SINCERE TRIBUTES TO RETIRING JUDGE OF SUPREME COURT

Wanganui Chronicle, 19 July 1950, Page 2

SINCERE TRIBUTES TO RETIRING JUDGE OF SUPREME COURT

DUNEDIN, Last Night (PA)."Silence for His Honoui’ the King’s Judge.” Preceded by these traditional words from the Court Crier, Sir Robert Kennedy this afternoon took his place on the Supreme Court Bench for the last time to hear tributes from the Bar on the occasion of his retirement after 21 years as a Judge in the Otago and Southland district. Sixty members of the Bar, bewigged and gowned, as well as many other solicitors, the Dunedin Magistrates and Civic Dignitaries, gathered to show ther respect for His Honour. It was an impressive occasion and the Judge was obviously deeply moved by the tributes which were paid to hit service on the Bench. After making his reply, Sir Robert came down on to the floor of the Court and shook hands with members of the profession as they filed past him. The speakers were Mr. W. H. Cun* ningham, president of the N.Z. Law Society, who flew down from Wellington to attend the ceremony; Mr. G. M. Lloyd, president of the Otago district of the society; and Mr. A. Arthur, representing the Southland district. With them occupying the front places at the Bar were Mr. Justice Adams, and Mr. A. G. Neill K.C. Few appeals had been successful against Ids judgments. They referred to the Judge’s "meticulous and scrupulous care in the performance of his judicial duties which had been pursued with unswerving zeal.” “Your Honour will go down in the legal history of our Dominion as one of the great Judges, Mr. Cunningham said. The Bench would be deprived of Sir Robert in his prime as & Judge. “Anyone who thinks that justice is achieved without effort and without sweat and tears deceives himself,” Sir Robert said in reply. A Judge could not do his work unless he was sustained and supported and helped by the bar. No Judge himself could surmount all the infinite complexities of law and fact without great aid. "If I personally have appeared to have achieved anything then I would record my indebtedness to you all. Few of the public can ever know what that means but I know. "It is very necessary that the work Of the Court should be adequately reported to the public so that they might understand what was being done, and might follow the justice of the decisions and might feel especially that criminal justice was their justice,” His Honour said. “I have found that the doings of the Court have been adequately and properly reported. The Press in this city has been fair, vigilant and accurate.”