ABSENCE OF 30 YEARS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27896, 18 February 1956, Page 10

ABSENCE OF 30 YEARS

Wing Commander Moir Returns LITTLE CHANGE SEEN IN CHRISTCHURCH “Christchurch appears to be exactly the same as when I left 30 years ago. only larger,” said Wing Commander J F. Moir, who has returned to New Zealand from England for a brief holiday. He left New Zealand in 1926 to take a commission in the Royal Air Force, and retired after the war wittv the rank of wing commander. Wing Commander Moir said he had walked through the Botanic Gardens, and they were much the same as when he saw them previously, though he had noticed that most of the trout had disappeared from the Avon river. Born in Christchurch. Wing Commander Moir attended Christ’s College and later worked on his father’s farm ir. North Canterbury. Before the war he was a test pilot at the Martlesham Heath airfield, and for a time was stationed at the Central Flying School as an instructor.

After his retirement from the Royal Air Force Wing Commander Moir bought a luxury hotel in Montgomeryshire. near the town of Oswestry. In addition to the 40-roomed hotel, there is a hill-country farm, with good shooting on the moors and trout fishing in Lake Vyrnwy. Wing Commander Moir said that a considerable number of New Zealand ers had visited his hotel, particularly last summer, including two or three persons from Christchurch.