TWO KNIGHTS CREATED

Southland Times, Issue 23838, 8 June 1939, Page 4

TWO KNIGHTS CREATED

BIRTHDAY HONOURS IN N.Z. ORDERS CONFERRED ON FIFTEEN FIVE WOMEN INCLUDED IN LIST (United Press Association) ’ AUCKLAND, June 7. His Excellency the Governor-General has announced that his Majesty the King has been graciously pleased on the occasion of the celebration of his birthday to confer the following honours in recognition of services to the Dominion. THE MOST EXCELLENT ORDER OF THE BRITISH < EMPIRE CIVIL DIVISION Knight Commander (K.8.E.) PROFESSOR WILLIAM BLAXLAND BENHAM, professor emeritus, of Otago University, Dunedin. PROFESSOR THOMAS ALEXANDER HUNTER, of Wellington. Commander (C.8.E.) NORMAN EDWIN HUTCHINGS, assistant under-secretary of Public Works, Wellington. Officer (0.8. E. MISS JANE RHODA BARR, of Wellington, formerly principal of the Timaru Girls’ High School. MOTHER MARY GONZAGA, matron of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Auckland. COLONEL WILLIAM DOUTHWATTE HOLGATE, of Auckland. Member (M.8.E.) MISS TERESA BUTLER, formerly matron of the hospital at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. MISS MARY BLYTHE LAW, formerly teacher in the New Zealand Institute for the Blind, Auckland. MISS BLANCHE ELEANOR CARNACHAN, J.P., of Auckland. FRANK REED, of Auckland, formerly Government Chief Inspector of Mines. , MILITARY DIVISION Officer (0.8. E. . FLIGHT LIEUTENANT CYRIL EYTON KAY, R.N.Z.A.F., of Auckland. Member (M.8.E.) ALBERT JOHN LEE, Commissioned engineer, R.N., of Auckland. CAPTAIN DAVID NICOL, District Ordnance Officer, Southern Military District, Christchurch. THE MOST DISTINGUISHED . ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL AND ST. GEORGE Companion (C.M.G.) HENRY TAI MITCHELL, of Rotorua. ARTHUR TYNDALL, under-secretary of mines and Director of Housing Construction, Wellington. MOTHER MARY GONZAGA, 0.8. E. (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, June 7. A life of outstanding devotion and service to the sick has been that of the Rev. Mother Mary Gonzaga, 0.8. E., at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, of which she has been the executive head since she and three other sisters established it at the beginning of the century. Mother Mary Gonzaga was born in Marlborough and entered the order as a young woman working in a number of its institutions until in the late nineties the sisters took temporary charge of the Coromandel Public Hospital which had found difficulty in obtaining a nursing staff. In 1900 she and three associates arranged for the purchase of the property on which the present Misericordiae Hospital stands. Since then she has remained at the head of the institution and it was after a visit by her and the Rev. Mother Mary Agnes to the United States in 1930 that she, in collaboration with a city architect, worked out a design for a thoroughly modern hospital of 75 beds which became in 1936 the present hospital. MISS T. BUTLER, M.B.E. (Special to The Times) WELLINGTON, June 7. Long nursing service in the tropics stands to the credit of Miss T. Butler, M.8.E., who retired in February medically unfit from the position of matron of the Awarua Hospital, Rarotonga, and is now in New Zealand. She trained for her profession at the Christchurch Hospital and did her midwifery course in Melbourne. Miss Butler was in England on a private visit in 1914 and on the outbreak of war she offered her services to the Imperial authorities. She was one of the original nurses to serve in Belgium with the British Army, arriving there within three days of the outbreak of the Great War. Later she transferred to the New Zealand Army Nursing Service with which she served for the remainder of the war. She had been matron of the Rarotonga hospital for about eight years up to the time of her retirement. MISS M. B. LAW, M.B.E. (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, June 7. Unremitting attention to the interests of children who have passed through the school at the New Zealand Institute fpr the Blind in Parnell has distinguished the life of Miss M. B. Law, M.B.E. She recently retired from the position of head mistress of the school after nearly 40 years’ service. MISS B. E. CARNACHAN, M.B.E. (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, June 7. Active interest in the improvement of conditions for women and children has long been taken by Miss B. E. Camachan, M.8.E., of Auckland. She was among the first women justices of the peace and was later appointed special children’s magistrate. Formerly a school teacher Miss Camachan became a member of many Auckland organizations on her retirement, taking special interest in those associated with the welfare of women and children.