KING’S COUNSEL

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 54, 27 November 1929, Page 13

KING’S COUNSEL

HON. T. M. WILFORD SWEARING-IN CEREMONY The Hon. T. M. Wilford was called within the Bar as a King's Counsel in the Supreme Court yesterday morning. The ceremony took place in open Court, the Chief Justice (Hon. M. Myers) presiding. There was a large attendance in the Court of members of the legal profession (including Mr. Arthur Fair, K.C., and Mr. Alexander Gray, K.C.), and others. Among the ladies present were Mrs. Wilford, Mrs. M. Myers, and Mrs. B. B. Wood.

The letters patent having been read by the Chief Justice, Mr. Wilford made tire customary declaration. Addressing Mr. Wilford, the Chief Justice said:—

"I have much pleasure, Mr. Wilford, in calling you within the Bar. I had hoped when the appointment was being made that you would at once commence and continue to exercise the privileges conferred, and assume the obligations imposed, by the possession of the patent. But I recognise that your new appointment as High Commissioner has prevented that for the time being, and I take the opportunity of congratulating you as a member of the profession on your appointment to that high office. Not an Empty Honour.

“I used the words just now, ‘for the time being,' because I hope that at the end .of your term as High Commissioner we shall see you back here in your place in this Court and that you will have many years’ enjoyment in active practice of the honour that this patent confers upon you,” continued His Honour. "That is what the patent is intended for. It is not intended to be given to a practitioner, however eminent, merely to carry with him into retirement. The patent not only confers a privilege and an honour: it imposes obligations, not only express', but implied, and the implied are greater than the express, because they involve the responsibility of leadership of the Bar and of helping in a way that only leaders can do, the younger meu of the profession to maintain in their integrity the great traditions established in England and followed in this country. The express obligations are greater since the Law Practitioners Amendment Act, 1915, because one of them is that the holder of a patent granted since that year shall not practise as a solicitor. “It is greatly to be desired in the interests of the profession and, I believe, of the publie, that the patent shall not be allowed to fall into disuetude,” concluded the Chief Justice. “I know that it requires a certain amount of courage for a practitioner to give up practice as a solicitor and restrict himself to practice as a barrister only, but I take the opportunity of expressing the hope that from time to time the leaders for the time being of the Bar will take their courage in both hands and not hesitate to make the necessary application required by the rules governing the granting of the patent.” The name of I lie late John F. M. Fraser. K.C., was omitted yesterday from the list of names of King’s Counsel appointed in New Zealand. Mr. Fraser was Crown Solicitor in Dunedin for many years and died in February, 1915.