NO TEMPTATIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16317, 18 April 1927, Page 10

NO TEMPTATIONS

A ,1 EDGE'S LIFE. MR. JUSTICE ALPERS IN LIGHTER VEIN. “Tins judiciary of Now Zealand, I beRevo, is equal to the beat in the British Empire, arid when one euu say that 1 think we are justified in believing that it is equal to Uni best in the world. ’’ This remark by Mr. J. J. Dougall, in proposing the health of His Honor Mr. Justice Alpers at Hie Christchurch Drainage Hoard's luncheon, was greeted with several "Hear, hears. ’ Mr. Dougall said lie had attended many of the board’s gatherings, hut lie thought that (he present was the first occasion that the day had been honored by the presence of a member of the Supreme Court Bench. (Applause.) Christchurch had beer, unfortunate for many years in that no member of the legal profession in the city had been called to the Supreme Court Bench. Then Mr. Justice Stringer was appointed, and no better Judge had ever graced the Supreme Court Bench. (Hear, hear.) The next appointment was their honored guest, Mr. Justico Alpers. They knew him very well indeed in Christchurch, and they knew’ that he possessed an intellect equalled by very few men and had carried it into the high position he now occupied. Upon tho integrity and honor of the Judges depended Hie welfare of the whole community, and he ventured to say that Mr. Justice Alpers lmd proved himself to be a first-class Judge, and one who was going to leava, behind a brilliant record. (Applause.) He was a man possessing exceedingly good common sense, and, after all was said and done, the lawyer who acted op common sense was more correct in his decisions than one who went into abstruse larv points. His Honor was a brilliant scholar, and there was, perhaps, no man in (he Empire who knew English as well as Mr. Justice Alpers.

“Little did I think T would have this thing: thrust- upon me,” said Mr. Justice Aipers, amidst- laughter. His Honor said that he was glad to meet with his friends of the Drainage Hoard, with whom, as a member of Air. Frank Oowlishaw’s firm, he had come in contact for fifteen years. Mr. Dougall had said some very nice things, which he very much appreciated; no matter how little he deserved them. “ONLY ONE BOSS.” “I have often wondered,” His Honor' went on, “when the health of Judges was being proposed if references to their integrity and high sense of duty were not a little bit overdone. ... It has been said that ‘you cannot make men moral by Act of Parliament,’ but there is one wonderful exception, and that is the Act of Settlement which provides that Judges throughout the British Em pire arc appointed for life. We have only one- boss, and lie lives in Buckingham Palace. We aro absolutely indcnendent- of Governments, and in the words of a member of the Bar we ‘enjoy the sweet simplicity of a monthly cheque.’ We are supposed to invest on first- mortgage and not to hold shares, so the share market doesn’t, interest us, and the ebb and flow of politicians doesn’t concern us. . . . We have reached the age when the temptations of the flesh have become negligible; we are in all matters removed from temptation—and onlv a man who is tempted can he forgiven for going wrong; Because we have no temptation to be anything else, without anv attempt-, we are virtuous ind moral by the Act of Parliament, and that is one sof the greatest features of f he British Constitution. When you consider other English-speaking countries where the Judges are elected, you see how terrible are the possible miscarriages of justice that- may occur. No Judge : n the British Empire fears anyone—he can only bo dismissed from office on pre--pnfn-fion 0 f a p address from both Honses of Parliament. Baron Park, some years after his apnomtment. commenting on Hie easv and irresponsible life he now b'ved, compared with his life at the Bar. remarked; ‘We find it so much easier ( b spend our days in seeking for the truth. instead pf seeking for arguments.’ T believe mvself that there is a great deal in that.”