Eloquent Tributes by

Late Sir Hubert

Murray

Eloquent Tributes by Papuan Judiciary

From Our Own Correspondent

Port Moresby, March 13.

ON March 13, at a special sitting of the Central Court, before a large, representative gathering, Mr. Jus tice Gore, Mr. W. Brian Molloy, and Mr, R. D. Bertie, barristers practising in the Central Court, paid tribute to the great services rendered to the Judiciary of the Territory by the late Sir Hubert Mur ray during the 36 years that he was Judge of the Court, “We wish to pay a tribute, not to Sir Hubert Murray the Lieutenant-Governor, so eminently successful in the sphere of administration (that has been the sub ject of other occasions), but to claim what is peculiarly our province, to ren der a eulogy of Mr. Justice Murray, the Judge, who for so long adorned this Court,” said Mr. Justice Gore.

“Mr. Justice Murray brought to the Bench scholastic perfection, a thorough knowledge of the principles of Common Law, and a reasoning power with which few are blessed. He also brought a great humanity and a consideration for the rights of others, which has been described as one of the great elements of social virtue. His courtesy was un failing, his impartiality scrupulous. He was one of the most courageous men I have ever known and this innate courage was ever displayed in the cause of right and justice.

“Mr. Justice Murray was therefore

equipped to assume the important task of imposing on a primitive people the jurisprudence of a civilised society. He was also the best equipped to hold the scale in the conventional administration of justice in the community of Euro peans. His was a dignity which re quired no support of vestment, no bol ster of ritual, but it was compelling in its simplicity, sprung from a nobleness of mind. He might have retired many years ago to live a life of ease and comfort, richly won. But he was one whom destiny had chosen ‘to scorn delights and live, laborious days’, and it was not for him. And so he passed on, while still serving. That was his wish, expressed.”

Mr. W. Brian Molloy, in endorsing His Honour’s sentiments, stated that though he had not the privilege of knowing the late Mr. Justice Murray as long as His Honour, nor as long as other members of the Bar, he always fbund Mr. Jus tice Murray’s’ courtesy unfailing, his knowledge immense, and his nobleness unbounded. What the practitioners of this Bar had lost was not only a won derful Judge, but a great personal friend.

Mr. R. D. Bertie, in supporting the statements of His Honour and Mr. W.

Brian Molloy, said that the Territory was to be congratulated on having had a most brilliant man on criminal law.

Not a cold lawyer, but something greater, one with keen insight into the hearts of men; and he did not think there was a more merciful Judge on the Bench. A great tradition of English law was that the Judge on the Bench was still counsel for the prisoner—that was a theory, but with Mr. Justice Murray it was a fact. On his own behalf, and on behalf of the shades of many prac titioners of the Court over the years,

he would like to pay tribute to that very great human quality. With Mr, Justice Murray mercy was never strained, and he thought that was the greatest tribute he could pay. Although the Territory and the Court had suffered a great loss, the good Mr. Justice Mur ray had done would carry on, and the traditions he had established would be carried on for all time.