MR. F. W. ROWLEY TO RETIRE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 5, 1 October 1929, Page 10

MR. F. W. ROWLEY TO RETIRE

SECRETARY TO LABOUR DEPARTMENT

Mr. F. W. Rowley, 1.5.0., Secretary to the Labour Department for the last 16 years, is about to retire from the Government service on superannuation, and has tendered his resignation to the Minister. Mr. Rowley, joined the Department as a cadet shortly after Its. inception in IS9I, and has been closely associated with the development of the Labour legislation enacted up to the present. He has occupied the positions of accountant, chief clerk, and inspector of factories, eventually becoming Secretary to the Department. chief inspector of factories, registrar of unions and registrar of apprentices. In 1922, when economies were being effected by the Government In the service, the administration of the Weights and Measures Act was handed over to the Department of Labour, and Mr. Rowley was appointed chief inspector of weights and measures. In recognition of his long service, he has been granted six months’ leave of absence prior to retirement, but his active duties will terminate at the end of October.

For many years Mr. Rowley, who is an associate of the Royal College of Organists and a licentiate of the Trinity College of Music, London, took an active part in the musical life of Wellington, and held the position of organist and choirmaster in some of the city churches. He informed a “Dominion” representative that he was looking forward to a health recruiting trip through the Islands, and would then settle down to his musical and other hobbies.