A WITTY JUDGE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 4016, 26 February 1903, Page 3

A WITTY JUDGE.

_ The recent death of ex-Cornmiss-ioner Kerr, who was a very wellknown figure in the legal circle at Home, has revived a host of good ■anecdotes concerning tho late Judge. He was famous for for his caustic wit, his broad Scots accent and his shrewdness and fearlessness. Although he sat for 42 years on the Bench he never lost his Scots dialect. " Gentlemen,’’ he would say to the Jury by way of summing up, '" you havq hear-r-d the evidence just as well as 1 have hear-r-d it ! I leave the ' case to the cawmcn sense which juries are supposed tae possess, ('’onsecdcr your vairdict.” He used to wax sarcastic over the intelligence of juries. "If you have a good case,” he was fond cf saying “ you are safe with a judge. If you have a bad on© you have a chance with* a jury.” At other times the Commissioner' would grow cynical. "King David,” he exclaimed once, " said in his haste that all men •.ere bars. If he had been- sitting here for over forty years he would have said it in his leisure.” ■One of his pet aversions was the unscrupulous money-lender. Once a youth, who had originally borrowed £l2 from one of this < Jass, an I been duly fleeced, came before the Com missioner. Considering that the young man had paid enough already Mr Kerr ordered him to repay the .balance of the loan by instalments of Li a month, the last instalment will be due 239 years hence ! It was not often that a lawic.r got the best of Commissioner Kerr in repartee, but one good instance may he quoted. Irritated by a heavy cavalry moustache, which a solicitor appearing before him was wearing, Mr Kerr snapped out, "There are a lot of solicitors running about London like fox-terriers with moustaches.” “Yes,” replied the solicitor, "but I would rather be an English terrier than a Scotch Kerr.”