GREAT PUBLIC SERVICE

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1231, 15 May 1947, Page 5

GREAT PUBLIC SERVICE

DEMISE OF COUNCILLOR Late Mr. John Bruce One of the most respected mem”bers to have served' on the Matamata County Council passed away (recently in tile person of Mr. John Bruce, of Taotaoroa. ’For over 20 years Mr. Bruce (represented the Karapfcro riding on the Matamata body, his quiet genial personality, combined with dear vision, sound judgment and keen sense of justice, endearing him to all -with whom he came In -contact. Mr. Bruce, who was 71 years of age, died' suddenly. He appeared to 'beiin normal health in the morning, 'but was found later in a state of collapse in the paddock in which he was working, and died shortly after being brought home. Mr. Bruce was the son of the late Rev. and Mrs. Thomas Bruce, of New Milns, Ayrshire, Scotland, who arrived in New Zealand In 1871 and took up land at Taotaoroa, where, -five years later, Mr. John Bruce was horn. He was educated at the Taotaoroa school, and in his youth was •engaged in general farm work, continuing on with shearing,- contracting and surveying on the goldfields. In 1900, Mr. Bruce took over 102 acres of unimproved land at Taotaoroa, and .by dint of hard work established his present well-developed mixed farm. He was married in 1910 to a nurse, Miss Annie Melidrum, of Dundee, Scotland. Ten .years later his wife died, leaving no family. Mr. Bruce’s public interests were many and varied. He joined the Fourth Waikato Mounted Rifles in 1899 and had 22 years of service, retiring in 1921, with the rank of captain. He was also O.C. of the Cambridge Squadron from 1910-13, and he held the New Zealand Meritorious Service Medal and the 20 years’ long and efficient service medal. He offered his services for World War I, but was rejected. As a keen shooter, he was a past president of the South Auckland Rifle Association and the former Cambridge Defence Rifle Club. At the last local body elections in

1944 he did not seek re-election to S* the Matamata County Council, and was. replaced by Mr. C. Bruce, who has had long residence at Taoaoroa, but is not related to Mr. John Bruce. Just prior to the 1944 elections, Mr. Bruce suffered injuries which placed him in hospital for five weeks when the team of horses he was driving in a topdresser bolted, . and the machinery overturned on him. He appeared to have made a complete recovery, but his sudden may h ave -been attributable :to this accident. Mr. Bruce was president of the -Cambridge Farmers’ Union in 1927 ;and 1928, and had been chairman of ■the Taotaoroa School Committee. From 1920 to 1927 he was chairman «f Ihe Karapiro Suppliers’ Committee. He was also a member and former president of the Karapiro Tennis Club. With his long residence in the . Cambridge district, Mr. Bruce had -many reminiscences to tell of the .. early days. He often recalled when - the locality was a wilderness of • scrub and fern. There were only Maori and cattle tracks east of the Karapiro bridge in the days of his boyhood, and he saw these develop into first class motor roads. The late Mr. Bruce is survived by ’-two sisters, Mrs. J. R. Mitchell, 'of Leamington, and Miss N. Bruce, of Taotaoroa, and one brother, Mr. W. F. Bruce, of Mercury Bay. One brother and three sisters pre-de- . ceased him.