Former statistics chief dead

Press, 21 December 1978, Page 11

Former statistics chief dead

PA' Wellington Sir .George Wood by contemporary standards was a great man, said a former Government Statistician, Mr J. P. Lewin. He was paying tribute to Sir George, who died in Whangarei on December 18 after a short illness. He was 78.

Sir George was born in Greymauth. He completed a master of arts degree at Victoria University and joined the Department of Statistics in 1921. From 1938 to 1945 he acted as Government Statistician in Palestine, returning tc become New Zealand’s Government Statistician from 1946 to 1958. From 1959 to 1975 he was chairman of the Consumer Council and from 1959 to 1963 a director of the Reserve Bank. “Greater than his statistical ability and more remarkable were his unsubduable courage and his unerring instinct for fairnes and decency,’’ said Mr Lewin. “With these qualities his friends, and there were thousands of us glad to count ourselves such, did not mind his

pepperyness and we even enjoyed the interlining of his remarks with his West Coast brand of the bullock driver’s tongue.” “He was small in inches but big in stature.” The present Government Statistician (Mr A. E. Harris) also paid tribute to Sir George. He said Sir George had earned worldwide recognition not. only for his work in statistics in New Zealand and Palestine but also as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission. “His contribution to international statistics was such that in 1957 he. was elected chairman of the commission. The pre-emi-nent position that New Zealand enjoyed in the statistical world in the 1950 s was substantially due to his fine leadership and dedication.” The director of the Consumers Institute, (Mr R. J. Smithies) said Sir George had shaped and guided the organisation for its first 16 years. He had built a unique movement which had become so respected for its impartiality and fairness that it had won the good will and co-oper-

ation of trade organisations generally. Sir George received a knighthood in 1975 for public, services, especially as chairman of the Consumer Council. He received the C.B.E. in 1949 and the 1.5.0. in 1956. Outside the field of economics, his interests were centred on his home. He was a keen gardener and an avid reader. He was very interested in rugbv.

Sir George is survived by his wife and a daughter.