SIR HAROLD BEAUCHAMP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23161, 6 October 1938, Page 12

SIR HAROLD BEAUCHAMP

By the death of Sir Harold Beauchamp is removed an eminent figure in the business activities of the Dominion, fie won distinction, without'seeking it, by the devotion of highly competent ability to public duty in a sphere few New Zealanders have been so well qualified to enter. His years of service as a Government director of the Bank of New Zealand constituted a record in length, and as its chairman for a long period—inclusive of the difficult years of the Great War—he turned to good account, for the whole country, the annual opportunity of expressing his expert views on commercial and financial trends. These periodical statements were keenly awaited, and widely read, because of his undoubted possession of great experience and sound judgment. A review of his life reveals a genius for work; time and energy were so painstakingly given to many administrative "tasks that often his sure grasp of intricate problems was an occasion Of marvel by 'those aware of the mental demands involved. Others, unaware, may have given scant thought to his achievements in this way; but it is now due to him. to recall the fact that without such wise guidance, especially in troublous times, prosperity could not have been maintained or, if lost, have been recovered. To its capable financiers, upon whose skill and probity the entire economic fabric depends to a degree impossible to over-estimate, gratitude is owed, and of none of them, in the course of our can this more sincerely be said than of Sir Harold Beauchamp.