RETIREMENT OP A LONG SERVICE OFFICIAL.

Colonist, Volume XLI, Issue 9209, 28 June 1898, Page 2

RETIREMENT OP A LONG SERVICE OFFICIAL.

At the end of the present month the Government service will no longer know, as an active official, a gentleman whose form has been familiar, and whose labors have been appreciated, for more than forty-two years. In March, 1856, Mr J. T. Catley received an appointment in the Lands Office, Nelson, at the hands of the Honorable Major Bichmond, C.8., who at that time, amongst other offices, held the position of Commissioner of Crown Lands, and i after the retirement of Major Bichmond, Mr Catley served under six other Commissioners, namely, Mr Alfred Domett, who distinguished bimsslf in many ways, and, amongst others, as a poet, under the Horn J, C. Eichmond, Mr H. C. Daniell, Mr Alfred Greenfield, Mr J. W, Browning and Mr Humphries. He was also associated in his public duties, and socially, with Mr Poynter, who was Eesident Magistrate forty years ago ; with three Superintendents of the Nelson province, Mr Robinson, Mr Alfred Saunders, and Mr Oswald Curtis. For a time he worked beside Mr John Gully, the well-remembered and distinguished artist, and he was also associated in his labors with the Hon. Joseph Shepherd, Mr E, J. O'Connor, Mr John Sharp, aud many others. At the present time Mr Catley has served longer than any other officer of the Lands Department, and his has been the unique experience, amongst those whose length" of service approaches his own, of 'having remained in the same office the whole time. He has held, in his time, many offices, for, in addition to others, he has held the posts of Accountant to the Sub-Treasury, Sub-Treasurer, Paymaster, Receiver of Land Revenue, Secretary to Native Reserves, and Registrar of Electors. In his early days he commenced a work that proved of considerable value, and which we have heard highly spoken of. In addition to his ordinary duties in the receipt of monies, and the keeping of accounts, he compiled a register showing the land transactions within the Nelson district, and this he kept up till the establishment of the Land Transfer Office, when bis register, which showed at a glmceto whom the Crown grant of every section disposed of had been issued, was found of great service. Of late years, as is well known, the Land Transfer Department has kept such records as Mr Catley first provided for. Years back Mr Catley was a prominent member of the Harmonic Society, and in musical matters and in amateur photography he was associated with Sir David Manro and many others. Many of those with whom he formerly worked have been removed from us, and we have no doubt Mr Catley will feel his severance from a spot hallowed by many pleasant memories. He has, however, by his long service, earned the right to rest, and though he will be missed by very many old friends from the place that has known him so long, and amongst these by a great number of settlers who have had periodically to call at his office, and by whom he has been regarded as a fiiend, all these, and many more, will join us in the hope that he may long enjoy, in health and in happiness, the rest that his long period of service has entitled him

to. Mr Catley will be succeeded by Mr J. E. McDonald, who is already in Nelson, and who will take up the duties of the office on Friday next.