FINE TRIBUTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 11

FINE TRIBUTES.

LEGAL PROFESSION.

SERVICE OF MAGISTRATE.

MR. WILSON FAKEWELLED.

Fine tributes to Mr. Wyvern Wilson, senior sti|ien«liary magistrate, who is retiring after a long service, were pai<l l>y members of the Bar yesterday afternoon, The upstairs courtroom was completely filled. nn<l seated with Air. Wilson were Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., and Mr. C. R. Orr Walker, S.M.

Mr. L. K. Munro, president of the Auckland District Law Society, said all members had learned with great regret of Mr. Wilson's retirement. He had been for a long time associated with the Court and with the practice of the law. Educated at the Church of England School, Auckland, and at the Auckland CJrammar School, Mr. Wilson was articled to a former very well known and respected Auckland practitioner, the late Mr. Samuel Jackson. Later ajrain he had practised here, before being appointed, at the early age of 34, 10 the magisterial lieneh. During the years since then. Mr. Wilson had performed his judicial duties with great efficiency and dignity. He had acted as magistrate in Wanganui, Christchurch, Hamilton, and had linally become senior magistrate in Auckland. The civil jurisdiction of a magistrate was very extensive, said Mr. Munro, and it, more constantly ami more seriously affected the lives of ordinary people than did that of most tribunals. His criminal jurisdiction required the most anxious consideration and at the same time the most expeditious, and under the Destitute Persons Act he exercised a jurisdiction fraught with the most serious consequences over many years to the parties before him. He might deprive a man of liberty; he might deprive him of the companionship of hU wife and the rightfill custody of his children. '

"When I think of the importance of the Bench," said Mr. Munro, ™I am reminded of the expressions used by Lord Sankey of the county court judges —that in the not-far-distant future magistrates may receive belated recognition of their services from a not otherwise conspicuously economical State, and when that recognition is accorded. Parliament might well consider making the tenure of their office as permanent as that of a judge of the Supreme Court. "That magistrate* should not be subject to Ministerial influence is vital. It is, equally important that they should not appear to be subject to such influj ence."

Mr. Munro said the members of the Law Society ■ had always realised Mr. Wilson's great grasp of legal principles, his readiness to listen to arguments, the excellence of his judgments and the dignity which he invariably preserved in Court.

In reply, Mr. Wilson said he appreciated the kind remarks made of him. He had only done his work. It was an honour to sit as a magistrate and dispense justice in the city, and he was pleased to have earned the gratitude and appreciation of the Bar. "My work has always been my hobby and I will miss it very much," said Mr. Wilson. "I thank you all very much for the great assistance members of the Bar here and in other places have given me, while I* also wish to thank the clerk* of the Court and the staff who have worked under, me. My association with the other magistrates in Auckland, Mr, McKean, Mr. Orr Walker, Mr. Hunt and Mr. Levien has always been a most happy one."