MR. W. FISHER

Evening Post, Issue 17, 20 July 1936, Page 11

MR. W. FISHER

VETERAN IN LOCAL AFFAIRS

(Special to the "Evening Post.")

MASTERTON, This Day.

Mr. William Fisher, Mayor of Carterton, and a prominent figure in local body affairs for the past thirty years, died at his residence, High- Street, Carterton, on Saturday afternoon.

The late Mr. Fisher, who was 87 years of age, attended meetings in Hastings and Wellington a fortnight ago when he caught a chill which later turned to bronchitis and affected his heart. He was born in Scotland in 1849 and after spending a few years in America, when a young man, came out to New Zealand in 1875. He settled in North Canterbury and followed farming pursuits until 1892 when, with his wife and family, he came to the Wairarapa, taking up a property in the Clareville district, which he farmed until he retired and settled in Carterton about 25 years ago. The late Mr. Fisher took a very keen interest in local body affairs, and in the early days served on school committees and the Wairarapa South County Council. On his retirement from farming he devoted his energies almost wholly to local body, and public affairs. His association with the Wairarapa Hospital Board dated back to 1897, when each of the three hospitals were controlled by separate committees. For the past ten years he had held the office of chairman of the board. The welfare of the patients and staff was always his first consideration in his administration of the board's affairs, while he was opposed to any wasteful and unnecessary expenditure. His experience and wise counsel proved of great value when the board's proposals for capital works, involving an expenditure of £20,000, which are about to be put in hand, at the Masterton and Grey town Hospitals, were recently under discussion. The late Mr. Fisher was elected as a member of the Carterton Borough Council in May, 1912, and since 1923 he had held the office of Mayor: He was closely associated with the dairying industry and for over forty years had been a director and more recently chairman of the Taratahi Dairy Company. Mr. Fisher was also a member of long standing of the Marketing Association and a director of the New Zealand Rennet Company. A very keen bowler, the late Mr. Fisher was a foundation member of the Carterton Bowling Club. He played an excellent .game of bowls and was a well-known and popular figure on various Wairarapa greens. Though of a quiet disposition, Mr. Fisher was universally liked and respected. He always worked in harmony with his colleagues on local bodies and his foresight and enterprise resulted inmany improvements being effected to institutions in which he was interested. He was also a staunch supporter of the Presbyterian Church and was an elder at Carterton for many years, carrying out much valuable work.

Mr. Fisher is survived by a family of three sons and two daughters, to whom deep sympathy will be extended in their bereavement by a wide.circle of friends. His wife predeceased him about twenty-five years ago. The sons are Messrs. James Fisher, Clareville William Fisher, Masterton, and Andrew Fisher, Wanganui, and the daughters, Mrs. Bower Black, Auckland, and Miss L. Fisher, Carterton.