RESPECT TO MEMORY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 184, 2 May 1933, Page 7

RESPECT TO MEMORY

Late Sir Alexander Gray TRIBUTES IN COURT Tributes to the memory of the late Sir Alexander Gray were paid by members of the legal profession at a gathering held in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday morning. The Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers), Mr. Justice Reed and Mr. Justice Blair were on the Bench, and addresses were delivered from the court by Mr. ,-C. H. Treadwell, vice-president of the New Zealand Law Society, and Mr. E. P. Hay, president of the Wellington District. Law Society. Mr. Treadwell,' after referring to Sir Alexander’s life and work, said that Sir Alexander was a fine lawyer and his general capacity produced for him many briefs in his practice. But it was not that to which the speaker wished to refer so much as to his genial character and his kindness which enabled him, which Impelled him, to give gratuitous assistahce to many a young man, and to that was to be attributed a great' part of his popularity "That he has been taken from us while still in full possession of his capacities as a lawyer is a matter which we all of us deeply deplore,’’ he said. “The Bar throughout New Zealand regrets the removal of Sir Alexander from the front rank of the profession and tenders to his widow and family their respectful sympathy in her and their sorrow.” “A Great Man.” “It Is no easy task on an occasion such as this to choose the right words which should be said,” Mr. Hay said. “Coming as we do to-day in this 'impressive assembly of the Bar, fresh from the great public tribute paid to our late esteemed colleague yesterday, it is a difficult task to say any words which would prove a just estimate of what we think, and feel. I would, however, mention that it is when we stand, as it were, in the very shadow of death that we readjust our ideas of human values.

“It is on occasions like this that the things which men ordinarily hold dear, such as power and authority, honours and titles, wealth and station in life, seem to recede into the background and to be replaced in the Held of vision by what, after all, were the true human qualities of the one we shall see no more. It is one of the marks of a great man that whatever mental endowment he may possess, whatever intellectual achievements he may attain in life, whatever success or honour or power he may reach, that he should use these things not selfishly but for the good of his fellow men, and I think it may with justice be said of him whom we are thinking of to-day that, judged by that standard, he was a great man.” A Wise Counsellor. “The loss of the late Sir Alexander Gray is mourned no less by the Bench than by the Bar, for every one of the Judges was his friend,” said the Chief Justice. “Every one of us bad practised with him at the Bar, had appeared from time to time with or against him in this court, and knew his sterling qualities and upright character. For myself,

apart from three men with whom I was more immediately associated, he was my oldest and most intimate friend in the profession. “Sir Alexander practised his profession in Wellington for close on fifty years, and deservedly gained a high reputation as both advocate and lawyer,” his Honour said. “His imperturbability of temper, his keen sense of humour, his gentle irony, his invariable courtesy and eharm of manner, his extreme fairness in the conduct of his professional work and in the ordinary off airs of life, gained for him the esteem’and affection of all with ..whom he came into contact. He never tricked an opponent or failed a friend. “In 1912 he had conferred upon him the patent of King’s Counsel, and to the obligations implied by that patent he : was ever alive. No man was ever more accessible to a junior member of the profession who required assistance or | advice in a matter of difficulty; no man ’ more kindly, sympathetic, and considerate in such circumstances. “It was natural, therefore, that, on the appointment of the late Sir Charles Skerrett to the office of Chief Justice. Sir Alexander was chosen by unard- | mous consent to fill the position of president of the New Zealand Law Society which Sir Charles vacated—the greatest honour in the gift of the members of the profession of the Jaw. , And when, in January last, he had bestowed upon him by his Majesty the King the honour of | knighthood it was universally acclaimed as an honour which his distinguish j ed career and his service to the profession and to the community as president of the New Zealand Law Society . had worthily earned. “It remains but to join with you in your expression of sympathy with Lady Gray and the members of the family In their great, loss, and to express our sympathy, too, with you, gentlemen of both branches of the profession, for you have lost a wise counsellor and an upright and trusty leader, whose place in the community it will be exceedingly difficult to fill.” Additional to the large number of wreaths referred to yesterday in connection with the funeral of Sir Alexander Grey were floral tributes from the Wellington Racing Club and the Hawke’s Bay Law Society.