PUBLIC WORKS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20828, 11 April 1933, Page 10

PUBLIC WORKS.

MR J. BITCHENER GIVEN PORTFOLIO. ANNOUNCEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER. (PRBSS ASSOCIATION TEt.RO r. \M . > WELLINGTON, April 10. Mr John Bitchcner, Coalition member for Waitaki, has been appointed Minister for Public Works. Mr Bitchcner was sworn in this morning by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes), in a statement, said he had the greatest pleasure in accepting Mr Bitchener's nomination by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, who had the right to nominate the Hon. W. Uownie Stewart's successor. "I have the very highest opinion of Mr Bitchener's worth and qualifications, for holding Cabinet rank," ho said. "His long and honourable service in local body government and his business experience, gained by his association with commercial institutions, will stand him in good stead in the administration of the portfolio which has been entrusted to him. He has a thorough knowledge of the conditions experienced by backblock settlers, and will, naturally, be in a position to give practical and sympathetic consideration to the needs and wants of the settlers, whose progress is closely associated with the work of the Public Works Department. "I feel confident that Mr Bitchcner will be a valuable addition to the Cabinet, and that his advice and counsel will be of considerable assistance to us in the many difficult problems the country at present is facing."

Mr Bitchener arrived in New Zealand in 1875 at the age of 11 from the Midland Counties, England. He was educated at the Waimate school and worked on sawmills at Waimate and in Southland. After serving on various stations he took up 540 acres at Hook, South Canterbury. For many years he was a member of the Waimate County Council, the Timaru Harbour Board, and the Timaru High School Board of Governors, of which he was at one time chairman. He has been president of the South Canterbury Farmers' Union, and a member of the Advisory Board of the New Zealand Farmers' Union. He is chairman of the Waimate Co-op. Flourmilling Company, and a director of the Canterbury Farmers' Co-op. Association. In 1919 Mr Bitchener was elected to represent Waitaki in the House of Representatives, in the Reform interests, and has retained his seat at all subsequent elections. He is one of the Government Whips, with Mr A. J. Murdoch, M.P.. and is chairman of the Local Bills Committee. He was senior Reform Whio after Mr J. S. Dickson was defeated in 1928. He has had long experience of local body work, is quiet and unassuming, and very popular in the House.