BENCH AND BAR.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5379, 24 June 1878, Page 3

BENCH AND BAR.

FAREWELL ADDRESS TO T. A, MAN3PORD. ESQ., B.M. (From the Morning Herald). At the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning a well-deserved tribute of respect was paid by the Bar of Dunedin to T. A. Mansford, Esq., R.M., who is about to take his departure for the purpose of assuming his duties as District Judge at Wellington. There was a large muster of the Bar, among the members present being the AttorneyGeneral, Messrs. James Smith, G, Cook, B. C. Haggitt, W. D. Stewart, A. W. Smith, H. Howorth, F. R. Ghapman, A. Bathgate, Denniston, Sinclair, White, MoKeay, Adams, E. C. Strode, Mouat, Kenyon, E. Hay, Joyce, Ireland, E. Cook, Nation, Hoskins, J. B. Harris, Maogregor, C, R. Chapman, J. A. Hialop, and Fraser (Palmerston). Mr. Hansford was supported on the right by his Honor Judge Bathgate. Mr. James Smith said ; Mr. Mansford, —At a meeting of the legal profession yesterday I had the honor of being deputed to address your Worship a few words of congratulation and farewell on this last occasion on which you are to preside at this Court. It gives me great pleasure, sir, in being thus the medium to offer to your Worship the sincere congratulation of the Dunedin Bar upon your promotion to a higher sphere of judicial duty. I believe—X am sure, indeed— that I am expressing the unanimous feeling of the legal profession in saying that wo regard your promotion as a clue reward in recognition of the superior ability, the energy, the assiduity, and the unswerving impartiality that have characterised your career—your long career—as Resident Magistrate, while at this time we recognise the wise policy of the Government in selecting for such important offices as District Judgeships men of your ability and legal attainments. While congratulating you upon your promotion, I desire to express our unfeigned regret that your approaching departure will sever your long connection with the Bar of this city, for a retrospect of that action not only brings to onr mind the able manner in which you have discharged your duties, but also the many kindly offices and the courtesy we have experienced at your hands. Allow me, sir, in conclusion, to express the earnest hope that yon may long be spared to fulfil the duties of your high position, and that health and happiness may attend you and yours to the close of life. (Applause.) Judge Bathgate said: Mr. Smith and Gentians,, J üball be pardoned, I believe, on this occasion giving expression to my cordial concurrence with the well-merited tribute of respect that you have paid just now to my colleague, Mr. Mansford. I may take this opportunity of saying, at the same time, that our mutual relations have bosn of an exceedingly pleasant and agreeable kind, and I beg to say how much I have valued the able assistance rendered not only to the public by Mr. Mansford in the discharge of his duties i.ere, but also to myself. He has nat limited his assistance merely to the stated day each week which was appointed to him, but on every opportunity that I required extra help in the way of getting a week or a fortnight s relaxation from the constant grind which continues here Mr. Mansford had oply to bo asked to render most cheerfully all that I asked at his hands. Our relations have indeed been exceedingly amicable and pleasant in every way, without the slightest drawback. I may also state that it is to myself a matter of regret that I am to lose that assistance, but I must express my great gratification at Mr. Mansford’s well-deserved promotion. There can be no doubt that the people of Wellington ■ will experience in him what wo know ho has been proved to be—a thoroughly trained lawyer.

a gentleman posse-sing a large measure of sound o mtnon sense, and I know otherwi-e, from expressions that he has dropped to me, that his heart lies thoroughly in his work. With all these qualifications I believe ttiat he will bo of great benefit to the people of Wellington, aud that ho will prove himself there, as he has proved himseif here, to be a thoroughly impartial aud conscientious Judge. (Applause.) Mr. Mansford, in briefly replying, said; Mr. James Smith, gentlemen of the New Zealand Bar practising in Dunedin, and ray friend Mr. Bathgate,—This is indeed au unexpected, and—were it not. that I suppose you are competent to express your own opinion on the matter—l would add, an uuneserved honor. It is a very common saying in the newspapers, that when a man’s health has been proposed at an ordinary social meeting, he makes use of the expression when he rises to respond, “ This is the happiest moment of my life,” Now, I think I may safelv say that there is no form of speech in the English language—there are no words that would more adequately express my feelings, than the phrase, “ This is the proudest moment of my life.” I feel it indeed a proud honor to have all the members of the Bar in Dunedin present, and to he supported on my right by Mr. Bathgate. I feel it a great honor to be supported in this way. All that I can say with regard to the discharge of my duties is this— that I have endeavored in every case that has been brought before me to bring common sense to bear upon it, and I have invariably found that where common sense has been brought to bear common sense will be borne out by the common law. lam proud indeed to acknowledge the extreme courtesy I have always received from the Dunedin Bar, aud though I feel a delicacy in appearing before yon to-day, yet I feel that this will strengthen me in the discharge of the higher duties which I have been called upon to fulfil. Gentlemen, I thank you from my heart for jour kind expressions of regard.