SENIOR PUISNE JUDGE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25300, 27 September 1947, Page 2

SENIOR PUISNE JUDGE

SIR ARCHIBALD BLAIR TO RETIRE SOON <P.A.) AUCKLAND, September 26. The retirement will take place soon . of Sir Archibald Blair, New Zealand’s senior puisne judge, who has been on the bench of the Supreme Court for nearly 20 years. He was bidden farewell by members of the Auckland Law Society at a dinner at which he was the guest of honour. “We very much regret his judicial passing,” said Mr H. E. Barrowclough, £roposing a toast to Sir Archibald lair. “Our only complaint is that he has not been in Auckland often enough. We have all been very grateful for his kindly and sharp humour, and we have loved and admired him and his work on the Bench.” “I am very proud of the fact that I have been a member of the greatest of 'all professions for nearly 50 years,” said Sir Archibald Blair. The profession had sprung from the church, and it had not in any way deviated from the dignity of the church, he said. Its practice was based on trust, honour, and appreciation of the ethics of the profession. There had been cases where these high principles were npt followed, but they were very rare indeed. A lawyer was subjected to greater temptations than members of other professions. “I don’t think that during those 50 years I ever consciously did a cruel or hard thing to anybody. I never spared myself.in putting the best that was in me . into making my decisions, but I never got used to the beastly ers^ eSS having to sentence prison-