CROWN PROSECUTOR'S DEATH

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 44, 17 March 1909, Page 4

CROWN PROSECUTOR'S DEATH

TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MR. T. M. MoDONALD. Upon th<> 'opening'; of the Supreme Court yesterday morning, and before entering ujion the business of the session, Mi. T. H. Weston, the Crown Prosecutor, said tlml lie would, with the permission of his Honor Mr. Justice Oliaipman, like lo refer to the sudden death of Mr. T. M. McDonald, Crown Prosecutor at Invercargill.

The members of the Har rose to their feet, and remained standing until the reference to the deceased gentleman closed. Mr. Weston said that the late Mr. McDonald had been a contemporary of his in the days gone by, and no one knew better his excellent character as a young man—a character 'which he had borne right through hi* life. He had lilled the position of Crown Prosecutor at Invercargill for forty years, and was the oldest Crown Prosecutor in the Dominion. It Vas far from the speaker to be invidious in the slightest, but it was safe to-sav that if he were iiot the most excellent Crown Prosecutor, there was certainly no one 'to surpass him. He was judicious in all his thoughts and actions, and as Crown Prosecu'tor, although lie fought his case to the end in the interest* of justice, he could never have been 'accused of forcing a case und'uly. In his death Xew Zealand had lost a most able officer, and it became the members of the profession here, though distant from Invercargill, to (.vpre.»M 'an appreciation oi the lafe Mr. .M'cDonhld's character as a lawyer and a of the services he had rendered to the country. Lite Honor said that it was with very, deep ngrcl that he hiul heard on the previous day of the death ot' his old friend, Mr. .McDonald, lie could fully endorse everything that had been said

s:'.'d by yji, Woston with reference to his professional ability, eminent fairness. and estimable character, liis acquaintance with Mr. McDonald did not extend over as loiig u, period as Mr. Weston's, ilmt he thad known him for the last :Jli years, and he had been much encouraged 'when starting the practice of his profession by wome remarks and advice received 'from that geutleuuvn, adViee th'at he still remembered and found invaluable during his career. The lirst time he had been asked to preside in the Supreme Court was at Invercargill. -which was an interesting circumstance to him, for Mr. McDonald had conducted cases there before his Honor's late leather, Throughout his whole career the late Ciown Prosecutor at Invercargill 'liad always displayed those qualities which Mr. Weston had described, and mast af the members of the legal profession present must have known him by name, and they would join -with him in regretting the loss his death entailed upon his family and the Dominiou.