Wellington’s Best Known Restaurateur Retires

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29177, 11 April 1960, Page 22

Wellington’s Best Known Restaurateur Retires

“The Press" Special Service

WELLINGTON, April 10. Mr Stanley Garland, Wellington’s best known restaurateur, has decided to retire from business, though not from workeven if he is 68 years old and has earned a rest. Born on the Greek island of Kythera, which he has twice revisited since he left home for Australia when 11 years old, Mr Garland has controlled no fewer than four restaurants in Wellington—one in Cuba street, another in Courtenay place, and others in Manners and Featherston streets. The last named business, opposite the Chief Post Office, Mr Garland admitted, has been the most successful, and is the one he has been most fond of. There, he worked in association with a daughter. Now he has disposed of his Interests, though the familiar name of “Garland’s” will still remain at its entrance, and for the first time since 1927 Mr Garland is no longer “mine host" to numerous clients who have remained faithful to him over the years. “But as a matter of fact,” he confided, “I am still giving a hand here.” Friends Helped “It was this Featherston street business that put me on my feet following my losses in the depression of the early 30’s,” he con-

tinued. “I lost everything I possessed after working from the age of 11 years. But friends came to my assistance, and I started this restaurant with a capital of £l5O. I am very grateful to the many clients who have supported me so consistently. No, they are not all city-dwellers. Many of them come from Wairarapa, Manawatu, and districts still further away from Wellington, and when they come to town they never fail to look me up.” Apart from his business activities, Mr Garland has played a prominent part in Greek communal activities. He has been Vice-Consul for Greece since 1938, being closely associated with the late Mr F. Dyer when he was Consul-General, and subsequently with the latter’s brother-in-law, Mr T. E. Y. Seddon, who succeeded Mr Dyer in that office. Church Activities Also, Mr Garland has been prominent in Greek Orthodox Church affairs, being a loyal supporter of the religious, as well as the cultural links, that unite Greeks throughuot the world. The community has for many years looked upon him as one of its leaders, though that has not prevented him from being an enthusiastic New Zealander by adoption. The highest decoration of his Church, the Order of the Cross of the Holy Sepulchre, was bestowed upon Mr Garland in 1926 by the Most Rev. Daminos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, when he was in the Holy Land to attend the Easter celebrations. In 1951 he received the Greek Silver Cross of the Phoenix of the King’s Royal Brigade. It was conferred upon him for “excellent services rendered to his motherland, Greece.” In 1958 he was awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix.