OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 165, 10 April 1944, Page 4

OBITUARY

Mr. Charles M. Turrell

General regret will be felt at the death at his residence, 4 Halswell Street, Wellington, on Saturday, of Air. Charles Murray Turrell, who held the position of general manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company and chairman of directors of the New Zealand board. Mr. Turrell possessed a vital personality and he enjoyed perfect health till June of last year, when he suffered a general breakdown. Though he made a temporary recovery, his health continued to decline. Air. Turrell, a son of the date KeyCharles Turrell. AI.A-, was born in 1868 at Leitbfield, Christchurch, and was educated at his father’s private school at Alidmont, Riccarton, and at Christs College, Christchurch. AVith 58 years in its service Air. Turrell had one of the longest records of any official in the New Zealand Shipping Company, and his long period of continuous service with the one company is believed to be unequalled in the Dominion. Possibly, few men in the Empire have had longer association with shipping than Air. Turrell; certainly none with longer or wider experience in the New Zealand shipping trade. He entered the service at Christchurch in 1885, and subsequently served in the company’s offices at Lyttelton, Timaru, Oamaru, Napier, Auckland, and Wellington. Air. Turrell was appointed local manager at AVellington in 1919, and afterward assumed the additional duty of traffic manager for New Zealand. He made special visits on behalf of the company to Fiji in 1901, South Africa in 1902. and America in 1926, and visited the United Kingdom on three occasions, in 1926, 1934 and 1937. He several times acted as Dominion superintendent, and was appointed Dominion super-intendent-on the death of his predecessor, Air. J. H. C. Bond, in April, 1932. This designation was changed to that, of general manager in 1933, at which time Air. Turrell was also appointed a director on the New Zealand board. Mr. Turrell reached the peak of his career with the New Zealand Shipping Company when in 1942 he succeeded the late Sir Robert Anderson as chairman of directors ou the New Zealand board, and representative in New Zealand of the London board of directors.

Air. Turrell's interests were many and varied. He was a member of the n ellinglon Harbour Board for 25 years, and served two periods as chairman, in lJ.>a--34 and 1938-39; for Hie past 21 years he was a member of Hie Overseas Shipowners’ Allotment Committee, and for 10 years he was on the national disputes committee in connexion with waterside labour. He acted as one of the employers' representatives on the Industrial Emergency Council, one of Hie Wellington Harbour Board’s representatives on Hie National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum Board of Trustees, and was president of the Oversea Seamen's Gift Committee. Mr. Turrell was also a director of the New Zealand Centeiniial Exhibition Company, and in 1937-38 was president of the Christ's College Ohl Boys’ Association. Throughout his life Mr. Turrell was a keen sportsman, and since 1935 was a steward of the Wellington Rai-ing Club. He was a member of the Wellington. Welleslev. Northern, (‘liristehurch and Dunedin Clubs. In 1909 Ah-. Turrell married Aliss Elizabeth Ale Call. Ihe funeral service will take place at St. Raul's Pro-Cathedral at 2.30 p.m. tomorrow. and the cortege will _ proceed thence to the cretnatorium at Karori.