OFFICIAL RETIRING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 10

OFFICIAL RETIRING

MR. A. J. WICKS

A DEPARTMENTAL FAREWELL

Mr. A. J. Wicks, chief draughtsman at the head office of the Lands and Survey Department, is retiring on

superannuation.

Born in New. South Wales, Mr. Wick 3 served articles with a private surveyor in Sydney and passed the licensed surveyors' examination ■in 1893. This was the time of th£ great slump, which, in Australia, was even more severe.than the one that has just passed away. Several banks and building societies had to close their ilcors, and owing to the panic there was an alarming rush on the Post Office Savings Bank, which, fortunately, held out. After a few years as assistant .surveyor with the New South Wales Government,- Mr. Wicks, in 1896, received an appointment as surveyor in Selangor, Malay States, and was one of the earliest of the hundreds of New Zealand and Australian surveyors who have seen service in the East. In 1899 Mr. Wicks was appointed to carry out a large survey adjoining the city of Shanghai, which had been granted to the International Settlement by the Chinese Government. On completion of this work Mr. Wicks returned.to Australia, and in 1904 came to New Zealand. He joined the Lands and Survey Department as a surveyor in Marlborough, and in 1919 was appointed land transfer draughtsman in Nelson and later held the same position and that of chief draughtsman in Christchurch. In 1929 he was appointed chief draughtsman at the head office in Wellington, from which position, he now retires. . . \\

At a farewell gathering held at the head office, Mr. W. Robertson, Undersecretary, referred in complimenVry terms to the long and valuable servVte rendered by Mr. Wicks. He wished Mr. and Mrs. Wicks many years of happiness on his retirement and; on behalf of the staff, presented' him with a set of fireside chairs' and set of bowls. . ■ : .

Mr. H. E. Walshe, Surveyor-General, on behalf of the technical staff^ endorsed Mr. Robertson's remarks and referred to the great assistance. given to him by Mr. Wicks and the loss the Department would suffer. in )Mr. Wicks's retirement. Mr. Walshe • also expressed the regret of the.Hori'. F. W. Langstone and his private secretary in being- unable to ■ attend.!the function. .- i .

References to Mr. Wicks's good vialities were also made by Mr. W. Stewart (Valuer-General) and Mr. Jj F. Quinn, of the State Advances Office, both at one time officers of the Lands and Survey Department, and many members of the staff testified to! his popularity." Letters from the Auckland, Christchurch, and Blenheim staffs were read by Mr. Walshe expressing appreciation of Mr. Wicks's services and their best wishes for the future health and happiness of Mr. and Mrs.-Wicks. Mr. Wicks, in replying, stated :that the time in Wellington was one oi the most pleasant during his service with the Department, and: was due to: the friendly co-operatibh and kindly assistance that had always so readily been given to him by every member of the staff. ' :

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