GIFT OF £lO,OOO BY MR. J. R. McKENZIE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 127, 23 February 1938, Page 12

GIFT OF £lO,OOO BY MR. J. R. McKENZIE

Betterment Of Poor Boys ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DEBT TO ROTARY By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, February 22. The sum of £lO,OOO as a fund, the income of which is to be devoted to the betterment of poor boys in Wellington and Christchurch, has been given by Mr. J. R. McKenzie for administration by the Rotary clubs of the two cities. There was a thunder of applause at the New Zealand District Conferenc 0 of Rotary Clubs this morning when the announcement was made by the district governor. The applause was renewed when Mr. McKenzie was called to the platform by the district governor. “I make this gift as an acknowledgment to Rotary,” said Mr. McKenzie. "I have been a member of the Rotary Clubs of Wellington and Christchurch for some years under some presidents who have been excellent men, and I would like to acknowledge the debt that I feel personally to Rotary throughout the world. Rotary is work ing for the betterment of boys. The boys of to-day will guide our destinies to-morrow. I give grateful acknowledgment to the work of the Boy Scouts, the Y.M.C.A. and the Crippled Children’s Spciety, but I feel there m still something to be done.”

Mr. John Robert McKenzie, chairman of directors of McKenzie's Department Stores, Ltd., was born at Yarrawalla, Victoria, in 1876. He is a son of Mr. Hugh and Susan (nee Smiley) McKenzie, both of Victoria, Australia, and was educated at Melbourne. He commenced bis business career with Jacobs, Hart and Co., Melbourne, in 1890-1900, and established his own business as a fancy goods importer at Melbourne and Hobart in 1900. He came to Christchurch in 1903, and founded the present business with head office at Dunedin, which was transferred to Wellington in 1906. He married Miss Annie May Wrigley, only daughter of Mr. S. H. Wrigley, o£ Sanson, New Zealand, in 1918, and has two sons. Mr. McKenzie is a well-known breeder and owner of trotters with whifch he has won a number of major events, and is fond of golf, fishing and shooting.