Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Justices of the Peace retire from judicial service

Shauni James
By Shauni James
Rotorua Weekender reporter·Rotorua Daily Post·
1 Mar, 2018 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

(From left) Mary Burge, Ron Hope and Barry Gaylard at the morning tea. Photo/Supplied
(From left) Mary Burge, Ron Hope and Barry Gaylard at the morning tea. Photo/Supplied

(From left) Mary Burge, Ron Hope and Barry Gaylard at the morning tea. Photo/Supplied

Rotorua's Mary Burge, Ron Hope and Barry Gaylard are three Justices of the Peace who have retired from their judicial roles after 54 years' combined voluntary service to the courts.

Mary first sat on June 13, 2003 and her last sitting was on December 30- a total of 14 years.

Ron first sat on December 14, 2000, first for two years in Tauranga and then 17 years in Rotorua, with his last sitting on January 12.

Barry's first sitting was on November 2, 2001 with 16 years prior in Thames from 1996. His last sitting in Rotorua was January 20 2018, a total of 21 years.

Last month representatives from the Registry, fellow JPs, counsel and police prosecutions held an afternoon tea to acknowledge the voluntary service and presentation of Ministry of Justice RISE values certificates for service.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Despite retiring from their judicial roles, all three are still carrying on their ministerial duties.

Justices of the Peace are asked if they would be interested in court work and working on the bench, and if so are put under the tutelage of an experienced JP, as well as taking part in a course in Wellington.

In this role, the JPs mostly do list courts in the District Court, which were the likes of minor offences and traffic issues, as well as doing reprimand court on Saturday mornings.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ron says in 19 years on the bench he has enjoyed every minute of it, enjoying the challenge of the studying and training.

"It was a wonderful way for me to follow on a 50-year career in flying."

He says he will miss the great relationships with the police, solicitors and court staff.

In 2017, 51 per cent of his JP work was completed at home, 30 per cent at service centres and the rest at other places such as court.

Last year he had 46 days in court over a 12-month period.

The ministerial work of JPs include people coming to their house with various documents - basically anything that requires a signature to be witnessed, he says.

Mary says being a JP was an opportunity which came up after she retired from teaching and she thought it would be interesting and helpful.

"It was a chance for new learning - and the learning has been ongoing - and meeting new people."

She says she will keep in touch with people she has met through the judicial service but will miss the contact with people in court and the police.

Mary says she enjoys helping people and being available when they need to have documents signed or witnessed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She lives in the country, so it is good for people in the rural area to have someone who can undertake these duties, she says.

Barry says he enjoyed the intellectual challenge of it all and found that almost every time he sat he would learn something different, about law, people or dealing with situations.

Throughout his time in the role he found that he developed more of an empathy towards defendants and tried to unearth why people did the things they did, "rather than treat them as somebody in front of you that had to be dealt with".

He says he will miss some of the characters he met, such as lawyers who have their own idiosyncrasies.

Another is the camaraderie of the group of people he worked with.

However, Barry will continue for a while in a mentoring role and is still the registrar of the Rotorua & Districts JP Association.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He says a concern he has developed over the years, with a background as a school principal, is the increasing number of youth appearing in courts.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

'Feeding kittens': Debate on supporting Rotorua's rough sleepers heats up

17 Jun 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'I wept': White Island tragedy doctor’s anguish at child’s death

17 Jun 05:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Trump says the US won’t kill Iran’s supreme leader ‘for now’, as he demands Tehran’s surrender
World

Trump says the US won’t kill Iran’s supreme leader ‘for now’, as he demands Tehran’s surrender

17 Jun 06:30 PM
'We don’t have a choice': France coach defends second-string squad for ABs tour
All Blacks

'We don’t have a choice': France coach defends second-string squad for ABs tour

17 Jun 06:25 PM
'Restricted is a lot more intense': Students back overhaul of full driver licence test
Hawkes Bay Today

'Restricted is a lot more intense': Students back overhaul of full driver licence test

17 Jun 06:00 PM
Australian Super Netball clubs circle for Silver Ferns vice-captain
Silver Ferns

Australian Super Netball clubs circle for Silver Ferns vice-captain

17 Jun 06:00 PM
Syrian doctor gets life sentence in Germany for slayings, torture under Assad
World

Syrian doctor gets life sentence in Germany for slayings, torture under Assad

17 Jun 06:00 PM

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
'Feeding kittens': Debate on supporting Rotorua's rough sleepers heats up

'Feeding kittens': Debate on supporting Rotorua's rough sleepers heats up

17 Jun 06:00 PM

About 50 people attended a public meeting to discuss homelessness in Rotorua.

'I wept': White Island tragedy doctor’s anguish at child’s death

'I wept': White Island tragedy doctor’s anguish at child’s death

17 Jun 05:00 PM
'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM
CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

17 Jun 04:05 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search