-
ion of privilege;
Need to publicly criticise certain legislation where
appropriate;
Consideration of funding a Negligence Insurance
Scheme;
A need for more and more practical Seminars;
Public relations and the general image of the pro-
fession;
Publicity material;
The progress of a training course for Legal Exec-
tives;
The suggested remoteness of the Council of the New
Zealand Law Society from some of the practical
problems of members in remote areas.
The New Zealand Legal System
In general it was a valuable exercise in ascertaining
the mind of the profession and in having new ideas
discussed and talked about.
The New Zealand legal system is based on thé Com-
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