32 YEARS IN SERVICE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16913, 30 March 1929, Page 15

32 YEARS IN SERVICE

LAND PURCHASE OFFICER RETIREMENT OF MR. E. BOLD ' Mr Edwin Bold, chief land purchase officer of the Public Works Department, was presented with a gold watch by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. It. A. Ransom, on the occasion of Ins retirement, as a token of the esteem in which he was held by members of the department. Mr. C. J. McKenzie, first assistant engineer, introduced the Minister io the members of the staff present, himself congratulating Mr. Bold on his service, and regretting his retirement. Apologising for not having previously made the acquaintance of the department staff, Mr. Ransom said that he had not had that opportunity owing to the fact that they had worked him too hard. (Laughter.) He had no complaint to make about that, however, as work made him happy, and lie felt that the same was the case with the retiring officer. It was apparent from the vigor which he still displayed that lie had thoroughly enjoyed his work. The Minister continued that he had always had a great admiration for the executive officers and departmental staff of the New Zealand Government service, who had to carry out practically the entire detail of Iho country s administration. They were gathered to farewell a. senior officer of the department, who had held a position of very material importance to the department, and to the .public generally, if is task as land purchase officer was one requiring lirmnooS, fairness, judgment and discretion, and lie had succeeded in carrying out his duties with credit. It was a fact that although an individual might, be of high integrity when dealing with individuals, when it came to a. transaction with tiie Government lie generally considered the State as "fair game/’ Mr. Bold s duty had been to see that- nothing was “put across the Government, ’ and during his 7)2 years of service he had shown himself able to settle practically all claims without recourse to the Compensation Court. Ho had arranged for the laying down of 700 miles of railways with only 16 actions lor c.oinpnnsa turn. Another great achievement of Mr. Hold’s had been the satisfactory settlement of claims arising from the requisitioning of laud for the Auckland railway station.

All 'would join in wishing the retiring officer long life, health, and happiness, to (enjoy his retirement), concluded the speaker, who then presented Mr. Bold with a gold watch on. hehalf of those who had been associated with him over a period of many happy years. A letter from Mr. P. W. Kurkert, engineer-in-chief, was then read, which expressed the deep regard the writer felt for Mr. Bold, and his appreciation of the work he had done, his assistance. ability, courage and resource. He hoped that 'those who followed would carry out the work as effectively as had Mr. Bold. Mr. McKenzie then thanked Mr. Bold for the service he had rendered so loyally and so long. "MORE KICKS THAN HA'PENCE."

Responding, Mr. Bold said that ho was very gratified at the things which had been said of him. As a rule "land purchase officers got more kicks than ha'pence." The presentation would fulfil a long-felt want. "The watch 1 have at present," said the speaker, "has been in my possession for 50 years. It, is not, however, my own." (Laughter.) Ho went on to speak of the lot of a land purchase officer. This individual soon acquired the opinion that the engineers of the department must be very good judges of land, as he always found, when it came to paying out compensation, that they had selected the best bit. Any success he had obtained had been due* to a congenial position. The main qualification for the job was to know what the Government was not liable, for. Mr. Bold claimed three records—longer service than any other land purchase officer under the department, the settling of all claims arising from the laying down of 700 miles of railway, and his 32 years in the bead office. He would like to suggest that the time was overripe for a drastic revision of the previsions of the compensation clauses of the Public Works Act. Conditions pad altered very materially since the original drafting of the Act many years ago, and the clauses were not applicable to prosent-day conditions. After the war, when a very highly-qualified committee had been set up to look into matters of compensation at Home, one of the. points dealt with had been the question of betterment. The system he recommended was that betterment from public works should be assessed at the commencement of the enterprise, and a "blister" placed: on lihe landowner s property in order to prevent his selling out and escaping with the profits. Mr. Bold thanked nil" very heartily for the presentation, and the praise which had been bestowed on him. Cheers .'were then given for Mr. Bold, and for the Minister. Mr. Bold is the son of a Yorkshire wool merchant. Educated at the Northern Congregational School, Silcoates, near Wakefield, he came out to New Zealand by the sailing ship Pleiades m 1885 to help establish the Timaru Woollen Mills, having particular charge of the wool-buying branch of that organisation.