MR R. B. TENNENT PROMOTED

Evening Star, Issue 21710, 3 May 1934, Page 8

MR R. B. TENNENT PROMOTED

NOW DIRECTOR OF FIELDS DIVISION Mr R. B. Tennent came tp Dunedin fourteen years ago as instructor in agriculture to the Otago Education Board, was subsequently appointed instructor for Otago in the fields division of' the Agricultural Department, and when the fields division was reorganised he became fields superintendent for Otago and Southland, with full control of the division’s experimental and instructional activities in both provinces. He is now advised of his promotion by the department to the position of director of the fields division in succession to’ Mr J. W. Deen, now retired on superannuation. This means, of course, that he will make Wellington his headquarters. The people of the south will miss him. for he has a nice way of imparting his , knowledge and has proved not only a; capable officer but a citizen who sees in his duties a wide field of service to the commiinity. Mr Tennent was born at Bathgate, Scotland and from his youth has studied agriculture. His early experience was in Queensland. He spent thirteen years in the Commonwealth .Department of Agriculture as an instructor, and later as manager of the Warren State Experimental Farm. After serving as a commissioned officer in the Australian Imperial Forces in France he continued his studies in Scotland at the Kilmarnock Dairy School and the Glasgow Public Health Laboratory, where he secured the national diploma ° f Infills l"e was sent by the New Zealand Government to study irrigation methods in the United States,- and irnfation farming in New Zealand has een largely based on the observations which he made in California. His special knowledge in this sphere led to his appointment as a member of the Government Irrigation Committee of 19i», which classified irrigation settlements in Central Otago and adjusted water rentals and charges throughout the whole district. • He was recently appointed a member of the Taien River Trust, and his other activities have included membership of the executives of the Otago Provincial Council of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union and the Otago A. and P. Society.