CIVIL SERVANTS RETIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 258, 30 October 1926, Page 13

CIVIL SERVANTS RETIRE.

THREE WELL-KNOWN OFFICERS. LONG TERMS OF SERVICE. Three prominent members of the Civil Service in Auckland, Mr. W. S. lusher, Official Assignee', Mr. A. V. Sturtevant, District Land Registrar and Registrar df Deeds, and Mr. W. G. Fletcher, Deputy Commissioner of Stamps Duties and Assistant Registrar of Companies, are retiring to-day on superannuation. Mr. Fisher's term of service as Official Assignee in Auckland covers a period of 16 years. He joined the service in 18S4 in Christchurch as a cadet in the Official Assignee's office. The Bankruptcy Act of 1883 had just been brought into force, and, under that Act, the administration of bankrupt estates was undertaken by Government officials, thus superseding the old system under which the trustees had been appointed by creditors to carry out the work. Except for a period of six years, from 1902 to 1908, during which Mr. Fisher was associated with other branches of the Justice Department, he was continuously engaged in the administration of bankrupt estates until his retirement. Ho went to Dunedin in 1896, returned to Christchurch in 1902. and was promoted to the position of Official Assignee at Dunedin in 1908. In November, 1910, he was transferred to Auckland. Mr. Sturtevant joined the staff of the Lands and Deeds Department in 1881, when the Auckland branch of the office was located in the Supreme Court building. The staff comprised six permanent officers and a small number of recording clerks, compared with a permanent staff that numbers fifty today. The work of recording and copying deeds at that period was all done by hand. Mr. Sturtevant was transferred to Wellington in 1888. Three years later he was removed to New Plymouth, and in 1892 was promoted to the charge of the Blenheim office. He held that position for nine years, and was then appointed AssistantRegistrar of Lands at Dunedin. He was transferred to a similar position at New Plymouth in 1909, and also assumed the duties of Deputy-Commis-sioner of Stamps. He was promoted District Lands Registrar in 1912, a post which he occupied until 1919. upon the occasion of liis transfer to Dunedin. For a brief period Mr. Sturtevant was District Lands Registrar at Christchurch. nnd came back to Auckland in 1922 to be head of the Department here. Mr. YV. Johnston, of Napier, has been appointed as his successor. Mr. Fletcher's connection with the Stamp Duties Department covers a period of more than forty years, 35 of which have been spent in * Auckland. Mr. Fletcher has been Deputy-Commis-sioner of Stamp Duties and AssistantRegistrar of Companies for almost twenty years. He joined the Department in ISS3 under the late Mr. John Sperry. The office was then in the old Magistrate's Court Building in High Street. He was transferred to Napier in ISSo. and remained there for six years, when he returned to Auckland. In 1909 he was appointed Deputy-Com-missioner of Stamps and AssistantRegistrar of Companies. Mr. Fletcher will be succeeded by Mr. H. B. Walton, assessor in the Stamp Duties Office at Auckland.