Dollar-a-Minute

Edward W. Hatch, former Justice of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, was appointed referee in the Gould accounting proceeding. All parties stipulated that he should receive $65 an hour for his services, and it is understood that he may charge for time spent in study and consideration of the case, as well as in the actual conduct of hearings. It is estimated that if, making allowances for other law business, Justice Hatch works five hours a day for 200 days during the next year, he will receive $65,000 from this reference alone.

A referee is entitled by statute to $10 a day, unless " a smaller compensation is fixed by the court or judge in the order appointing him.'' But the parties may agree upon a larger amount, and usually do. There is, in fact, nothing unusual in referee Hatch's allowance, although the layman may find it curious that he should receive for one year a fee which he would not obtain by continuous work for the rest of his natural life at the statutory rate.