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Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1924, Page 8

:iLATE; SIR JOHN SALMOND • ■TRIBUTES TO LIFE AND WORK ■: CAREER AN. EXAMPLE TO ALL. ' The gathering of members of the Su:;preme" Court Bench in Wellington for .;the; opening °i tne sessions of the •'Court of-Appeal to-day presented the first formal opportunity in this city for ■ members of the Judiciary, the Legislature, and the local Bar to pay tribute to the memory of the distinguished ! Judge and jurist, 'the late Sir John J.Salmond. On the Bench were their 'Honours 'the Chief- Justice :(Sir Robert ■ Stout), Mr. Justice Sim, Mr. Justice: -Stringeri'-Mr. Justice Reed, and jVr. ;;Justice. Adams. The Legislature- was., i^epreeentedj by^-tfie--- AttotneyxGeneral "'(Sir Francis Beilj7 the local Judiciary by the Stipendiary Magistrates, and the Department of Justice by Mr. 0. E. Matthews, Under-Secretary for Justice, • ■while the local Bar was in full attendance, including Mr. C. P. Skerrett, Sir John Findlay, Mr. A. Gray, and Mr. M. Myers, K.C.'s. The chief Departments of State professionally concerned 'with the administration and interpretation of the. law, including the Public Trust Office,'were also represented. The -gathering filled the. Court.... . ','■ The Attorney-General asked leave of J,tne Court to refer ta-tho great loss ■sus"itained by all concerned with the admin- ! • 'letration of the law in the recent death ;:of Mr... Justice Salmond, after a service : on the Bench of a little more than four -brief years. - They all shared with 'their Honours the regret at the passing ;of so distinguished a colleague and ■jurist. They might speak with yi'ide ;jof the lid who began his career in a 'New Zealand school and gained euch success as to enable him to proceed to ; the great University of London, where his efforts enabled him to make by his

legal works a reputation that was worldt wide. This led to his advancement to .two successive professorships of lavr, 'while still.a young man. at the univer'Kty. Later, he was appointed to be an officer^of the Crown, and in that office •rendered public services so great as to receive recognition by the Sovereign ."and win the honour of Knighthood. ■; Then he was elevated to. the Supremo ' Court Bench, and finally was chosen to .'.represent the Dominion at one of the ; greatest conferences of statesmen in the world. Our own Chief Justice must ■ remember with satisfaction still the happy'inspiration, that led his Honour ,to use his influence in educational councils to induce first the University of Adelaide to accept the resignation of the great lawyer whose service under contract to them had still many years to -run; and again to persuade our Uni-:.-rpj-sity College here to appoint Mr. ;vlohn Salmond to the Professorship of i Law; and finally, most of all, to induce , that college to surrender to the service ,of the Crown the distinguished jurist ;who had already made for Victoria College an established name and reputation ■as a School-of Law; ): THE STAMP OF HIS GENIUS.

• It was In the service of the Crown continued the Attorney-General, and in ..the great office he held while still in -the nudprof the profession, that Sir John Salmond came to Eis own placets. Pjac?.foyW<;h by common consent (,-he was best fitted. The years after his :; appointment .to the service 61 the State— *;from 1907 until the Great War-stamp-ed his genius on. the Statute Book of '-. ™e *dominion. Sir. Francis ■ referred par- ■; licularlyto* the' work of^the -late« Judge '" ?? ™6Jl uf stion3 <?f Native Lands and .Death Duties, two distinct and separate ■subjects, of the matter of which Mr. „ fcalmond could not have been" cognisant i previously. -Yet- he brought to them :. such .a-umastery of technology, such a .power of expression, to the drafting of ; legislation on -these.entirely novel mat- - ters that the methods employed had become models of legislation for the Bri- :„ tish race. 7 After the outbreak of war,- proceeded < the Attorney-General, the inestimable ; value of Sir John. Salmond's engagement r in the public service- became most evi-j-aent. Not only could the Government -of the Day act and rely.with-confidence : ; on_ his-aav sicei" but' Sir "John'had already ■ gamed the public confidence. It was -.' sufficient when a course was criticised to " say that the Solicitor-General had ad- ■;. vised it. It was a strange thing for a :<: Government to possess almost unlimit- ; ed powers;,,:so;ha/re '.discretion.:.granted I to it in the public interest almost with- ■•; out..any., bound*.- more than iiaost of his brethren he-was fitted to > estimate the value of Sir John's services -w this respect. •'£ gladly record 'my gratitude to him," said Sir Francis, "for . his^.wjse,. guidance^and,. counsel.... I-.per-, V/Ebnklly;-as- a 'member of ' the Govern-' 1914-and later associated with 3lhini in hisSgreat responsibilities as law of the. Crown, have always. in the sense of relief at -the presence »..in- council- of Sir .John and tho vajue "of his/guidance... The strongest testi----to—;iiU--' r extraordinary powders from those active ?;:wit.hyiirp;rin:;th'6;,C;'own Law Office. They.., irtiadvarrryed-'Ert-'-stich complete confidence C»in Kirn, - and -the' value of ' his leadership .'and*,guidance/, and they had be,;;come 'so'.deyotgaiy attached to him personally, that..they viewed with something like'dismay the inevitable advancejment that .would take him from their Evenj.now his strongest friends admirers, are found in the ranks "at thoseV'wh&n" he controlled in those

•!iyears of graive.-responsibility: Though nthe chaos-they-anticipated did not folilow, they, .-..with.', all the' profession, r'e~cognised of the great lawyer --■who had-giyen-his best to the country -'to have*." the -high advancement which - promotion'to the Bench involved." T-IRAGic END TO A LIFE FULL OF 3 -*. "■'. HONOUR. % They all looked, forward, Sir Francis °;»dded, to have the value of his altered veerpce to the public for many years on ■i*he" Bench of the Supreme Court. r Af-,tgr:tfqur..;Ehort-.years came-the sudden and tragic end to a life full of honour, -it.was true, but full also of promise, ' and it' -was sad to' think how much of promise remained unfulfilled. /"There is no other author," he said, ; ,"of legal world to whom it has been -granted to publish two -works on entirely distinct and separate subjects,, infcri- ' cate and difficult, to whom it has been ■ granted to find within his short life one .of those works already in its" seventh edi,'tion and the other in its sixth, and to Hiave both accepted as authoritative text['books throughout the English-speaking '■world, .in America as well as in England. We know of promise unfulfilled that a third work on "Contracts" had ..been nearly completed by him before the ''end, and we may express the fervent "hope that means wjU be found to pub-. I'lish that third work also." In the first of those two published 1 works, continued the Attorney-General, .they, had the clear light of his powerful ; intellect passed upon difficult and intri>:at& subjects diffiEolving the mists of obieconciUng_ i .th&. aTOar.e.ntly. .jon-. :-'trabsStoT7" pxecedaota and- brijiguig intq

prominence and illumination the le^al -principle-involved, which he always sought to find. HIGHEST TRADITIONS MAINTAINED. "Thu brief reference to his authorship, his public services' as officer of the Crown, and his services during his short career on the Bench," said the AttorneyGeneral, "does not complete all that we desire to say." He desired to refer to the memories of Sir John Salmond be.fore his advancement from the floor of the Court while they practised with him, memories not yet dim in his case. His service on the Bench was not long enough to sever completely the professional relations which elevation to the Bench necessarily diminished. Sir Francis spoke feelingly here of how the deceased had maintained the highest traditions of the profession, his courtesy towards an opponent and his fairness in all things. "He came into this Court by right of precedence, but he held his place by common consent as a leader amongst us." Sir Francis spoke also of the patient consideration given by the deceased outside the Court to representations made to him in the performance of his official duty, his- entire absence of an assumption of- authdrity to which his '.great, learning .entitled., .-him.. Outside the- distinct-professional relation there was the social intercourse which existed between the- members of the somewhat close corporation of the law. The personal reserve, which to many seemed at first repellant, melted, and they saw a humour, only used for illustration, never maliciously, outside the legal subjects to which he devoted his professional life. 'It is our happy memories of our relations with the man we desire to record," he said.

( I, shall conclude," said Sir Francis, with the words, of. a tribute by one classical English author to another far greater than himself, and would like in those words to express our feeling: 'We do not envy the man who can study either his life or writings without aspiring to emulate, not indeed the works with which his genius has enriched our literature, but the zeal with which he laboured for the public good; the fortitude with which he endured every private calamity, the lofty disdain with which he looked down on temptations and the faith which he so sternly kept with his country. . . .'"