SIR JOHN DENNISTON

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 117, 10 February 1940, Page 15

SIR JOHN DENNISTON

“A New Zealand Judge,” by J. G. Denniston (Dunedin: Reed.)

This biography of tho late Sir John Denniston, Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, has been written by his sou. Immediate relatives do not always make the best biographers; they tend to be too jealous of tlie family honour and reputation. Mr. Denniston, however, lias written something that is much more than merely a work of filial piety. It is a sincere attempt to narrate the life of his distinguished father with detachment and due regard to faults as well as to virtues, and is largely successful in doing so. Sir John Denniston’s life —his early years, as a bank clerk, his determination to qualify for the Bar, his success iu legal practice, his elevation to the Bench, and his most conscientious work as a judge—makes very’ interesting reading.. His biographer tells the story’ well in a book which is a worthytribute to a man of flue character and with outstanding gifts in his profession, which he always strived to use with the utmost wisdom and justice.