"The Chief Justice thinks of resigning: he told me himself that he had spoken to Medland about it, and Medland had asked him to wait a little."
"What for?"
"Oh, Medland wants to get hold of a good man from England, I understood. He thinks nobody here equal to it."
"Complimentary to my profession out here."
"I know. I wonder at Medland: he's generally so strong on 'Lindsey for the Lindseians,' as he once said. In this matter he and Perry seem to have changed places."
"Really? Then Sir Robert——?"
"Yes, he's quite anxious to have one of ourselves. I must say I heartily agree, and of course it could easily be managed, if Medland liked. Perry would do it in a minute. I really don't see why the best berth in the colony is to be handed over to some hungry failure from London. But no doubt you'll agree with Medland."
"Oh, I don't know," said Coxon. "It seems to me rather a point where the Bar here ought to assert itself."
"I know, if we were in and had a fit man, we should hear nothing more of an importation. The best man in the colony would be glad to have it:
of course there's not the power a Minister has, or the interest of active political life, but it's well paid, very dignified, and, above all, permanent."