EDITORIAL.

THE BALKAN QUESTION.

While negotiations are still in progress at the peace conference in London, it is unwise to comment on the result of the recent conflict in the Balkans, but undoubtedly the result will be that this question, so long the bug-bear of European diplomacy, will finally be set at rest, and that the Turk will ultimately be forced back into Asia Minor, where he will be more in accord with his environment. With this object in view the troublesome question of the balance of power is for the moment pushed into the background.

THE PANAMA CANAL.

Now that the excitement of the election contest is past, the United States will be in a position to take a normal view of mundane things, and no one doubts, least of all Great Britain, that the recent ebullition contained in President Taft's pre-election utterances on behalf of the Panama Canal, will be repudiated, for the American people are too just and fair-minded to stand idly by and allow their treaty obligations to be set at nought. The principle of neutralization of the Panama Canal, and sujecting it to the same regime as the Suez Canal, was the avowed object of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, of 1901, and without doubt the new President of the United States and Congress will see that this object is duly carried out.

In a recent issue of the Law Times, a resumé of the judgment of the Privy Council was given in the case of The Toronto Niagara Power Company v. The Town of North Toronto, and in this issue will be found an article by Mr. T. A. Gibson, the solicitor for the town of North Toronto, who in conjunction with Sir Robert Finlay, appeared when the case was being argued.

BILLS IN PARLIAMENT.

As will be surmised, the great difficulty with bills of Parliament, both Dominion and Provincial, has hitherto been the lack of either skill or a sufficient consideration by the

framers of these bills, previous to being brought before Parliament. In Great Britain the draughtsmen of parliamentary bills are chosen from the ablest lawyers in the country, men whose knowledge of parliamentary work and previous as well as impending legislation enables them to place before Parliament, bills, the object of which it is exceedingly difficult to defeat. Men of this calibre are remunerated in a manner commensurate with the importance of the work which they are employed to do, and there is no reason why men of equally high standing should not be employed in the performance of the same important work in Canada.

THE PROPOSED NAVAL CONTRIBUTION.

The announcement made by the Right Honourable R. L. Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, that the Government would make a direct grant of $35,000,000 to build and equip three modern dreadnoughts of the latest type, has been received on all sides with satisfaction, thus shewing not only to Great Britain, but to the world at large, the intention of Canada to assume her proper share in the defence of the Empire.

Opinions may differ as to the proper method to be adopted by Canada in support of the navy, for although the grant proposed was called an emergency grant, as will be seen from the opinion expressed by the Glasgow Herald which is here quoted. No emergency exists, nor is the mother country unwilling to continue to bear the burden she has so long and so ably borne.

The Glasgow Herald (Independent) says: "The Dominions are not, speaking correctly, coming to the assistance of a tired and exhausted motherland.

"The motherland is not tired, and is very far from being exhausted. Great Britain, as every statesman from the overseas Dominions admits, is more full of energy and enthusiasm and of the industrial life and ability to maintain her place in the world than she ever has been. Her people are as willing and able as ever to bear the burdens necessary to keep her supreme at sea. There should be no mistake about the meaning of the contributions by the Dominions. No contribution from any of the Dominions, whether in the form originated by New Zealand and now adopted by the Malay States. can relieve the mother country from the responsibility of maintaining an all-powerful navy.”

Far from relieving the burdens of the British taxpayer the Herald declares that in one sense the contribution by the Dominion will impose on Great Britain a fresh burden. It is one thing to build ships and quite another thing to man them. A Dreadnought can be constructed in less than two years. The British bluejacket's training extends over seven years, during which period the whole expense will have to be borne by the British taxpayers.

In the article quoted it is stated that it takes but two years to build a dreadnought, while it takes seven to make a seaman, and since there is no crisis which demands an immediate grant, it would probably much better meet the wishes of the people of Canada at large, were the money granted to be used in the upbuilding of a Canadian navy. True, there is not the facility for the building of modern battle-ships in Canada, but this can be readily overcome and Canadian money can be spent in Canada in the payment of Canadian workmen or men imported from Britain to work in Canada to build the battle-ships, retaining to Canadians that fundamental right of the British Constitution of designating where their money should be spent.

The most that can be said for Mr. Borden's plan, admirable as it undoubtedly is, is that it is but a makeshift, and Canada would have to begin not only building a navy, but naval yards for the construction of ships, in the near future, and why not begin now.

NEW WAY TO MAKE LAWYERS.

The college-trained young lawyer is now in the spotlight of educational controversy. It is admitted that a course in a school of law is indispensable, but it is also agreed that young men fresh from law classes lack something of importance which those who were graduated in the old days directly from a lawyer's office possessed. The educators are not very explicit in naming the "lacking qualities." Perhaps the student spends too much time with his books and not enough in the court-room. One facetious critic think the law schools ought to put in a course of Starvation, original research work to be required the first five years after graduation. As a substitute for this graduate work in Starvation, Chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown, of New York University,

and some of his university associates, suggest a solution of the difficulty through statutory provisions under which law school graduates, fresh from their studies, might practice in certain Courts under supervision analogous to that to which the hospital interne is subjected. It has even been suggested that a special Court might be constituted for the purpose, in which such supervised practice might, in certain classes of cases, be provided gratuitously for clients who are unable to pay. Humanity has managed to struggle along with the medical interne. Why not give the young lawyer his chance at hospital practice?

PERSONAL.

Mr. A. B. Morine, K.C., has resumed practice at St. John's, Nfld. It will be remembered that Mr. Morine, some years ago, came from St. John's, and entered into practice in Toronto, subsequently taking an active part in politics. According to a report from St. John's, Mr. Morine does not intend for the present to enter into the political life of the colony.

Mr. William E. Banton, after several years' practice at Enderby, is now associated with Messrs. Woodworth & Creagh, Vancouver.

Dr. Lemuel Allen Currey, K.C., one of the most able lawyers in the Dominion, was found dead in bed. He was 58 years of age, and a graduate of the University of New Brunswick and Harvard Law School.

W. F. Guild, a former student in the office, has become a member of the law firm of Campbell, Pitblado & Co. Mr. Guild in the recent examinations headed the list in the solicitor and barrister divisions, thereby gaining the scholarship presented by the law society.

M. L. M. Skelton, who has been studying law in the office of W. W. Livingstone, for the past three years, will leave for Regina, where he will practise in the office of Balfour, Martin & Co. Mr. Skelton will be missed in Battle

ford, and takes with him the best wishes of a whole host of friends.

The partnership of Daniel O'Connell and John R. Corkery as the law firm of O'Connell and Corkery has now been announced. Mr. Corkery, who is a Peterborough boy, has been connected with Mr. O'Connell's office since the completion of his course at the law school in May last. He was called to the Bar in September.

At the first of the year a change took place in the wellknown firm of lawyers, Messrs. Perkins, Fraser and Gibson, of 53 Queen street. Mr. J. Goodwin Gibson is retiring from the firm, and Mr. Harold D. McCormick is taking his place, the new firm name being Perkins, Fraser and McCormick. Mr. Gibson is leaving shortly for Vancouver, where he will reside in future, having joined the legal firm of Bowser, Reid and Wallbridge, of that city.

The following are the candidates for admission to the practise of law at the Bar of the district of Quebec examinations of January, 1913: Maurice Brasset, Charles Darveau, F. X. Godbout, Maxime Morin, Elisee Theriault,' Quebec; Raoul Simard, Baie Saint Paul.

MANITOBA LAW SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS.

The pass list is as follows:

CALL.

J. H. Woodside, W. F. Guild, J. D. Cameron, C. K. Newcombe, E. G. Hetherington, W. Martin, and E. D. McMeans, all with honours.

H. S. Scarth, L. T. Tweed, W. J. Rowe, L. A. Masterman, A. V. Darrach, N. W. Kerr, O. G. McNabb, E. G. Trick, G. A. Colquhoun, and H. Wheeldon.

ATTORNEY.

W. F. Guild, C. K. Newcombe, J. H. Woodside, and E. G. Hetherington, all with honours.