PRACTICE IN PLEADING.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 31 January 1929, Page 7

PRACTICE IN PLEADING.

LAW fc-UCLETV TRAINING

PRAISE FROM DIKE OE' YORK

Trioute to the useful service perloriued i_»v uuv societies wa.s expresses oy flis .uoyal Tiigliness, tlie Duae ot York, wnen, ut its recent aiuiunl dinner m Loudon, lie sponsored the toast oi tlie Hardwicke Law Society.

Originating in IS4<5, said the Duke (as reported in tlie London “Law Times”;, the Hardwicke Society ftuok its name from Lord Hardwicke wlm was one ol the most famous • Lord Chancellors Great Britain had ever I known and in the course ol tlie intervening yeans the society had produced many famous men, prominent among whom was a former president, cir Ldwurd Clarke, whose name was honoured throughout the British Empire. Sir Edward Clarke had dedicated one of his literary productions to (lie society in the words: “In teoognitiou of the fact that in the meetings ot the society I have fotinu inv best training lor the work at the Bar.” No higher compliment .could have been paid to the society, continued the Duke, lie himself had had one litt.e experience of the law. He had not taken a. place on tlie Bench or stood in the dock, but it fell to his lot to hold many positions. He was president of hospitals and societies of every kind; he held commissions in all three ■lighting services: lie was a Maori chief, a boy scout, a drilper, and last but not least, an Bencher of the Inner Temple, but not having been asked to become a judge he could not speak from personal experience of the duties of that position. Still, the society seemed to involve two main principles, tlie training of the mind and the training of the tongue. There was no profession in which quickness of* wit was more necessary than was the ease at the Bar. Accuracy and alertness of mind were essential, but were themselves of little use unless the possessor of these qualities could also, express himself clearly and tersely. Nothing was more delightful to hear than a well expressed speech. Was it not a fact that there was hardly any power in the world which swayed the masses more powerfully than oratory? And yet how • few really good speakers there were.

A man armed with that power could be of real service to his country and, therefore, in preparing coming students and young -barristers for pleading. the society was performing a work of great' and admirable importance, and when one remembered some of the names of those who bad been its members and what they bad done it was clear that it was performing its work ivitn marked success.