SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Hokitika Guardian, 30 June 1920, Page 1

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

MR W. C. MACGREGOR appointed. (Per Press Association.) DUNEDItf, June 26. }lr W. C. MacGregor, K.C. has been offered and has accepted the office of Solicitor-General for the Dominion of New Zealand. The appointment has been made to lill the vacancy caused by the elevation of Sir John iSalmond (late Solicitor-General) to the Supreme Conn Bench. Mr MacGregor will leave for Wellington to take up his responsible duties during the next few weeks. This is not the first, nor the second, nor yet the third occasion, upon which the Dunedin Bar has lost a leader ia the interests of the Dominion. The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), Mr Justice Chapman, Mr Justice -Sim, Mr Justice Hosking, and the late Sir John Denniston, were all Dunedin practitioners, while several other Dunedin barristers have been called to public posts only less responsible.

I Mr MacGregor is generally recognised ■ throughout New Zealand as one of the I most able and eloquent pleaders the ! Dominion lias produced, and ’ n hj s wid<? ! practice locally is noted for liis wit, ! large and expressive vocabulary and ! sound law. Both as barrister and as citizen he will be sorely missed in Dunedin. In the latter capacity his high ideals of civic duty, and his lofty views on Imperial issues, have frequently laid the community under debt to him. Mr MacGregor was born at Paisley Scotland, and educated at George Watson’s College, Edinburgh, and Edinburgh University. Ho came out U> New Zealand at the end of 1881, and entered the office of Messrs Stewart and Denniston, in Dunedin. He passed his final examination ns a barrister. and solicitor in September, 1883, receiving also the gold medal offered for the best candidate in the colony. A few years later he commenced private practice, and in 1903, on Mr Chapman’s elevation to the Bench he became a member of the firm of Smith, MacGregor and Sin clair (now MacGregor and Ramsay). In 1914 he was appointed Crown Solicitor, and in the same year was made King - Counsel.