SIR JOHN DENNISTON.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16398, 18 December 1918, Page 7

SIR JOHN DENNISTON.

PORTRAIT UNVEILED

FUNCTION AT SUPREME COURT.

j There was a gathering of lnemj herb of The legal profession anil their vivos and lady friends at tho function at tho Supremo Court yesterday after- ■ noon, at which :i portrait of the Hon. j Sir John Denniston was unveiled. Iu ! addition to the goodly number of mem- | bcrs of tho Canterbury Law Society in attendance, there were present-: Sir John and Lady Denniston, tho Hon. V,*. H. Triggs, M.L.C., Rev. F. Ilulo, Mr Menzies Gibb, and Mr A. H. Holmes (Registrar of tho Supreme Court). His | Honour Mr Justice Hc-rdman telcgraphI ed to Mr S. O. Raymond, K.C., president of the Law Society: ''Deeply regret not able to "bo with you. I hope your function will bo successful, and I wish Sir John and Lady Denniston long life and happiness. 1 ' Apologies were received also from Mr T. A. B. Bailey, S.M., Mr and Mrs Howard Tripp, Mr and Mrs Aspinall, Mr M. J. Knubley, Mr A. ('. Mitldleton (Waimate), Mr and Mrs AV. A. Bowring, and Mr G. Ilelmore. Tl:e portrait of Sir .John Denniston, painted by Mr AV. A. Bowring, was hung on the northern wall of the Court, to tho left of the bcnch, and was veilod by a Scottish standard. When unveiled it revealed >Sir John seatod with a law book in his right hand. The likeness was generally admitted to be a faithful one, the artist having .succeeded in catching a characteristic expression. A foaturo of tho nrranrjemcnts in connexion with the function was the charming display of swoot peas which very appreciably brightened up the somewhat severe and prosaic surroundings of the Court room. Mr S. G. Raymond, K.C., president of tho Canterbury Law Society, after reading tho apologies, said that at tho beginning of the yoar, when Sir John Denniston retired from the Bench, an

eloquent tribute was paid to the legal distinction ho had attained by his (Mr Raymond's) predecessor in the officc of president, Mr M. Donnelly, who, on boh'ali' of the profession, recognised the g'-e.»t services Sir John had rendered to tho public, to the profession, and to legal learning. The Canterbury lawyers thought that they should have something 5o perpetuate tho memory of a judge who had presided in Canterbury for nearly oO rears, and who had conferred very great distinction on tho Bench. The question had arisen as to what form that memorial should tako: whether they should give something to Sir John which could be handed down in his family as an heirloom, or whether it should be something which would perpetuate his memory publicly and which, at tho same time, would bo readily accessible to members of his family. The council of the Law Society derided on tho last-mentioned course, and it was hoped that it would not prove unacceptable to Sir John and Lady Denniston. He thought, and he hoped that they would agree with him, that tho portrait obtained was not only a striking portrait of Sir John Denniston, but was also a fine work of art. Those who had inspected) it felt that they owed a very great debti of gratitude to the artist, Mr Bowring, ■and he hoped that tftat verdict, which had been professionally endorsed, wouldl ho approved by those present. He and others had found that lawyers, in addition to being good critics of legal arguments, wero also good art critics. Those who had visited the Old Country had seen and had been impressed with, the very important position which judges and lawyers, during tho past 150 years at any rate, occupied in the publio estimation. Memorials of thorn, either in the form of statuary or painting, adorned not only tho halls of justice, but also many of the great buildings devoted to the preservation of the memories of the nation's great men. This seemed a very fitting and proper thing, when they considered that in any democratic community which rested entirely on law and order, the judge and the lawyer must occupy a very conspicu- | ous and important position. They helped to form and mould the destinies of the nation, and he thought that tho war we have just gone through illus-i trated this. On the one hand they had feudal survivals and autocracv, and on the other the preservation of liberty and of law and order. That this was recognised by the ex-Kaiser was quite clear from a statement made bv Mr Gerard— himself n judge—in October, 1910. Mr Gerard reported tho Kaiser as having firrv?' 111 on . es hatred and contempt: • This war is a war of lawyers." The Premier of Canada, the Premier of Australia, the Premiers of most of the. States and provinces were lawyers and the fighting Premier of South Africa was also a lawyer. Mr Llovd George, Mr Asqutth, M. Poincaire M. Briand were also lawyers, and if tho Kaiser had ir&rtod n little longer ho might have included the President o? the United States —a well-known ami conspicuous lawyer and a worthy successor of two other lawyers—Alexander Hamilton an( j Abraham Lincoln, who. at different periods, heloed the United ?f s , m t . imes of crisis. That indicated that in modern, democratic communities the lawyer must hold an important position in helping forward tho nation. He thought that they could! also say that in a young community, such as New Zealand, the position of a judpre and a lawyer wa s as important, possibly more important, than it was in, tiie older communities,, for tliev helped to start the nation on its career, framo its institutions and heln it forward ore tho . right course. In~l\W Zealand, among the judges who had occupied tho judicial bench, they felfc and said, without fear of cantradiction, that friend who was | with them _ tlint day occupied a pest of distinction, and had always stood for trie eternal rxrinciples of justico and right conduct. (Applause.\ It was thereiore fitting that his portrait should hang on tho walls of the build"mg which was the scene of his activities for so many years, and, when Sir John and they wore passed and gone, they hoped that when the future advocate m this building cited from tho thirty volumes in which Sir John's judgments were recorded, he would visualise the judge who was with them that day much more readily when ho turned and beheld his lineaments in the portrait on the wall. (Annfause) Mr J. J. Dotigall, on'b'ehalf of the Canterbury Law Society, then asked Mrs Raymond to unveil the portrait Raymond withdrew the Scottish Standard, unveiling the portrait, amidst applause.

JO;in Denniston, on ri-r.™-%c,v?d With continued applause, " ,:,t h«> could conceivc nothing more agreeable or more acceptable as a recognition of his public service than the form the presentation had taken, .tie t>upposod that there were few memories so evanescent as those of a judge unless he had taken part in public affairs either as a statesman or an author His life had been so strenuous that he had been prevented from taiiing oart m public affairs, and his authorship had been confined to tho thirty-six volumes to which Mr Raymond had referred. Apart from the pieasuig memorial of his portrait ho could nave hoped to survive onlv in the memory of the present and* the rising generations through citations of Mr -Justice Denm.'•ton's judgment in "Jones v. Smith," There was, however, as Mr Raymond had said, one moans by which a judge's memory could be perpetuated. Like .Mr Raymond he had enjoyed going through the Inns of Court and the large nails that at one time were tho London Guild Halls, and nothing had struck him more than the number of effigies on tho walls of dia-

tipguisned men and lawyers- Previous to tho painting of the portrait before them, his onlv "chance of going down to lame pictonally rested in a production bv Mr Bowring in a form not calculated to give him (Sir John) any great gratification. (Laughter.) That production pictured Lint using a broom to a large number of the legal protossion. (Laugh, tor). He was glad to kuou that the representation of himself borore them was more satisfactory to h'm. He hoped that it. was a- good likeness of him—(laughter)—because a great philosopher.mice said ''know thyself, ' and it was a very dillicult thing to "Know thyself." It was a very great satisfaction to him to know that, in the ordinary course of events, his memory wonlci be kept green by tho portrait beforo them on the walls of the chamber m which he had spent tho most of the working years of his life. Might ho add that* Lady Donniston particularly joined him in thanking the Law Society for iiieir very appropriate gift. (Applause.) Aiternoon tea was then handed round and the proceedings partook of the naturo of a conversazione.