Page 31 - Keeping the Peace

Keeping the Peace – A History of Honorary Justices in Victoria 25
the selection of HJs and the view that the letters ‘JP’ should not be seen like a decoration nor should it be taken as reward for past public services. Rather, ‘it was a privilege and instruction to the appointee to use his talents and his time for the benefit of the community’.45
At a meeting in the Hawthorn Town Hall in late 1944, the Mayor of Hawthorn Cr W T Lewis welcomed 25 of the 35 Hawthorn JPs and advised them:
“Serving the public as a JP is a most important matter. All work has to be done with dignity and also with thoroughness; laxity or indifference in any matters even of the most trivial nature brought Justices as a whole into disrepute”46
Mr L H Hollins, MLA, said he had ‘a keen appreciation of the large amount of good work HJs performed. Their duties were of a most important nature and only the most worthy persons, persons who comprised all the necessary qualifications of loyalty, good citizenship, and a practical knowledge of the life of the community, should be considered for appointment.’47
45 Sunshine Advocate, 22 September 1944, p. 2. 46 ‘The Justice of the Peace’, 11 December 1944, p. 5. 47 ‘The Justice of the Peace’, 11 December 1944, p. 5.