BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27680, 9 June 1955, Page 12

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Sir Walter Broadfoot, K.8.E., retired from Parliament last year after 26 years in the House of Representatives, for the last five of which he was Post-master-General. Now 74, Sir Walter Broadfoot qualified as a lawyer and practised in Te Kuiti, specialising in native law. He represented Waitomo in Parliament continuously from 1928, and was one of the few members to be returned unopposed to the House. He was Minister of Manpower in the short-lived War Administration of 1942, and Senior Opposition Whip while the National Party was in opposition. Illness dictated Sir Walter Broadfoot’s retirement from politics, but over the last two years his health has improved greatly. His wife died in 1945, and he now lives with one of his two daughters.

Sir Arthur Tyndall, Kt., C.M.G., was appointed Judge of the Court of Arbitration in 1940 after a distinguished career in the Public Service. He was born in Lawrence in 1891, and joined the Public Works Department in 1909 as an engineering cadet. He was with the Dunedin City Council briefly as assistant engineer, and then rejoined the Public Works Department. In World War I he was works engineer officer at Trentham Military Camp, and after the war was sent to Western Samoa in charge of public works. He visited America to make a special study of modern road construction, and in 1925 was appointed chief engineer to the Main Highways Board, with which he was associated for 10 years. In 1934 he was appointed Under-Secretary of Mines, and in 1936 Director of Housing Construction. He has represented New Zealand at conferences of the International Labour Organisation, and a few years ago visited Pakistan to advise on industrial legislation. Mr G. T. Bolt, qJW.G., has been chairman of the New Zealand Public Service Commission since 1953. Mr Stronach Paterson, C.M.G., is a prominent Wellington businessman. Mr A. S. Sutherland, C.8.E., was a member of Parliament from 1943 to 1954, and a former chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board. Mr G. W. Clinkard, C.8.E.. is a former Secretary of the Department of Industries and Commerce. As a member of the Board of Trade he was New Zealand Trade Commissioner in Europe, and represented the Dominion at many overseas conferences. Mr A. R. Entrican, C.8.E., has been Director of Forestry since 1939. He is also a director of the Murupara pulp and paper project. Mr J. Leslie Will, C.8.E., has been senior orthopaedic surgeon at the Christchurch Public Hospital for many years, and, although remaining in private practice, will leave the hospital service at the end of this month. Sixtyone years old, Mr Will graduated in medicine at Otago University. A former soldier of the First World War —he was a Medical Corps captain—Mr Will is well known for his work for former servicemen. He has been the Canterbury Provincial Patriotic Council’s representative on the Disabled Servicemen’s Re-establishment League, and has always kept an interest in the league. Mr Will’s other major public work has been the care of crippled children. He is a former president of the Crippled Children Society, and a life member of the International Society for the Welfare of Cripples, i Mr Will has been prominent in the Red Cross Society, being chairman of the North Canterbury branch and chairman of the Dominion executive. He w*as made a Commander of Honour of the society in 1948. Mr R. G. Dick, 1.5.0.,, has been Surveyor-General since 1944, and has represented New Zealand overseas on survey matters on several occasions. Mr R. D. Steel, 1.5.0., has been private secretary to Ministers of the Crown since 1941.

Mr T. M. Charters, 0.8. E., has been secretary and organiser of the, Canterbury Progress League since 1947, when he retired from the Standard Insurance Company. Mr Charters spent his working life with insurance companies. For more than 20 years he was chairman of the Christchurch Fire Board. He has been active in Navy League work, being president for five years. Mr Charters is a member of the Lyttelton Harbour Board and the Christchurch Transport Board. Mr F. W. Freeman, 0.8. E., has been chairman of the Heathcote County Council since 1942, and prominent in local body work in and round Christ--church for many years, first as a local body engineer—he is a civil engineer and surveyor—and later as an elected member. He has served on the Waimakariri River Trust, the North Canterbury Hospital Board, the Summit Road Scenic Society, the Arthur’s Pass National Park Board, and the Lyttelton Harbour Board, of which he was chairman in 1950. He has been interested for many years in motoring and is a director of the South Island Motor Union. Mr Freeman has also been one of the most active advocates of the tunnel road. Mr K. C. Aekins, 0.8. E., has given valuable services in many fields. He has been president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since 1945. Mr W. E. Bate, 0.8. E., has been Mayor of Hastings and chairman of the Hawke’s Bay Hospital Board. The Rev. A. T. Thompson, 0.8. E., is honoured for his work for the British and Foreign Bible Society.

Mr J. N. Millard, 0.8. E., is a former headmaster of the Hutt Valley High School, and was manager of the 195354 All Blacks.

Mrs V. A. Bennett, 0.8. E., is a chieftainess of Te Atiawa tribe. Mr H. F. Toogood, 0.8. E., is consulting engineer to power boards, borough councils, and river boards. Mr H. A. Anderson, M.B.E.fhas been Mayor of Mount Albert since 1936. Mrs M. A. Buckley, M.8.E., is a social welfare worker.

Mr S. E. Langstone, M.8.E., is managing fiirector of the St. John Ambulance Association at Auckland. Mr C. F. Bennett, M.8.E., is founder and president of the Auckland Orphan-' ages United Council. Mr John Farrell, M.8.E.. has been associated with the theatre for more than 60 years. He has held every job in the theatre from call boy to leading man, but is best known in New Zealand for his many tours of the country as advance agent and manager for J. C. Williamson Theatres, Ltd. Now 80 years old, Mr Farrell still works for the firm, but no longer undertakes the strenuous and extensive tours of the past.

Miss N. E. O’Callaghan, M.8.E., A.R.R.C., is matron of the Rawhiti Surgfcal Hospital, Auckland. Mr E. J. Osborne, M.8.E., has been Mayor of Birkenhead for 17 years. Miss J. I. Martin, M.8.E.. is matron of the Cook Public Hospital, Gisborne. Mr R. Syme, M.8.E., is a member of the Egmont Natiohal Park Board; and has fostered mountaineering. Miss Elsie Smith, M.8.E., has served for 25 years in the Maori Anglican Mission at Koriniti. Mrs Jane McDougal, M.8.E., has assisted the Red Cross Society, CORSO, the Y.M.C.A., and other social welfare bodies. Mrs C. W. Doctor, M.8.E., is presit of the New Zealand Free Kindergarten Union, and president of the Victoria League, Wellington, for 13 years.-

Mrs E. S. M. Boyle, M.8.E., has been president of the New Zealand Private Hospitals’ Association since 1944. . Mr C. Collins, M.8.E., has been city organist of Wellington for the last 17 years, and organist of the Wellington Baptist Church for more than 60 Miss L. A. Hill, M.8.E., worked as a public health nurse among the Maori people, and has been nurse inspector for New Zealand since 1950.

Mrs G. I. McDonald, M.8.E., is a member of thp Dunedin advisory committee of the Institute for the Blind.

Mrs O. M. Fairbairn, M.8.E., is a member of the Mayor of Dunedin’s relief organisation and of the National Council of Women of New Zealand. Mr R. JI- Stevenson, M.8.E., is connected with Rotary, Heritage, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Crippled Children Society, and children’s health camps. The Rev. W. J. Robertson, M.8.E., is chaplain to the Presbyterian Social Service Association of

Mr A. G. C. Yarborough, M.8.E., was chairman of the Hokianga County Council from 1927 to 1952. Mr H. E. Walters, M.8.E., has been associated with local government and land development activities in the northern King Country.

Group Captain F. R. Dix, C.8.E., returned to the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram as commanding officer last year. ..Earlier, as a wing commander, he had had command of the station. Group Captain Dix, who was the first pilot to be trained by an aero club in New Zealand, served with the Royal Air Force on a short-service commission from 1930 to 1931. He joined the Royal NCw Zealand Air Force in 1935, and during the Jast war was sent to the United States to study armament development and technique, and served in the Pacific. He commanded the Ohakea station for two years and a half, and was Director of Training at Air Force Headquarters beiore returning to Wigram. Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. Harrison, 0.8. E., who- since 1950 has been Military Secretary at Army Headquarters, Wellington, was recently appointed Military Secretary at Government House. Lieutenant-Colonel G. A. Lindell, 0.8. E., until his recent retirement from the Territorial Force, was commander of the Ist Field Engineer Regiment, R.N.Z.E., and commander of the Royal Engineers of the New Zealand Division. Wing Commander P. P. O’Brien, 0.8. E., was until recently deputysecretary of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in the Prime Minister’s Department. Major E. R. Firth, M.8.E., was appointed to command the Regular Force depot of the Army Schools in May, 1952. Major G. H. Stace, M.8.E., has since March, 1954, been second in command of the 3rd Armoured Regiment. Flight Lieutenant E. Wilson, M.8.E., has been for the last seven years air movements officer at Whenuapai. Flight Lieutenant A. L. H. Foster, M.8.E., was in 1952 appointed adjutant of No. 14 (Fighter) Squadron and remained in that post throughout the squadron’s stay on Cyprus. Flying Officer G. T. S. Tosland. A.F.C., is a pilot of No. 40 (Transport* Squadron, Whenuapai. He has been entrusted with many important missions. and has displayed outstanding airmanship on all occasions. W’arrant Officer A. F. W. Mason, Queen’s Commendation, is a flight engineer of No. 6 (Territorial) Maritime. Reconnaissance Squadron, Hobsonville, and a foundation member of the squadron. Warrant Officer C. B. Hill, M.8.E., is responsible for safety equipment maintenance in the Air Force, and has developed supply dropping gear which is now in general use throughout the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Flight Sergeant P. Tewai, 8.E.M., was in the Army during World War I and joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1941. For the last nine years he has been an air training corps instructor.

Sergeant N. 11. McDonald. 8.E.M., joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1939, and is serving a Regular Air Force engagement which will expire in 1933.