POPULAR POLICE OFFICER

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6974, 6 October 1948, Page 4

POPULAR POLICE OFFICER

CONSTABLE SHAW ABOUT TO RETIRE

On the 11th of October, Kihikihi and the surrounding districts are to lose the services of an old and highly respected resident in the person of Constable Shaw who is retiring from the Police Force with an unblemished record of over 40 years’ service in the Dominion, 20 years of which has been spent at Kihikihi as officer in charge of a wide area. Prior to coming to New Zealand Constable Shaw was a member of the Inverness Burgh Police at the age of 18, and later he was attached to the Dundee City Police. He joined the Wellington (N.Z.) Force on July 19th, 1907. After four years’ meritorious service there he was transferred to Picton. He also worthily upheld the dignity of the law in Whakepo (Gisborne), Onga Onga (Hawke’s Bay), and Marton, and on the Bth of May, 1928, Constable Hugh Shaw came to Kihikihi, where his ready helpfulness and genial personality, coupled with vision and tact, won him the respect and esteem of all with whom he came in contact.

If he bumped against anyone officially it was done with sympathy and understanding. He endeared himself to all, Maori and pakeha alike. It is a tribute to the efficiency and tactfulness of Mr Shaw to say that even minor offences have been rare during his regime in Kihikihi and the large country area under his supervision. Mrs Shaw comes in for a full measure of praise. Apart from her being a real help-mate to her husband, she has befriended many people, often giving needed help unostentatiously. Their home has always been a friendly one. Many of the residents of Kihikihi and outlying districts feel that the termination of this outstanding record of service should be fittingly and publicly recognised, and marked in a tangible manner, to show the great esteem in which Constable Hugh Shaw and his family are held.