NEW KING’S COUNSEL

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1934, Page 3

NEW KING’S COUNSEL

CAREERS OF APPOINTEES. TWO EX-NEW PLYMOUTH MEN. The new K.C.’s, who were sworn in at the Supreme Court at Wellington yesterday, are all well known members of the legal profession. Mr. A. H. Johnstone is one of Auckland’s most eminent barristers. Bom at Milton, Otago, he was educated at the Tokomairiro District High School and Victoria University College. He took his B.A. degree in 1905, and graduated as a Bachelor of Laws in 1907. He commenced practice in New Plymouth, and was for a time president of the Taranaki District Law Society. He took an active interest in public affairs, holding seats on the New Plymouth Borough Council and the High School Board. He transferred to Auckland some years ago. At the present time he holds the position of president of the Auckland District Law Society and is also a member of the Council of Legal Education. Mr. J. B. Callan was for some years a principal of the firm of Callan and Gallaway, of Dunedin, but recently transferred to Wellington, where he commenced practice. Born at Dunedin in 1882, he was educated at the Christian Brothers’ School and Otago University, where he took his B.A. and L.L.B. degrees in 1906. In 1907, on the retirement of his father, he became a partner in the firm of Callan and Gallaway. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law at Otago University, where he was lecturer in Torts and was at one time president of the Otago District Law Society. Mr. Callan saw service in the Great War as a captain of the 3rd Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and has been a vice-presi-dent of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association. He took a keen interest in athletics, and was at one time president of the Otago Amateur Athletic Association.

Mr. C. H. Weston, whose father was at one time a District Judge- (serving in that office in Hawke’s Bay and Westland), was bom in Hokitika in 1879, and educated at Christ’s College, Christchurch, and Canterbury College. He graduated LL.B, in 1901, and began practice with his brother, the late Hon. T. Shailer Weston, at New Plymouth in the same year. He became a partner with his father as Weston and Weston .at New Plymouth, and remained with the .firm from 1903 until 1912. After the death of his father he went into partnership with Mr. H. R. Billing, the firm carrying on under the name of Weston and Billing. Later still Mr. Ball was admitted to the partnership, but the firm remained under the name of Weston and Billing until March, 1931, when Mr. H. S. Weston, Mr. C. H. Weston’s son, entered the business. Mr. Billing left the firm, and Messrs. F. S. Grayling and 'H. S. Weston were admitted to the partnership. Mr. C. H. Weston left shortly afterwards to take up practice as a barrister in Auckland. During his practice in New Plymouth Mr. Weston had been Crown Solicitor at New Plymouth from 1912 until 193 L

He took a keen interest in defence matters, and he was a captain of the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers at New Plymouth in 1901. He served with the Wellington Regiment during the Great War in Gallipoli, Egypt and France, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel and obtaining the D.S.O. He was also New Zealand commanding officer of the Legion of Frontiersmen. Mr. Weston is a noted pedigree stock breeder. He has taken an active interest in public affairs, and among the many offices he held was president, of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, president of the Taranaki District Law Society, and president of the New Plymouth Repatriation Committee. He commenced practice in Wellington in 1931. He is the author of “Three Years with the New Zealanders” and “Workmen’s and Contractors’ Liens.”

Rigid conditions apply io the appointment of King’s Counsel and have had a. tendency to make such positions economically unattractive to most lawyers in New Zealand. A King’s Counsel has to sever entirely his connections with the solicitor’s branch of the profession and to devote himself solely to the Bar. It is pointed opt that few lawyers in New Zealand can afford to dispense with their solicitors’ practices. The position of a King’s Counsel in New Zealand is in some ways identical with that of an English barrister. He can only be consulted through a solicitor. He cannot appear in the Supreme Court without a junior counsel, who must receive a fee equal to two-thirds of that received by his senior. He can only make a limited number of appearances in the Court during a year and then only at a minimum fee of £lO 10s. He cannot appear against the Crown without first obtaining special leave and paying n fee to the Crown.