FOUND DEAD IN GLASSHOUSE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25765, 29 March 1949, Page 6

FOUND DEAD IN GLASSHOUSE

MR B. P. MANSFIELD

DIRECTOR OF BOTANIC GARDENS

Mr Brendan P. Mansfield, Director of the Botanic Gardens and AssistantDirector of Parks and Reserves in Christchurch, was found dead in one of the propagating houses at the Botanic Gardens yesterday morning. He had been treating the house with a cyanide preparation and it is thought that he stayed too long and was overcome by the fumes. An inquest was opened yesterday before the Coroner (Mr Raymond Ferner) and adjourned sine die after

evidence of identification had been given. A post-mortem examination was ordered. Mr Mansfield, who was born in Dublin, gained his degree in horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. England, in 1925. He came to New Zealand in 1929 and became manager to Messrs J. N. Anderson and Son, Ltd., Napier. Three years later he went to Dunedin to take charge of the botanic gardens and nursery. From there he went to Invercargill as Superintendent of Parks and Reserves. He was appointed Director of the Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, in 1945, by the Domains Board, and when the City Council absorbed the board and took over control of the parks and reserves he became assistant director. Mr Mansfield served overseas with the Forestry Unit during the recent war and. while in Britain, he maintained his interests with the Royal Horticultural Society, the Kew Gardens where he was a member of the committee of the Guilds and also of the Institute of Park Administration. When he was in London in 1943 he gave an address at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society. He was garden correspondent of the “Southland Times” and the “Napier Daily Telegraph” for several years. He also contributed to important English horticultural journals. Mr Mansfield is survived by his wife.