OBITUARY Mr F. W. Furby, Former Chief Postmaster

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31783, 13 September 1968, Page 21

OBITUARY Mr F. W. Furby, Former Chief Postmaster

A former Chief Postmaster at Christchurch, and private secretary to two Prime Ministers, Mr Frederick Westland Furby, died in Wellington last week. Mr Furby was bora at Kumara in 1880. He was educated at the Westport Primary School, at Rangiora High School, where be was dux, and at Victoria University College. He joined the Post Office in 1898 as a cadet in Wellington. In 1910, Mr Furby was attached to the staff of the then Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and was later transferred to Government House, where he served on the secretarial staffs of Lord Plunket and Lord Islington. Two years later, Mr Furby was appointed a private secretary to the Prime Minister, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, a position which he held for eight years also with Mr W. F. Massey. In 1919 he also acted as Secretary to the Cabinet and

Clerk of the Executive Council, and as secretary to the National Efficiency Board. Mr Furby returned to the Post Office in 1920, and in 1931 was appointed Chief Postmaster at Palmerston North. From 1933 until his retirement in 1939 he was Chief Postmaster in Christchurch, For the last 15 years he lived in New Plymouth. In Christchurch, Mr Furby was a member of the council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce for seven years and a member and director of the Christchurch Rotary Club. He was keenly interested in the Health Camp movement and was the first chairman of the Christchurch District council of the Federation of Health Camps. For 12 years from 1940, he was on the Dominion council of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society. Mr Furby is survived by a son, Mr A. S. Furby. His wife died in 1952.