NEW OFFICERS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 259, 28 July 1932, Page 10

NEW OFFICERS

Harbour Board Staff PROMOTIONS MADE Manager and Secretary Having served the Wellington Harbour Board for many years, Mr. A. G. Barnett, Its secretary, was appointed chief executive officer at the board’s! meeting last evening. The board also accepted the resignation of the general manager, Mr. James Marchbanks, to take effect from Monday next, and appointed him consulting engineer. Mr. E. D. Cachemaille, at present office en* gineer, was appointed engineer to the board. Mr. Barnett, who will be chief executive officer and administrate the board’s affairs from Monday next, wai born in Wellington and joined the ser- x vice of the board in March, 1898. For some years he was confidential clerk to Mr. William Ferguson, and in 1911 was appointed treasurer and assistant secretary. His appointment to the position of secretary took place in 1924. : Mr, Marchbanks was born in Dunedin, where he entered the service ot the Public Works Department in 1876. After some years in the south he was appointed in 1890 assistant engineer to the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, and seven years later became its chief engineer, acting from time to tijne as general manager. Ho joined the service of the Wellington Harbour Board as chief engineer in 1909 and was appointed general manager and chief engineer in April, 1923. The new appointments, were discussed in committee by the board last evening, and its decisions were announced at the end of the meeting. Mr. Marchbanks, in A brief speech, expressed his thanks to the board and said that during his long service he . had always received the greatest possible kindness and courtesy. The board’s policy, he said, had first taken its present shape in Mr. Ferguson’s time, when it was laid on a firm foundation. That policy had been continued, and it accounted' for the fact that the board was now and would, always continue to be in a sound financial position. The chairman, Mr. C. J. B. Norwood, said that the board would reserve the pleasant things it desired to say for an occasion that would present itself in the near future. But in the meantime, Mr. Marchbanks could be sure that no officer of any public body had enjoyed the admiration and confidence that had been enjoyed by Mr. Marchbanks during his term of office. Mr. Norwood regretted that the time had come for Mr. Marchbanks to leave them, but that feeling was lessened by the fact that he would continue his association with the board as consulting engineer.