SECRETARY FOR POST AND TELEGRAPHS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1831, 10 April 1907, Page 34

SECRETARY FOR POST AND TELEGRAPHS.

The Government has appointed Mr Donald Robertson Seci’etary for Post and Telegraphs, in succession to the late Mr William Gray. Mr Robertson’s promotion lias been rapid. Only recently he succeeded to the position of Inspector and Assistant Secretary on the death of Mr W. Rose, after holding the Chief Clerkship of the General Post Office for many years. The new Secretary is a native of New Zealand, having been born in Dunedin in 1860. He was educated at the State schools and privately. After leaving school Mr Robertson entered the Post Office in Dunedin as a cadet, and was trained in the service by Mr Archibald Barr, of Dunedin (under whom many of the senior officers graduated), rising to the grade of clerk some five or six years later. In 1881 he left Dunedin, and for a short time acted as mail agent on board the San Francisco ..mail boats. Mr Robertson was then appointed to Wellington, holding the position of senior moneyclerk for two years, after which he held a similar position in the Auckland Post Office for upwards of nine years. In December, 1892, Mr Robertson was promoted to the post of Chief Clerk in the General Post Office. He is the author of ‘‘Early History of the New Zealand Post Office.” His son; proceeded to Oxford a couple of years ago as a New Zealand Rhodes scholar.;

THE ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF. Mr Robert West Holmes, M. Inst. C.E., Superintending Engineer for the colony, has been appointed Engineer-hv-Chief for the colony, vice Mr P. S. Hay, deceased. Mr Holmes has been in tho service of the Public Works Department for thirty-five years. He was born in London in 1856, and received his education at a private school there. In 1871 he came to Wellington with his father, and worked at the Government Printing Office as a clerk for a few months. In the following year he joined the Public Works Department as a cadet, serving on the West Coast of the South Island. Ho was promoted to tho position of Assistant-Engineer in 1876, and took charge of the railway works in the Manawatu district in that year. When those works were completed lie surveyed the line between Runnythorpe and the Manawatu Gorge. He was appointed Resident Engineer in charge of the Taranaki district in 1879, a position he held until the Taranaki and Wanganui districts wore amalgamated in 1883. He then took charge of the Hawke’s Bay district for a few months, and left there to supervise the exploration surveys in connection with tlie Taranaki trunk railway route. He next located the Woodville to Eketahuna railway route, and subsequently made detailed railway route surveys in Taranaki, and did some important survey service in the Lake districts of Otago. Mr Holmes was next appointed Resident Engineer in Wellington. In 1893 he was engaged in the Hunterville district, and made detailed surveys of the trunk lino in that.- part of the North Island. About seven years ago he was appointed Inspecting Engineer, and on Mr Hay’s appointment to the position of Engineer-in-Chief last year, he became Superintending Engineer. In his younger clays Mr Holmes was a volunteer in the Greymouth Rangers, the Taranaki Mounted Rifles, and No. 1 Company of Taranaki Rifles. He was elected an Associate member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (England) in 1886. KAPITI ISLAND. The Minister of Public Health has informed Mr Field, M.H.R., that, the Government had reconsidered the question of placing lepers on Kapiti Island, and had decided not to use the island for that purpose. This decision will he received with general satisfaction by tho people of Wellington and Manawatu. Kapiti is such historic ground, hallowed as it is in To Rauparaha traditions, that its conversion into a leper station would have given offence to Europeans and Maoris alike. “The forest of Kapiti, as seen from the exterior, presents a study in greens,” remarked Dr Cockayne, the well-known naturalist, to the writer not long ago, after spending a fortnight on the island, which lie visited on behalf of the Government in order to make a botanical survey. “There is tho dark, glossy green karaka; the pale, yellowish green mahoe; the bright, glossy green ‘melieope tennata’; and large areas of the dull, almost brownish green of the manuka, while here and there the scene is brightened by the wealth of white blossoms of a species of olearia. The majority of tho trees of Kapiti bear juicy berries, and this is a most important matter in an island where the protection of native bird life is an essential. The morepork owl is wont to sit on the roof of the caretaker’s house. On neighbouring trees congregate the beautiful pigeons; everywhere in the bush can be heard the songs of birds and the whirl of wings. The robin —the ‘bushman's friend’ as he is called —is, strange to say, the South Island, and not tlie North Island, species. On the lagoon at tlie north -end of the island are ducks and teal. ’ Mutton birds make their home near the summit of a mighty precipioe which flanks the whole western side of tho island. In holes near the shore the blue penguin has its nesting place. It may b 9 said that this plant and animal sanctuary is not merely a most important asset to New Zealand, but its being set apart for that purpose has been applauded and welcomed by the scientists of many nations. It is sincerely to he hoped that no stone will be left unturned- to keep it intact, and as nearly as possible in its virgin condition.”