VALUABLE BOOKS

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1946, Page 9

VALUABLE BOOKS

DR. MeKAY’S BEQUEST TO UNIVERSITY Under the will of the late Dr. William McKay, of Greymouth, a valuable collection of rare and costly books relating to the West Coast of New Zealand or containing substantial references to it, and also books dealing with the natural history of New Zealand, has been bequeathed to the Canterbury University College Council for the general purposes of the library. The bequest is to be known as the “Doctor William McKay Collection.” Dr. McKay, who died at Greymouth last month, was an authority on New Zealand plant life. During 'his 20 years in retirement he -took an active interest in West Coast wild life and the province’s natural history. The probate of his will has been granted to the District Public Trustee, Mr W. R. Millier, who to-day announced Dr. McKay’s bequest.

of 4 x 2’s if it were to have its full complement of vehicles. Commander Satisfied. That position was acknowledged by Major-General Barrowclough in a letter written on February 6, 1943. The Third Division took as many 4x2 vehicles as were temporarily necessary, replacing them with 4 x 4’s as these came off the assembly lines in New Zealand. Before the Division sailed, Army officers examined all vehicles in the Division transport pool, and discarded vehicles classed as unserviceable, but it was necessary at that stage to take some commercial vehicles which had done a high mileage. By the beginning of February, the position had so improved that instructions were given that no more commercial vehicles should be sent to New Caledonia, and thereafter only 4 x 4’s were sent. By the time the Division moved to a-for-ward area later that year, it was so well equipped for transport that it left behind a number of surplus 6 x 4’s and 4 x 4’s in New Caledonia. 'Major-General Barrowclough had certified that at no time were 4 x 2’s forwarded to the Third Division in . preference to 4 x 4’s. Dealing with Laing’s allegation that many faulty 4 x 2’s were supplied while new ones -lay on the wharves in New Zealand, Mr. Cleary said the 486 trucks Laing had said were available at the time, were then actually in the Ford factory in crates. They had been damaged by sail water and had proved difficult to assemble. Two Army officers had examined them and rejected them as being mechanically unsuitable for the Army. They were part of a shipment obtained by the New Zealand Supply Mission in the United States, where they had “been manufactured originally for use in the Argentine. They had been standing in snow and I rain on some quayside for months i before they were shipped to New Zealand, and even had they been of a suitable type, their assembly, which would have been a slow process on account of weather damage, could have been carried out only by delaying work on the 4 x 4’s, which the Division urgently needed. Brigadier's Evidence. Brigadier H. E. Avery, who was Quartermaster-General at the time Laing’s complaints were made, said that Laing’s letter of April 1, 1943, to the Prime Minister was sent to Army Headquarters by Mr. Fraser for a report. The then Chief, of Staff, Major-General Puttick, expressed complete confidence in Brigadier Avery as Quartermaster-General. He complained of extravagant language in Laing’s charges against the Army, and suggested to the Prime Minister that something should be done to stop such extraordinary attacks. Brigadier Avery, in amplifying Mr. Cleary’s explanation concerning the 486 trucks which Mr. Laing had claimed were in new and serviceable condition, said that the 486 were a portion of 700 ordered by the New Zealand Supply Mission, and Army officers, who examined the trucks, had found only 214 suitable. , On December 10, 1942, the New Zealand Supply Council was asked for disposal instructions for the remaining 486, and in March, 1943, the Vehicles Disposals Board, which had been created meanwhile, gave instructions that these vehicles should be assembled ready for disposal, not by the Army, but by the board. Mr. Laing’s inference that these vehicles were" declared surplus by the Army merely to enable the Ford company to sell them to the public was entirely groundless.