Obituary MR A. BANKS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29278, 9 August 1960, Page 15

Obituary MR A. BANKS

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Aug. 8. Mr Archibald Banks, the superintendent of Tongarifo prison farm, died suddenly today. He was aged 62. Mr Banks, one of the New Zealand pioneers of open prisons, was known for the work ot the prison farms in developing thousands of' acres of what’ was once considered useless land. The farms now carry some 10,000 sheep. 4000 head of cattle and a large dairy herd. ■ . Mr Banks had a remarkable knowledge of the back country and the flora and fauna of New Zealand. In 1957 he received the M.8.E., his award being. the first to a penal officer. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. MR R. B. SAYER (New Zealand Press Assoctatusni CARTERTON, Aug. 8. The death in Greytown ot. the head of one of Wairarapa’s pioneering families, Mr Richard Burgess Sayer, who for 86 years lived and farmed on his Dalefield property, has removed also one of Wairarapa’s original naturalists and pioneer experimenters in farm fertilisers. Mr Sayer was born at Clareville in 1873, his parents having migrated from England to farm in the district. When he took over the management of his parents’ property he obtained supplies of potash and slag from Australia and conducted his own trials on measured plots of ground. He is believed to have been qne of the last to have handled live huias in the Wairarapa, and -just after the turn of the century captured six huias which were to be handed to Government officials for subsequent release bn Kapiti Island. After waiting for the officials for about six months, Mr Sayer released the birds, which became quite tame but eventually disappeared. ' MR A. M. TAKARANGI (New Zealand Press Association) WANGANUI, August 7. Mr Ariki Marehu Takarangi, who was well-known in the Rugby world, died in Wanganui on Saturday. He was 84. . ' He was a Wanganui Rugby selector, and a member of the Maori Advisory Board, - He was educated at Te Aute College, and played for the Kaierau Club, Wanganui, after he left ’school. His playing days in Wanganui extended bver' 190 matches, between the years ' 1898 and 1915, when he retired. He played on a number of occasions for the New Zealand Maoris. In 1902 he was a member of a Maori party which represented New Zealand at the coronation of King Edward VIL