A SMALL LIST

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 1, 3 January 1933, Page 8

A SMALL LIST

DOMINION HONOURS

TWO NEW KNIGHTS

LEADING K.C. INCLUDED

An announcement has been issued by His Excellency the Governor-General to the effect that His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased on the occasipu of the New Year to confer the following Honours upon the gentlemen named: — Knight Bachelor. . ALEXANDER GRAY, Esq., E.G., of "Wellington. WILLIAM PERRY, Esq./ J.P., of Masterton. i Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (C.M.G.). BOBERT SUTHERLAND FORSYTE, Esq., representative in the United Kingdom of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board, and represcnta- ' tive of New Zealand on'tho Empire Marketing Board..- ■ JAMES MARCHBANKS, Esq., M.1.C.E., formerly General Manager and Chief Engineer of the Wellington Harbour Board. Commander of the Civil Division-of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (C.8.E.). GEORGE PERCIVAL NEWTON, Esq., formerly Under-Secretary, Department of'lnternal Affairs, Wellington. SIR ALEXANDER GRAY. For many years Sir Alexander Gray, K.C., has been regarded as one.of the leading members of the Bar in New Zealand, and his pame has been associated with many of the'leading eases which have- occupied the attention of ithe superior courts of the Dominion. Since 1912, when he- took silk, his work has been largely confined to the Court of Appeal. Sir Alexander was one of the original pupils at Wellington College, his contemporaries including Sir. Francis Bell. Ho was admitted fo the Bar in 1881, .and, for. some years practised in -Greytown, returning to Wellington in 1886 to establish the firm of Campbell and Gray., He was appointed King's Counsel in 1912. For many years,he occupied the position of president of the Wellington District Law Society, and on the elevation of Sir Charles Skerrett to the Chief Justiceship in 1926 ha Became president of the New Zealand Law Society. He has acted as chairman of legal conferences at Cbristehureh. Wellington, and Auckland. In 1926 he undertook the duties of Commissioner for the Auckland Hospital inquiry. SixAlexander is chairman of the tee. of management of the Solicitors' Fidelity Guarantee Fund and is also a member of the Rules Committee established under the Law. Practitioners' Amendment Act, 1930. Lady Gray has played a prominent part in social work in Wellington, and has been closely associated -with the Citizens' Day Nursery in Cambridge terrace. She was also a prominent worker during' tho war. ' ' . ■ • SIR WILLIAM PERRY. The farming community will welcome the honour conferred upon Sir William Perry, whoso name has been prominently associated with farming activities over a long period of years, Sir William is regarded as one- of tho leading sheep-breeders of the Dominion, and representatives of his' Wairarapa flocks have had many successes in show rings all over New Zealand. He has also been a large exporter of. stud stock. He was born at Penrcse, near Masterton, in 1863. He has been engaged in sheep-farming since his youth. ■lii his^younger days he was a prominent Rugby footballer, being captain of thePMasterton Club and a Wairarapa representative. Sir William was largely responsible for the establishment of the: Royal Agricultural Society, of which body he has been president sineo its inception in 1924.' He has been a lacinber of the Meat Control Board, the Farmers' Union, the Board of Agriculturej'jjhd the Massey College Council. For''sixteen years he was chairman of the Wairarapa County Council. He was married, in. 1891 to Miss Margaret Bridsoiy of Wellington. MR. R. S. FORSYTE, C.M.G. Mr. R. S. Forsyth, C.M.G., was born in Dunedin in ISBO, -and in 1918 married Miss Margaret Hedlcy, of Oamaru. He was a prominent Rugby footballer, and was at one time captain of the St. Clair Golf Club. In 1896 he joined the staff of the National Mortgage ' and Agency Company in Duuedin, and for ten years was in charge of the produce and merchandise department of the company. He later, managed branches of the company at Ashburton and Timaru. Mr. Forsyth was chairman of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce in 1922-28. Ho received his present appointment in 1923. MR. JAMES MAROHBANKS, C.M.G. Mr. James Marchbanks, 0.M.G., ;a best known as general manager and engineer to the Wellington Harbour Board, a position he held from 1909 until a few months ago. 'He was born in Duuedin, and entered • the Publio Works Department in 1878. During his association with the Department he was responsible for the supervision of many important works. In 1890 he was appointed assistant engineer to the Wellington-Manawatu Railway Company, being placed in charge of-main-tenance-, and construction. He was-ap-pointed resident engineer in 1893, and chief engineer and locomotive superintendent in 1597. He left the ser.viee of the. company to join the Wellington Harbour Board in 1909. Mr. Marchbanks has long been recognised as one of New Zealand's leading civil engineers, and when he recently retired from the Harbour Board's employment his services were the subject of highly eulogistic references. He is still associated with tho board in an advisory capacity. MR. G. P. NEWTON, C.B.E. Mr. George Percival Newton, C.8.E., was. born in Victoria, and arrived in New Zealand in 1893. He joined the Education Department in a temporary capacity, but later became a Parliamentary committee clerk. Ho first joined the Internal Affairs Department (then tho Colonial Secretary's office) in 1896. Ho became assistant undersecretary in 1912 and was appointed to the position of under-seeretary in 1928 retiring on superannuation in 1931. Mr Newton was a recognised authority on the intricacies of local government law He also took a keen interest in town planning, and it was he who wns larcelly responsible for framing the first I legislation dealing with the subject