OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25084, 16 January 1947, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR V. P. BOOT

(P.A.) GISBORNE, January 15. The death has occurred of Mr V. P. Boot, aged 32, one of the best athletes New Zealand has known. He died under an anaesthetic while undergoing a dental operation in a private hospital. Born at Ashburton, Mr Boot received his early secondary education at Waitaki Boys’ High School, and later attended Timaru Boys’ High School. A powerful young runner, he made athletic history in South Canterbury when he ran a mile in 4min 26 4-ssec, an Empire schoolboys’ record, beating the 4min 29 3-ssec made by C. H. Matthews, of Christchurch Technical College. He" twice won the New Zealand 880 yards championship, and was the holder of the mile title. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games at Berlin in 1936 and at the Empire Games held in 1938 at

Sydney. At jhe latter games he ran half a mile in Imin 51 2-ssec, the fastest time ever recorded by a New Zealand runner. He also held the New Zealand record of lmin 53 2-ssec until it was reduced to lmin 52 3-ssec. by the Auckland runner D. M. Harris at Wellington last season. Mr Boot volunteered for active service early in the war, and after service in the Pacific served in the Middle East and Italy, reaching the rank of captain. While on active service he competed in races in Egypt, and while he did not regain the form he had shown in New Zealand, he won a number of races. After his return to New Zealand he maintained an interest in athletics and did good work as a coach in the Gisborne district, where he was an inspector in the Agricultural Department. Mr Boot’s wife died while he was on active service in 1943. INSPECTOR A. S. ANDERSON . Advice has been received in Christchurch of the death of Inspector Alexander Seddon Anderson, who was officer in charge of Mongkok Police Station, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Inspector Anderson was born in Queenstown. • Three of his sisters, Mesdames G. B. Marsh, J. Walby, and S. Johnson, are residents of Christchurch.

/ An article from the “South China Morning Post” of December 28, received by Mrs Johnson, says that the inspector “met a tragic death on

INSPECTOR A. S. ANDERSON Christmas Day while performing his duties as a police officer. He received severe injuries and died at Kowloon Hospital soon after admission. “Three European seamen, members of the crew of the Arundel Castle, were detained for inquiries in connexion with Inspector Anderson’s death when extra police arrived on the scene. They were charged yesterday with manslaughter.” Born in 1906, Inspector Anderson was educated at Otago Boys’ High School. Soon after leaving school he went to China. He joined the Shanghai police force in 1933, serving in the mounted police detachment, and was awarded the Shanghai Police Medal in 1937 for exceptional work during the first Japanese attack on the port. He was interned at the outbreak of the war with Japan and was drafted to the Hong Kong police in October last year. Inspector Anderson was due for leave to New Zealand in February.