Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/648

 620 LEGAL PROFESSION. FISHER'S GHOST. WORRELL. by the Supreme Court, subject to the pleasure of the Crown. All existing practitioners were allowed to elect whichever branch of the profession they might prefer to follow in the future. Admission to the bar was to be given only to those duly admitted in the courts in the United Kingdom ; and attorneys were in future only to be enrolled on proof of such admission, or of having served five years in an attorney's office in Sydney, or in the Supreme Court. Barristers had petitioned for the change, while attorneys had opposed it. The judges had not the vigour to carry out their own order, until their ranks were strengthened by the arrival of Judge Burton. With his moral support the rule was enforced in 1834.^^ A case tried in 1827 was discussed in every household in the colony; and perhaps deserves to be chronicled. Frederick Fisher, an emancipist, lived at Campbell Town in the same house with George Worrell. In July 1826, Fisher's sudden disappearance was made known. No inquiry was instituted, and it was suggested that as the man had only a conditional pardon, not available in England, he had gone there clandestinely, as other men were known to have gone. About ten days after the disappearance, Worrell assumed possession of Fisher's property, and in various ways hinted that Fisher had left the colony. He sold Fisher's horses, and received money due to Fisher from neighbours. One of the witnesses, Samuel Hopkins, swore that no inquiry at all was ** set on foot about Fisher's disappearance." A terrified man named Farley startled the neighbourhood by declaring (Oct. 1826) that he had seen Fisher's ghost on a fence at the corner of a paddock that had belonged to Fisher, and near Worrell's house. His story was told to a magistrate. A constable was sent for. Two native blacks assisted in the search. Blood was on the rail where Farley saw, or thought he saw, the ghost. In the direction in which the vision had pointed, the black, Gilbert (according -"- Mr. Justice Therry in his ** Reminiscences" (London: 1863) confessed that Burton's <lecision of character was needed to enforce the rule. He adds that the change was advantageous to the profession and to the public, and that '*from that time the profession greatly improved in general estimation" (p. 341).