AN APPRECIATION BY BENCH AND BAR.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14802, 19 June 1918, Page 314 (Supplement)

AN APPRECIATION BY BENCH AND BAR.

(From "The Colonist," Juno 13th.) There was a full,muster cf tiie n.irristers and solicitors •prae.tr-" «iig in tho city at the Magistrate's Court" vester day morning. * _Mr C. J. Harley, addr-?s.-aig i.he Magistrate, said that ho had K>eu requested to refer, to the sudden n;;<t deeply «v----gretted death of their irieud, Mr (\ \ Fell, who was the senior mother 01 the Bar in Nelson. For nearly £') years .Mr! Fell liad actively .practised his profes-i sion in Nelson, and he was •prob'siblv. thol foremost practitioner there had Fxmk in Nelson. .For many years ne na-1 how Crown Prosecutor *and Crown Solicitor. and lie had carried out the duties ;#t-j tacheel to those offices m a w:*y that was recognised as.'the nroo-ir manner, i.e., ho had carefully bro'igttt >>y evidence the facts in support of a charge, as was his duty, but at the sumo timehq, never unduly pressed a charge. Mr Fell had always held a very prominent! place as a criminal lawyer, and iir his general practice he had proved inmsolf j an ablo and honourable man; his nord "was at all times as good as Jus. bend, and in all his long career lie haa ~ norer iicted in any way contrary to the Txvsfc traditions of his profession. Mr I-Vd\« good work was not confined to his profession; for some 30 years he had been the most active and foremost citir.cn. He was Mayor for some years, and had filled a great many other offices, and when it was necessary to send omeone to England to protect the interests of Nelson in connection with the Midland Railway affairs, Mr Fell -was selected for the post. In many other ways, too. he was chosen to take a prominent part in public affairs and occasions. Sotwithstanding the active life he led in connection with his. profession and jiti'brlie matters, -he found time ipr intellectual -and mother :(?piir^uits-^he' .' was. it scholar. and. linguist, a musician-;a nd an had reached his 74th year Mr Fell had been so active physically anH montaUy that his friends- had looked for another ten years or more of active work from him. He was at the time of his death 3^-esident of the Law Society and all the members deeply regretted the loss of a'man who was nn ornament'to'the Bar and at all times used his influence towards maintainino- its best traditions. They felt the loss of a friend, and Nelson had lost the services of a broadminded, faithful, and energetic citizen. The Magistrate (Mr F. (j'B. Lou<*hnan) said that he had listened with great interest to Mr Harley's remarks. Personally his acquaintance with Mr Fell was not a long one, hut for many years he had known him by reputation as a foremost Nelson citizen and a man to whom it ■was proper to apply a word confined to our own language—he was "a gentleman." He joined with the Bar in the expression of regret at the loss of so distinguished a member and so good a citizen. Nelson's loss was a very great one.