SIR OWEN DIXON

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 May 1942, Page 8

SIR OWEN DIXON

AUSTRALIA’S MINISTER TO U.S.A

1 Sir Owen Dixon, Australian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, in succession to Mr. R. G. Casey, was, like Sir John Latham, who went to a similar post in Japan, taken from the ! High Court bench (says the “Australian Newsletter”). I No Australian judge is held in highI er esteem by the legal profession. Al- | ways quiet and unassuming, courteious, kindly and helpful, Sir Owen is I regarded as one of the greatest jurists . in the British Empire. Although not ! over-enthusiastic about sport or so- ! cial pleasures, he has a personality iri resistibly winning. i An elegant public speaker with a , whimsical sense of humour, Sir Owen is not an emotionalist. The pitfalls of indiscretion are perpetually before his mind. Still, when he is convinced that he is right about a subject, and the time is ripe to disgorge something, he will not flinch from his duty. On occasion, he is very outspoken. Thirteen years ago Mr. Owen Dixon, K.C., gave up a practice variously estimated to be worth from £7OOO to £ 10,000 a year to succeed the late Mr. Justice Higgins on the High Court bench at a salary of £3OOO a year. At the age of 42 he became the “baby” of the bench. Born at Hawthorn, Sir Owen Dixon was 56 on April 28. He graduated M.A. and Bachelor of Laws in 1909, and soon after his admission to the Bar the following year he built up a sound County Court practice from which. he graduated to the Supreme Court of Victoria aftef four years. After the last war when there was a tremendous boom in litigation, Sir

Owen earned a reputation for equity and constitutional law. Also he was briefed in many important patent cases. When he went to England to fight a wool case before the Privy Council he was assured by Sir John Simon of a practice worth at least £20,000 a year if he would stay in England. But money was a subsidiary object in>his life. He declined the offer and was happy to return to Australia. He accepted the High Court appointment out of a genuine desire to give some service to his country. That motive actuated his acceptance of the diplomatic post. Sir Owen is one of the few legal men who never lost his temper, not even with a prevaricating witness or a hec- J toring legal man. His calin and often | witty retorts to any comment invar- | iably stilled the troubled waters and I provoked smiles in place of frowns. Sir Owen’s capacity for work is enormous—far greater than one would expect from a physique which would appear to be not over-robust.