OBITUARY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26176, 12 June 1946, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR ROBERT HUTCHESON The death of Mr Robert Hutcheson on Saturday, after a short illness, has deprived the Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand of a valued officer. For the last 44 years he was accountant in the Grand Lodge office, and up to a short time before his death was engaged in the Dunedin office, the present headquarters of the craft. Mr Hutcheson was born at Dumbarton, Scotland, and received his early business training at the county clerk’s office in Dumbarton. In 1901 he arrived in New Zealand with his mother, and before joining the staff of the Masonic Grand Lodge as accountant, in ihe following year, at Wellington, he was with the Vacuum Oil Company, Ltd. Mr Hutcheson’s connection with the Masonic order commenced when he was initiated into the Lodge Kilwinning, No. 18, at Dumbarton. In 1918 he was installed as Master of Lodge St. Andrew, No. 32, Wellington. He was also a member of the Masters and Past Masters’ Lodge, No. 130, Christchurch. In 1922, Mr Hutcheson was the honoris causa rank of past grand treasurer of the craft and in 1937 he was appointed a past grand warden. During his 44 years’ service with the order he attended nearly all the annual communications of the Grand Lodge. Owing to the peripatetic system under which the order functions, Mr Hutcheson became widely known to Masonic brethren throughout the Dominion. He was a man of steadfast principles with a high sense of duty, and was held in the deepest respect by all those with whom he came in contact. He was an early member and Fellow of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, and possessed a flair, for penmanship in connection with the writing of charters under which the lodges operate. Nearly every lodge chapter throughout the Dominion under the New Zealand constitution bears the stamp of his craftsmanship. He leaves a widow and two daughters—Mrs G. H. Norman (Wellington), and Miss Margaret Hutcheson (Dunedin). The funeral was held yesterday, and was attended by a representative gather-? ing of members of the craft.