OBITUARY

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32661, 17 July 1971, Page 15

OBITUARY

Mr C. E. Purchase Mr Charles Ernest Purchase, who collapsed and died in the Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, was a barrister and solicitor who spent about 24 years overseas in judicial and Crown law positions before returning to practise in Christchurch.

Mr Purchase was bom in Ashburton in 1907 and educated at Christchurch Boys’ High School and the University of Canterbury, where he graduated in law. Later he was admitted to the Inner Temple in England and the New Zealand Bar. He served in the Colonial Legal Service in East Africa and Borneo and was a Queen’s Counsel and Attorney-General in North Borneo. During the Second World War he served with the Uganda Defence Force. As a young man, Mr Purchase was prominent in fencing. Mr W. Rogers Mayor of Wanganui for 22 years and a former member of the Legislative Council, Mr William James Rogers died recently in Wanganui. He was 84. Bom in Masterton, Mr Rogers was brought up in England. He returned to Masterton in 1904 and moved to Wanganui in 1917. His first term as Mayor of Wanganui was from 1927 to 1931. Four years later he was re-elected to this office, continuing as Mayor until he retired in 1953 after 18 years continuously in the office.

Mr Rogers was elected to the Legislative Council in 1940, serving there until it was abolished in 1950. He was awarded the 0.8. E. in 1954.

A former president of the Municipal Association, Mr Rogers also was a member of the Local Government Loans Board.

Mr Rogers is survived by his wife and two sons and three daughters; two of his family live in Christchurch.