THE RAILWAYS BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21357, 10 June 1931, Page 8

THE RAILWAYS BOARD

PERSONNEL ANNOUNCED COLONEL ESSON APPOINTED CHAIRMAN MR G. W. REID A MEMBER (Peb United Pbess Association.) WELLINGTON, June 9. The Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes) announces that the following are appointed to the Railway Board; — COLONEL .7. J. ESSON, of Wellington, chairman. SIR JAMES GUNSON, Auckland. Mr E. NEWMAN, Rangitikei. .Mr D. REESE, Christchurch. Mr G. W. REID, Dunedin. COLONEL J. J. ESSON Colonel J. J.-Esson, C.M.G., was Secretary to the Treasury for a number pf years. Born at Picton in 1869, he joined the 1 Post and Telegraph Department in 1881 and the Treasury in 1906. For over 20 years he was closely associated with the Volunteer and Territorial Forces, and served in tile Great War \ in Egypt, Gallipoli, and France. SIR JAMES GUNSON Sir James Ghnson, 0.8. E., was for some 10 years Mayor of Auckland, and has held other leading positions in the northern city. - , ‘ MR E. NEWMAN Mr Edward Newman, C.M.G., was M.P. for Rangitikei from 1908 to 1922, and later was appointed a member of the’ Upper House, but when his term expired last year he was not reappointed. He originated the New Zealand v Sheepowners’ Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund, and is chairman of trustees of the Flock House estate. MR G. W. REID * i Mr G. W. Reid was born at Riverton in 1886. He was educated in Wellington, where, at the Terrace School and Wellington College, he stood high on

scholarship and prize lists. He graduated from Victoria University College as Bachelor of Commerce,' and obtained an honours pass in the accountancy professional examinations. His wife, herself a graduate of Victoria University College in arts, is a daughter of the late Mr C. A. Strack, who was well-known in educational circles, and was manager of the Education Court at the Exhibition of 1925-1926. Mr Reid came to Dunedin in 1912 to enter into practice as a public accountant and to take - up an appointment as the first lecturer in accountancy at the University of Otago on the establishment of the Commerce Faculty in that year. Mr Reid has a record of 20 years continuous service at the University, where he now occupies the position of Dean of the Commerce Faculty and is a member of the Professorial Board. He is a member of the Council of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, representing Otago, and is chairman of the local branch of that society. Last year he was selected as a member of the Royal Commission on Railways, but a temporary indisposition prevented him from taking Tip the work. He is a partner in the F well-known firm of W. E. C. Rei& and Co., public accountants, and has had, a wide experience and a close connection with many of the business interests in the city. It will be remembered that, in co-operation with an electrical expert, \he was selected to make a comprehensive report on the affairs of the Otago Electric Power Board. Through his firm he has been closely associated with' several large business mergers in recent years He is'well known as the secretary of the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association.

MR D. REESE e Mr Reese, as a young marine engineer, saw much work between 1903 and 1907, since when he has been in partnership with his brother, Mr T. W. Reese, in business as builders and merchants. He has had close contact with sea and land transport through his association with the coal, timber, and cement industries. Born in Christchurch in 1879, he was educated at the West Christchurch School and at the Canterbury College School of Engineering. In 1894 he was apprenticed to the engineering firm of Messrs Andersons, Ltd., where he remained until 1900, when he joined the. great Australian shipping firm of Messrs Howard Smith, Ltd.,, as a draughtsman in the Melbourne office. He returned to New Zealand in 1903, and shortly afterwards left for England, and for the following three years and a-half served as a marine engineer in ships trading from London to the Far East, the West Indies, and the Canadian and United States coasts. Returning to Christchurch in 1907, he joined his brother in founding the firm of Messrs Reese Bros., builders and merchants. The business, since formed into a limited liability company, under the style of Messrs Reese Bros., Ltd., is now one of the most up-to-date and progressive of its kind in the Dominion, with Mr D. Reese at its head as managing director. Mr Eeese is a director of the Norwich Union Insurance Society, the New Forest Sawmilling Company, and of the M'Donald Lime Kilns, Ltd., at Oamaru. Perhaps the best all-round cricketer New Zealand has produced, Mr Reese was associated during his active participation in the sport with some of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game. He first represented Canterbury in 1895 at the age of 16. In 1899, at the age of 20, he was a member of the New Zealand cricket team which visited Australia. En route, in a match against Otago, at Dunedin, he performed the feat of taking nine wickets for 14 runs. In London, in 1903, he played for several months in the London County team, of

which W. G. Grace, J. W. H. T. Douglas, and W. L. Murdoch, a former captain of Australia, were members. In 1906 he played for Essex County, and upon returning to New Zealand in the following year he continued his brilliant cricket career. Mr Reese is president of the New Zealand, Cricket Council and of the Canterbury Cricket Association. He represented Canterbury at Rugby as centre three-quarter in 1900. The Railway Board, which takes the New Zealand Railways away from political control, was first designed by Mr Forbes to consist of a chairman at £ISOO and two members at £750 a year each, but during debate on the implementing legislation the Prime Minister introduced an amendment creating a chairman at £IOOO and four members at £SOO each, thus, as he said, giving the board the nature of a directorate. The board was to have taken over control, of the railways from June 1, but some delay occurred in the announcement of the personnel.