THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES. JUDGES AND LAW OFFICERS DURING THE PERIOD COMPRISED IN THIS VOLUME. The Hon. SIR FREDERICK DARLEY, K.C.M.G., CHIEF JUStice. The Hon. MATTHEW HENRY STEPHEN The Hon. WILLIAM OWEN The Hon. CHARLES JAMES MANNING The Hon. GEORGE BOWEN SIMPSON The Hon. RICHARD EDWARD O'CONNOR (Acting) JUDGES IN EQUITY: PUISNE JUDGES. The Hon. CHARLES JAMES MANNING, CHIEF Judge. JUDGE IN VICE-ADMIRALTY: The Hon. SIR FREDERICK DARLEY, K.C.M.G., JUDGE COMMISSARY. JUDGE IN DIVORCE: The Hon. GEORGE BOWEN SIMPSON. JUDGES IN BANKRUPTCY AND PROBATE: ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The Hon. JOHN H WANT, Q.C. SOLICITOR-GENERAL: The Right Hon. GEORGE H. REID, Q.C. ON Monday, the 8th of August, the HON. CHARLES JAMES MANNING, Chief Judge in Equity, died. On Tuesday, the 9th of August, when the Court sat: THE CHIEF JUSTICE said: When the sad news reached me yesterday that the Almighty had seen fit take our dear friend Mr. Justice Manning to Himself I was too stunned to do more than announce the fact to the Bar. I fancy I saw my own feelings reflected on the faces of all those in Court. It is not possible to meet now without saying a few words which may express our feeling of deep sorrow at the loss of so dear and valuable a colleague. Mr. Justice Manning was a refined, courteous, and kindly gentleman, a learned, able, hardworking, and conscientious Judge; one who, having a keen insight into human nature, among many other noble characteristics, knew how to temper justice with mercy. Rarely do we find in any one man such a combination of qualities fitting him for the position of a Judge as Mr. Justice Manning possessed. An exceedingly ably Equity lawyer, he was perfectly at home when sitting on the Common Law side of the Court, and this whether in the exercise of its civil or its criminal jurisdiction. It may with truth be said that he formed and established the practice which now prevails in the Bankruptcy Court and which has proved so satisfactory to the public. Consequently the loss the public sustain by his too early death is well nigh irreparable. Having practised for some 24 years at our Bar with great success, he was in 1889 raised to the Bench, which he has adorned for the past nine years. Although more or less an invalid for some years past, his indomitable courage, a prevailing sense of duty, and a total abnegation of self sustained and enabled him to fulfil his onerous work to the entire satisfaction of the public, his colleagues on the Bench, and the Bar, who now mourn their loss. He was at all times a genial companion, possessed of a most lovable nature, and was a true and loyal colleague, always ready to afford his valuable assistance to any branch of our varied jurisdictions which required his aid. Only on Friday last, at my request, he was sitting in this Court, with his mind so bright and his perception so clear as to lead one to hope that we might have the benefit of his services for some years yet to come. For myself, I may say I have lost one of my oldest and dearest friends. He leaves behind him an example for us all to follow. The nearer we approach the end he aimed at—a high standard of judicial excellence-the more useful we will be in the discharge of our high duty to the public. Nothing now remains but to express our deep and heartfelt sympathy with Mrs. Manning and the other members of his family, and to pray that the Almighty may see fit in His own good time to assuage the inevitable and bitter grief which flows from the irreparable loss they have sustained. Sir JULIAN SALOMONS, Q.C., said: If your Honours please, may I be allowed to inform the Court that as the Honourable the Attorney-General is unfortunately kept at home to-day by illness, he has sent a request that I think I shall best fulfil by reading with your Honours' permission the letter I have received. Mr. Want writes: Sydney, August 8. "My dear Sir Julian,—I have just heard of the sad death of my dear friend Mr. Justice Manning. I am confined to my room through illness, and therefore prevented from paying (as the official head of the Bar) my tribute of respect and esteem to his memory. Will you as senior member of the profession undertake the painful duty which would otherwise have fallen upon me? I feel that the Bench has suffered an almost irreparable loss by the death of Mr. Justice Manning. His great patience and common sense, combined with his acknowledged high legal attainments, made Mr. Justice Manning a conspicuous judicial figure, and I am much afraid that his devotion to duty unduly hastened his end. Both branches of the profession will ever remember his great courtesy and impartiality, and the people of the colony will soon realise that they have seen a truly faithful and loyal servant called away. It was my privilege to number Mr. Justice Manning amongst my dearest personal friends, and his death has caused me a great sense of sorrow and grief, which cannot be effaced. I am sincerely grieved that I cannot attend personally to give expression to my recognition of our great loss; but I am sure that I can depend upon you conveying to the Court our universal sorrow and our sympathy with those who, near and dear to him, are left to mourn their loss. But the wish of the Attorney-General I need not carry out literally. The Bar has heard with sympathetic accord and sorrowful appreciation what has been so well and aptly said by his Honour the Chief Justice and in the letter I have read; so I think I ought only to add on behalf of the Bar our full and heartfelt concurrence in the tributes of admiration, regret, and affection so perfectly and sincerely expressed. I had the friendship of Mr. Justice Manning without a ripple of misunderstanding throughout the whole of his career from the time he left college till the day-only last Friday-when he sat here and gave judgment in a case I had then argued. I am naturally somewhat unnerved by his sudden going from amongst us. But I must not refer to myself alone. All of us at the Bar can testify not only to his legal knowledge and ability, but also to his never-failing patience and unvarying urbanity-qualities as much needed as great learning for the smooth and efficient discharge of the difficult duties of the judicial office. We at the Bar have to deplore the sudden parting with a dear and true friend, the Supreme Court Bench has lost a most valued colleague, and the whole colony cannot but mourn the untimely death of one of her best sons, who, to the last, served his country faithfully and well. As to this world it is too true that he is no longer living; but we may hope that as long as the lives of sorely tried and much to be pitied mankind need the aid of human laws to guide, control, and coerce them, the spirit of his wise and beneficent influence may live and be entwined in the traditions of the Court of which he was so honoured and distinguished a member. On the 25th of August, The Hon. ARCHIBALD HENRY SIMPSON, Judge in Bankruptcy and Probate, was appointed Chief Judge in Equity. On the 25th of August, WILLIAM GREGORY WALKER, Esquire, Q.C., was appointed Judge in Bankruptcy and Probate. On the same day in the Banco Court, Mr. Justice WALKER was sworn in. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL (Mr. J. H. Want, Q.C.) said: On behalf of the members of the Bar, of which 1 have the honour to be the official head, and on behalf of and at the request of the members of the other branch of the profession—the solicitors of the Court-- I desire to offer to you, Mr. Justice Gregory Walker, our hearty and sincere congratulations upon your elevation to the distinguished position which you now occupy. Our pleasure in offering these congratulations and words of welcome is necessarily tinged with some feeling of regret that the vacancy on the Bench which has been filled by your appointment was caused by the death of one who had endeared himself to the hearts of all of us; but we feel |