NEW JUDGE WELCOMED.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18013, 4 March 1924, Page 5

NEW JUDGE WELCOMED.

CORDIAL RELATIONS OF BENCH AND BAR. Mr Justice MacGrcgor was welcomed by the Bar when he took his seat on the Supreme Court Bench in Christchurch for the first time yesterday morning. The speakers were Messrs P. W. Johnston (president of the Canterbury Law Society), W. J. Hunter (vicepresident), K. Neave (treasurer), W. J. Sim, and J. 11. TJpham (members of the Council), and J. A. Flesher. Mr Johnston said a pleasing feature of his Honour's appointment was that lie was still in the primo of life at the height of his eminence. An idea was common that a Judge's life was an easy one, and that prominent members of the Bar, when appointed to the Bench, went into a kind of retirement. Members of the Bar knew how wrong that idea was. A Judge not only had the same class of work on the Bench as lie had had when he pleaded at the Bar, but lie also had the great responsibility of deciding what was right. When a prominent member of the Bar had an opportunity to go on to the Bench, he should accept the offer, because, in that high position, the public was served best by men still at the top of their profession. Members of the Canterbury Bar felt that his Honour would shed on the Bench the same degree of lustre as was shed on it by other Judges who had practised in the city from which most of New Zealand's Judges had come—Dunedin. Mr Hunter said members of the Canterbury Bar had become used to practising before Judges from Dunedin. They were pleased to welcome one more from that learned city. They knew his Honour, had practised with him, and had the highest respect for him; and they wished him happiness, long life, and success in his career as a Judge. His Honour, after thanking the Bar, said: "There always should be cordial and kindly relations between the Bench and the Bar. I hope that it will be my part to maintain these relations wherever I may be. From what I know of the Canterbury Bar, I have no doubt that they will continue in Christchurch."