OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25328, 30 October 1947, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR G. E. MANNERING Mr George Edward Mannering, one of' the pioneers of mountaineering in New Zealand and the author of a standard work on the subject, died at his home in Fendalton yesterday at the age of 86. Mr Manneripg was born in 1862 at Birch Hill station, which was owned by his father, and was educated at Christ’s College and at schools in England, where the family went for a trip in 1376. He was considered to have been one of the first people to play golf in Christchurch. In his /youth he hunted wild pig with spears. He began work at the Christchurch branch of the Union Bank of Australia. Ltd., in 1888, and, after serving as branch manager of

the bank at many places in the North and South Islands, he became manager of the Christchurch branch in 1919. During his life, Mr Mannering had many interests. He was a member of the Christchurch Liedertafel, the Christchurch Lacrosse team, the Savage Club, and the Amateur Operatic Society, was a keen hockey player, a golfer, a fisherman, and. above all, a mountaineer. During his trips oversea, he climbed some of the famous peaks in the Mt. Blailc range, including Mt. Dolent, Dent du Midi. Jungfrau, and the Matterhorn. His first book. “With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps,” describes his five attempts at Mount Cook, and his participation in the first exploration of the Murchison glacier. In his later, autobiographical book, “80 Years in New Zealand,” are described the two canoe trips he made iri company with Mr J. M. Dixon, one from the Bealey down the Waimakariri river to Kaiapoi (90 miles), and the other from the Mount Cook region down the Waitaki river to the sea (140 miles).

Mr Mannering contributed many articles on fishing and mountaineering to the “Weekly Press” and to “The Press,” and was the author of numerous brochures dealing with the same subjects. He was an honorary member of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, an honorary member of the Alpine Club (London), and an honorary member of the New Zealand Alpine Club (of which he was a founder, and an office-holder). Mount Mannering. a peak of 8704 feet in the Mount Cook area, was named after him. Mr Mannering. whose wife predeceased him, is survived by three sons and two daughters

MR CHARLES M. LAGAN The death occurred at Timaru on Saturday of Mr Charles Michael Lagan. J.P. He had been ill for nearly two years. He was manager of the Timaru branch of New Zealand Breweries. Ltd., tnd president of the South Canterbury Provincial Council of the Licensed Trade. He was 58 years of age. Mr Lagan was bom at St. Andrews, and was educated at the Ashburton Convent and at St. Patrick’s College, Wellington. He started a grocery business at Tinwald, and then joined an engineering firm, which was later taken over by J. J. Niven and Company, Ltd. He became accountant of the Crown branch of New Zealand Breweries. Ltd., in Christchurch, in 1925, and was appointed branch manager at Timaru in 1936. He is survived by his widow (formerly Miss Anatasia Coffey, of Kaiapoi): three sons, Messrs V. P. Lagan, B. C. Lagan, and C. M. Lagan—and three daughters, Mrs A. B. Anderson (Lower Hutt). Sitser M. Anastasia. S.M. (Apia), and Sister M. Gregory,

Convent of .Mercy. Timaru. The funeral took place in Christchurch on Tuesday afternoon, after Requiem Mass on Tuesday morning at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Timaru.