OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23351, 10 June 1941, Page 8

OBITUARY

■ MR M. W. WOODFIELD Mr Mark William Woodfield, of Slater street. Shirley, died yesterday at the age of 73 years. OnDecemberSl, 1874, at the age of six, Mr Woodfield arrived, with his parents and his younger brother, at Lyttelton in the clipper ship Crusader. He marned. on June 26, 1889. Miss Grace Smith, the second daughter of Mr John Smith, of Riccarton .and Burnham. Mr Woodfield remembered well Tne Crusader’s arrival at Lyttelton. The family went for a few days to The immigration barracks at Addington, and later moved to Rangiora, where Mr Woodfield, sen., had obtained employment. ■' - , '■ , It was in the Riccarton and Templeton Public Schools that Mr Woodfield began his school days, and he later continued his education with private tuition and night-school work.- Coming to Christchurch, Mr Woodfield found that the .city offered- few prospects at first for even a hard worker. He took any employment he could g?t. .until eventually he obtained A position driving a'grocer’s cart for the New Zealand Industrial Co-operative Society; All this time he was'studying at night, and the reward for his hard work and earnest study came when he was made secretary and manager of the society, which he served for 14

years. He was a pioneer member of the New Zealand Accountants’ and Auditors’ Association, and also of the New Zealand Society of Accountants. Mr Woodfield became secretary and manager of James Freeman, Ltd., and, still later, went , into business on- his own account as an accountant, auditor, and general agent. £ 'ln 1908 Mr Woodfield was appointed clerk to the Spreydon Road Board, and, in two years, Spreydon was constituted a borough, of which •he was the first town tlerk. When Spreydon amalgamated with the city of Christchurch in 1921, Mr Woodfield devoted all his time to his own business. In the same year he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. For many, years Mr Woodfield was an ardent volunteer. On leaving the Christchurch City Rifles, he helped to reform the old Sydenham Rifles, of which he was secretary. He-was prominent in work for the St. John Ambulance Association, and it was., largely a result of his enthusiasm that the Clipper Ship Crusader Association was formed. His work for this association, of which he was secretary, had been devoted and untiring. '• . This month, two years ago, Mr and Mrs Woodfield celebrated the , fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, Mr Woodfield is survived by his wife, three sons, and one daughter. REV. R. C. CHISHOLM The Rev. Robert Cecil Chisholm, who died recently, was born .at Walked 57 years ago. Winning a scholarship at the Rangiora High School, wnere he began; his education,, Mr Chisholm went to 'Canterbury University College, taking an arts course in preparation for the ministry of, the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. At Knox College, Dunedin, where Mr

Chisholm went to take his Divinity course, he won the esteem of his fellow students with his genial, kindly disposition, and earned a reputation for himself because of his elocutionary powers and his wonderful gift- of impersonation. Mr Chisholm was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Christchurch in December, 1915, but, because of an illness, he, was not. able to take a charge, and, thus, could not carry out work for which he had been trained. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. John Miller. , MR J. A. POND (P.A.) AUCKLAND, June 9. An outstanding New Zealand scientist, believed to be the oldest member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Mr, J. A. Pond, died last night, aged 95. He was president of the society 50 years ago. He was Government Analyst from 1882 to 1911. He arrived at Auckland from London in 1865, and practised as a pharmacist. He conducted useful experiments until late in life.