OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 111, 4 February 1941, Page 8

OBITUARY

Mr. John R. Palmer former town clerk of WELLINGTON After a long illness Mr. John Richard Palmer, formerly town clerk of Wellington, died at his residence, 43 Austin Street, on Sunday, at the age of 80. . Mr. Palmer was born m England, but went to Australia as a young man in search of a career. He was successful in securing employment in the oldestablished firm of Anthony Hordern’s. Ltd., Sydney, where he served with such characteristic assiduity that when the vacancy of assistant town clerk to the Sydney City Council was announced, Mr. Palmer was selected from among many applicants for the position. He held the position till 1902, when he was selected as town clerk of Wellington, a position he held till his retirement in 1925. Mr. Palmer was in office as town clerk during a period of marked development in Wellington. Shortly after his arrival from Australia the city council jettisoned the old horsedrawn tramcars in favour of a modern electric system, and contemporaneously with that change, some of the roads of the city were for the first time permanently paved with wood-blocks. The old water-bound roads, muddy in winter and very dusty in summer, were something left over from the last cen-

tury. The wood blocks marked the beginnings of a change which has given the city sealed roads. Wood-blocks, which served their day, are now being gradually replaced with concrete and bitumen roa'ds, and Mr. Palmer witnessed the evolution as one of the city’s chief executives. Two other important advances were made during Mr. Palmer’s term of office. The first was the amalgamation with the city of Melrose borough (which included a great part of Wellington South), and later the boroughs of Karori, Miramar, and Onslow, thus creating a Greater Wellington. Another matter in which Mr. Palmer was concerned was the institution of the municipal milk supply, now a model system for all New Zealand. " In his younger days Mr. Palmer was a keen member of the Wellington Shakespearean Society, an’d was a gifted amateur photographer. Mr. Palmer leaves a widow and one son, Mr. Arthur E. Palmer, Wellington. Reference was made by the Mayor, Mr. Hislop, at last night’s meeting of the Wellington City Council, to the long and loyal service rendered to the city corporation by Mr. Palmer during his period as Town Clerk. It was decided to convey the council’s sympathy to the relatives and to place on record the council’s appreciation of Mr. Palmer’s long period of service with it. Mr. E. Smith The death occurred in Greytown on Saturday of Mr. Eli Smith, at the age of 92 years, says a “Dominion” Special Service message. Mr. smith, who was born in Long Ichington, Warwickshire, in 1847, was one of the fast diminishing band of early Wairarapa pioneers. He married in England, and with his wife and family of three chUdren came to New Zealand in the ship Mongol, landing at Port Chalmers in 1574. He was employed in the Hutt Valley for a number of years, and later moved to Eketahuna, where he took up a bush section of 200 acres in the Tawataia Valley. Mr. Smith was one of the first members from the Eketahuna district on the Wairarapa North County Council, and represented Alfredton Riding for 10 years. He was chairman of the council for several terms when the council controlled the area now divided into Masterton, Mauriceville, Eketahuna, Pahiatua and Akitio Counties. He resigned his seat on the county council 30 years ago on the eve of an extended trip to England. He is survived by three sons, Messrs. Frederick Smith (Hastings), Albert Smith (Kimbolton) and Thomas Smith (Alfredton), and five daughters, Mesdames W. Cross (Wellington), E. Ticehurst (Hamilton), W. I. Clark, H. Platt and W. Owen, all of Wellington. Mrs. J. Double The death has occurred after G 5 years’ residence in Napier, of Mrs. J. Double, says a “Dominion” Special Service message. She was 85 years of age and was born in Oslo (then Christiania), Norway. She came to New Zealand at the age of 20 in 1870, and had lived in Napier ever since except for a short period in Puketitiri. Mrs. Double was specially interested in patriotic activities, first in the Great War and lately, despite her illness, in the present conflict. She leaves a family of three daughters and two sons —Mrs. A. J. Williams (Wairoa), Mrs. E. D. Boyd (Westshore), Mrs. D. Kessell (Napier), and Messrs. J. Nelson (Gisborne) and G. Double (Auckland). Mrs. Double had been married twice and both her husbands predeceased her.