THE CHIEF JUSTICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 July 1946, Page 6

THE CHIEF JUSTICE

RETIREMENT OF SIR MICHAEL

MYERS TRIBUTE FROM PROFESSION (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 31. Sir Michael Myers, P.C., K.C.M.G., K.C., Chief Justice of New Zealand, sat on the Bench in the Wellington Supreme Court to-day for the last time, his retirement ending a career in law which evoked exceptional tributes from members of that profession. Nearly 200 members of both branches of the profession were present to do him honour, including representatives of district law societies outside Wellington, and messages were received expressing the regret of other districts that the Bench should lose such a capable and eminent jurist. The Attorney-General, Mr. Mason, was represented by the Solicitor-General, Mr. Evans, K.C. The court below was represented by Messrs J. L. Stout, W. F. Stilwell, and A. M. Goulding, Wellington magistrates. At the inner bar were four K.C’s. in addition to Mr. Evans— Messrs C. H. Weston, H. F. O’Leary, P. B. Cooke and W. J. Sim. Others attending included Mr. P. J. O’Regan, formerly Judge of the Arbitration Court, Mr. B. L. Dallard, Under-secretary of Justice, and Mr. W. H. Cunningham, Crown Prosecutor.

Mr. Evans, after giving a message from Mr. Mason, said the Bar was deeply sensible of the loss which the whole Dominion had suffered by reason of His Honour’s retirement after 17 years on the Judicial Bench. His Honor could hardly be said to have specialised in any one branch of the law, for he had become a master in them all. s Mr. Evans also referred to the Chief Justices’s practice of always, with due regard to the protection of the public, mercifully keeping in mind the reformation of the offender, and his latest service, which had been to a cause of vital importance to the whole world, when at short notice he undertook an arduous journey to America and had had a hand in the drafting of the statute of the Inter-, national Court of Justice.