BAR AND BENCH

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2417, 24 March 1915, Page 9

BAR AND BENCH

LORD ALVERTON'S REC©L"LECTIONS (By Liber.) The reminiscences or autobiographies of eminent lawyers and judges generally make good reading, although they may not always attain tho high standard of the famous Hawkins Memoirs. From tho general reader as well as from the members of that profession, of which he was so distinguished a member, the autobiography of Lord Alverstone, "Recollections of Bar and Bench" (Lon-. don, Edward Arnold) is sure of a warm welcome. For, as Sir Richard Webster, the ex-Lord Chief Justice of England won a fame which spread far beyond legal and political circles in London. His recollections commence with his early legal training, and his being called to'the Bar in 1868, when he joined tho Homo Circuit, and steadily rose to fame as a pleader.. The extent and variety of his practico receive eloqusni testimony in certain figures quoted by the author, when he gave up private practice in 1895. Between 1868 and that year he had, he tells us, "received 3330 retainers, of which 535 were general retainers, and 2795 retainers in par r ticular cases. I had also done a large business in advising in cases for opinion. ... I find that during the years 1870 to 1895 I wrote opinions in no less than 1890 cases, which were, of course, in addition to opinions on evidence, which -were only of use in tho particular action concerned." This remarkable success was due, very largely, to the special zeal and care with which tho young barrister applied himself to mastering the details, often the very complicated details, of commercial railway cases, patent cases, and the like. He was assisted, to some extent, in getting much valuable railway business by the fact that his father had been •for many years secretary to the Illsituation of Civil Engineers, and to many eminent railway engineers being personal friends of his, having frequently, in cases when they could "control business," suggested to their solicitors that Webster should be given a trial. Given competence and "courage to stick to his work," the. author does not believe in failure for the young barrister. He quotes also the opinion of Sir John Karslake that the three things necessary for success at the Bar are, "first tact, second tact, and third tact." Sir Edward Clarke's "three essentials" arc also'quoted. These were that the young barrister should "be very poor, .try ambitious, and very much in love." Webster found, in his own case, that a knowledge of land surveying and other •technical matters stod him m excellent stead. Throughout his career he seems to have taken special pride in his capacity for mastering technical details, on one occasion splendid a whole Sunday iii the screw shaft and engiue-roum of a steamer. From Colliery Boy to Millionaire. Many interesting experiences wero met with by Webster in th course of his railway practice. One relates to the lato Sir'tleorge Elliot, Bart., M.l\, who commenced life as a working miner and roso to- position of great wealth as 1 a colliery owner. Webster was appearing for the North Eastern Railway Company in a dispute as to the amount of coal which should be left in a mine for the support of one of the company's viaducts. Elliot and other experts engaged by the colliery company inspected tho mine. The next day a mining engineer of great eminence, Mr. Gibson, told Mr. Webster of an incident which had occurred whilst he was going through the mine with Elliot and'tho witnesses. _ When they arrived at a oertain point where three or four underground roads met,- Mr. Elliott asked if they would wait for him a few minutes. He was away, about a quarter of ail hour, and they could distinctly hear him sobbing. Neither they nor Elliott mentioned the circumstance at tho time, .but.tlio next day, when his counsel and witnesses were dining.with him, the millionaire mine-owner said: "I dare say you fellows wondered where I went to when I left you ? . . . I went to see if I could find the f.ico of the coal ill which I had sat more than fifty years ago, as a lad of nine or ten, to shut and* open a gate which controlled the ventilation of the miiio; I was paid lOci. or Is. a day for ten hours' work. And I found'it.' Lockwood's.Ready Wit. Lockwood, afterwards Sir, Frank Lockwood, was one, of Webster's intimate friends. Of his ready wit, Webster gives tlio_ following example. 'Lockwood was junior to Sir Henry' James in a divorce suit, in which" the. respondent was charged with cruelty. Cruelty charges, says the author, are often of a. very vague character, but in this case it was alleged by the wife that the respondent had thrown a heavilybound book at her which cut her head open. The specific date and place were given, so the matter had to be dealt with. The respondent, asked by Sir Honr.y James, in consultation with his junior, Lockwood, what explanation ho could give of the incident, said: "Well, Sir Henry; all I can say is that we had a lew words and, I was turning over the leaves of tho book, when it flew out of my hands." Lockwood instantly but quietly, interposed: "From a circulating library, I suppose?" The Parnell Commission. As Attorney-General, a position to which Webster was appointed by Lord Salisbury in 1885, the author had, within ten minutes of taking' his seat in tho House of Commons, to reply to Mr. Gladstone on the motion relating to tho right Mr. Bradlong'h to take the oath. The young minister was terribly nervous, but got through the ordeal with great success. Later oil ho gives us some interesting but all too brief reminiscences of the Parnell Commission when he held tho loading brief for "The Times," a position which ho dil not wish to take "for reasons which without breach of confidence" he cannot disclose, indeed he only consented to appear tor "Th© Times" in oompliance with pressure put upon him by the then Government, pressuro which he "could not well resist."

Cladstono StoriM. Several stories in which Mr. Gladstone figures prominently are told by Lord Alverstone, who, after alluding to that statesman's many great gifts,' and especially "his extraordinary powof concentration on any given subject," and "tho way in which he appeared to be thinking of nothing else nt tho time but that pßr'-Vdar matter," discusses in a humorous vein the great man's steadfast and quite sincere belief in his own omniscience. On one occasion Mr. Milner, now Viscount Milner, and Sir George Murray were with Mr. Gladstone dismissing a certain Bill (the Finance Act of 1884), and Mr. Gladstone, having referred to tho practice D.v which, under the then existing Law of Succession Duty, the unpaid instalments were allowed to lapse on .the death of the person liablo for them, Mr. Milner observed: "I suppose, Mr. Gladstone, you say with tho old Greeks that the half is sometimes greater than tho whole?" "What old Greek said that? No old Greek ever said it," Mr. .Gladstone replied. "Oh, yes," said Mr. Milner, "Hesiod said it." There happened to be a crtpv of Hesoid on the shelves of tlnV libra ry in Downing Street, where they were working, and the wellknown paasace iu which the words

occur was turned up. They put the book before Mr. Gladstone, who looked steadily at it for sonio_ seconds, and, then, without the slightest hesitation, said, "An undoubted interpolation."

Mistaken as he was on this occasion, there was no gainsaying ill'. Gladstone's profound acquaintance with the classics. Lord Alverstone tells how, at one of the breakfast clubs so fashionable in the eighties and nineties of the last century, the subject of bees came up. Gladstone took a prominent part in the discussion, showing what appeared to be an extraordinary knowledge of bees

As Lord Moriey walked away with Gladstone from the breakfast, ho said, "Well, Sir. Gladstone, you seem to know all about oees. I suppose you have been reading. Sir John Lubbock's book?" "No," said Jlr. Gladstone, "I have never read a word of it, nor have I even seen it. It was the Georgics from which I got my information." This incident, remarks Lord Alverstone, "is not only illustrative of Mr. Gladstone's power of generalisation aud of his knowledge of Virgil, but is also a striking testimony to the poet, for I believe that there is 'little really known about bees which is not described or indicated in the "Georgics." Tho book contains many interesting little pen portraits, not only of famous lawyers and judges,' but politicians and other celebrities. Lord Alverstone was, in his .youth, a keen athlete, and amateur musician, deriving great pleasure, he tells us, from part-singing. TJp to ten or fifteen years ago he occasionally played cricket, and at about the age of forty took up tennis, playing regularly at Lord's or Prince's in the early morning before going to Court. Lord Alverstono's "Recollections" should bo in great demand by all who are interested in British legal and political history of the last half century. The illustrations include some portraits and reproductions of some of the late Sir Frank Lockwood's caricatures of his followiawyers. (New Zealand price, 155.).