JUDGE CHAPMAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 89, 14 April 1875, Page 4

JUDGE CHAPMAN.

In reply to an address from the members of the Bar on the occasion of his retirement from the Bench, Judge Chapman said: — " Mr Cook and Gentlemen of the Bar —I beg you will accept my very cordial thanks for the kind expression which have fallen from Mr Cook, wbich I know echo the feelings of the Bar. I have had a loog tenure of office in thiß colony, extending over nineteen years, with the exception of a short period. Eleven years have been passed in this district, with the exception of a short time when I was absent. During such a period it is almost impossible that a number of men could meet in contests, involving perhape a good deal of human passion and argumentative annoyances., without expressions falling from them that should not have been used. I do not forget at all that a Judge is subject to similar inOrmity, and that occasionally expressions may have fallen from my lips which, though not attending it, may have caused some pain to the minds of some. These inadvertences are much too well known and understood to last long in the minds of the counsel A man must, indeed, be of very weak mind mind if thinks he can pass through the world and not take those little expressions as mere words which should be forgotten as soon as felt. Generally, I may say, duriDg the whole of tho nineteen years I have sat on the Bench, my relations with tbe Bar have been of a satisfactory and even friendly nature, and therefore it is tbat I feel this retirement from the oilice I hold inexpressibly. Some pbilosopher, I think itwas Dr Johnson, said " we never do aoything the last time without, regret. Even a prisoner who leaves his prison looks back with regret on something tbat has occurred •—some kindness, perhaps, that he hns experienced there which has mitigated his sufferings. I, too, regret that this is the last time tbat, I shall sit as Judge in this court. Sitting as I have done in the exercise of a profession ot which I have always been fond and proud, which has led me into studies congenial to my own feelings and tastes — studies not only pertaining to (he technicalities of my profession, but which were necessary to the clear conception of tbe cases which came before me — the work I have had to do, although sometimes a little pressing, has on the whole been only such as to keep the mind alive and in healthy action. It has not been so oppressive as probably it may some time be when the colony has doubled its present population. Perhaps one or two words as to my experience in the colony will not be quite out of place, in connection with the oflice I have so long held. I came to New Zealand in 1843. At that time there were only 1 1,000 Europeans in the country. There was no production for trade in the colony. The only article for export was whale oil. We in Wellington did not know anything of the Middle Island. The West Coast was totally unknown, although now proving a mine of wealth. We knew of this part of the country only that there was a Port Cooper, and that a gentleman lived in this neighborhood legally known as John Jones, Esq., of Waikouaiti. We were totally ignorant of the whole of tbis island aod of its resources. Now we have in New Zealand a population of 300,000. That fact explains the the variety of operations which have created the laws which we have for the last eleven years been engaged in dispensing to the best of our ability. One testimony to the prosperity of this colony is to see tbe number of wigs and gowns I now see before me. My earnest wish is, that, in your profession, and iu your domestic privacy, you may have health, happiness, and prosperity. Although it is the last time I shall sit on the Bench, I hope it is by no means the last lime I shall have the pleasure of seeing you, not as a Judge, but as Mr Chapman."