CHIEF JUDGE RETIRES

Te Ao Hou, June 1961, Page 57

CHIEF JUDGE RETIRES The retirement of Chief Judge D. G. B. Morison of the Maori Land Court was commemorated at a farewell function held for the Chief Judge in the Ngati-Poneke Social Hall. Mr J. K. Hunn, Secretary for Maori Affairs, said of Chief Judge Morison's retirement that it was the end of an era for the Court. The first half of Chief Judge Morison's term of office was characterised by stability, and the second by the consolidation of reforms introduced in 1953, Mr Hunn said. He was the personification of the qualities that went to make a good Chief Judge. He had a fatherly presence, rugged character, unruffled courtesy and modest equanimity. The Minister for Maori Affairs (Mr Hanan) said that since he took office he had been struck by the respect shown by the Maori people for the Maori Land Court and that that was due to the high calibre of the men who had graced it. In the last 98 years there had been only nine Chief Judges, and all had left their mark. Chief Judge Morison had been dealing with living Maori history and the shape of things to come would depend on wisdom applied largely by reason of the great precedents created by past and present judges. A man's work was his monument, and here it was imprinted on the minds and hearts of the Maori people. In reply, Chief Judge Morison said he had always enjoyed the association the Court had with Maoris, both young and old. The Court was an old institution and it was different from other Courts where judges probably never saw the same people again. A judge of the Maori Land Court got to know the people in his district, knew what they were doing with their land, and followed their families along. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆