WORKING AT SEVENTY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 June 1927, Page 10

WORKING AT SEVENTY.

LONGEVITY OF LAWYERS REM A REA RLE LX ST A XUES <l I am not 70 years -aid, 1 am 70 years young.'’ Such was the retort of Mr. E. W. Jlausell, K.U., to tin* friend who expressed amazement that lie should lie starting work as Official Referee of tin- High Court in London at that age after a long and distinguished career as a practising lawyer.

Mr. Mansell, aged 70, is taking over from Sir Edward .Pollock, aged SO. These two eases are illustrative of the extraordinary longevity of lawyers, of which there are many instances, says a London paper. .For example, Sir Thomas Willcs Cliittv, for a quarter of a century Senior Master of the Supreme Court, is returning to practise at tiie bar at the age of 71’. Living in retirement, but spending most of his days poring over law books in the library of the inner Temple, a barrister who was born in 1529 maintains both iiis physical and mental vigour. lie is Sir Marry Poland, once the most, dreaded lawyer among members of the underworld. As Senior Counsel for the Treasury he was known as the of the Treasury.” Me practised his profession from IS 51 to is yd. Sir Ed. C larke, K.C., who is now over SO, retired some years ago, not because he felt any waning of his powers, but because he wished to devote some years to literary work. Dapper, sturdy and virile, this wonderful old man is sometimes seen about the Temple walking with the rapid stride of a young man. Me spends his days —at a time when most men of his years are confined to armchair or bed—in writing a history of Disraeli.

Mr. .Justice Avery, the terror of legal underworld, is another example of legal longevity. He is nearing SO, but his alert mind works with the precision and accuracy of a man in the full flower of his intellectual life.

Lord Darling, now over SO, likes nothing bet'er than to be employed as a member of the Court of Appeal. Slight’, almost Ivayish of figure, he is as quick and witty now as he was as an eager junior counsel. In his spare time he writes short stories and poetry travels, and studies foreign languages.

The late Lord Malsbury, author of a monumental work upon the laws of England, lived to the age of 90. A few years before his death lie liked to play golf and walk along the cliffs by the North Foreland, where he had a manning home. In no other profession is age ignored in the same way. Doctors, strangely enough, seldom attain to great ages, dying, as a profession, earlier than lawyers: Only two other professions creep up to the astonishing records of the law —artists and clergymen, both of which are long-lived. The longevity of lawyers has been a subject of considerable interest to statisticans. What is the reason? The lawyer works in unhealthy conditions, in b;ul!y-veiuii'ated courts, and he works at high pressure and under intense mental strain.

The agricultural worker spends his life in the open air, but in the table of vital statistics his mortality chart shows that lie cannot expect anything like the span of years granted to the lavvver.

One reason put forward to explain Ihe longevity of lawyers is the fact that most successful lawyers are men of A 1 physique. Another reason —that given by .Mr. 11 a nsel I—is1 —is that arduous mental work makes for long life. Mr. Mansell says that the proper age for a

lawyer to retire is a hundred! The reason far the longevity of the clergy is their immunity from the competitive struggle for life; while the comparative short life of the doctor is put down to irregular and long hours and exposure to disease.