PERSONAL

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1929, Page 8

PERSONAL

Mr. D. McKenzie, Mayor of Petone, is on a visit to New Plymouth. Mr. Harold Ackroyd, of Hawera, is on a holiday visit to New Plymouth.

Sir James Parr has left London to spend three months in Egypt, reports a, London cable. , _

Professor Gilbert Murray, President of the League of Nations’ Union, has stated he is unable to accept the invitation to visit Australia, reports the Australian Press Association from London.

Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Jourdain, of Hataitai, Wellington, are spending the Christmas and New Year holidays in New Plymouth. Mr. Jourdain was formerly chief clerk of the Lands and Survey Department and secretary of the Scenery Preservation Board. The staff of the Wellington Land Transfer Office met on Friday afternoon to bid farewell to Mr. F. W, Richmond, Examiner of Titles and Assistant Land Registrar, on his retirement on superannuation. Mr. C. E. Nalder, RegistrarGeneral of Land, made reference to the general esteem in which Mr. Richmond was held, and on behalf of the staff presented him with a wallet of notes, with good wishes for a long and happy retirement. Mr. J. J. L. Burke, Examiner otf Titles, and Mr. W. N. Haire, Assistant Land Registrar, also made reference to Mr. Richmond’s personal qualities and expressed regret at his severing connection with the department? Mr. Richmond stated that he intended to convert his presentation into a more permanent “memorial.”

The death is announced from Welling-, ton of Mr. T. F. Martin, barrister-at-law, a man whose name is held in high re-; >gard by all interested in local body work, for Mr. Martin has been for many years legal adviser to the New Zealand Counties’ Association and the leading authority on local body law in the Dominion. Mr. Martin has also been prominently associated with the affairs of St. Paul’s pro-Cathcdral in Wellington, and was held in great esteem all over the province. He was for some years city solicitor for Wellington. Mr. Martin was born in Kent, England, and was educated at Torquay and Heidelberg, Germany. He was admitted an English solicitor in 1874 and in 1877 published “The Students’ Conveyancer.” Mr. Martin arrived in New Zealand in 1879, when he was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Dominion. He practised in Canterbury until 1884, being connected with the firm of Messrs Duncan and Cotterill. He was, in 1884, appointed town clerk and city solicitor of Wellington. In 1891 Mr. Martin was appointed counsel to the Municipal Association of New Zealand and in 1864 to the New Zealand Counties’ Association. In 1895 he was entrusted by the Government with the preparation of the Local Government Bill. Latterly he was appointed solicitor to the Elec-tric-Power Boards’ Association. Mr. Martin published “Conveyancing in New Zealand,” “Property Law Act, 1905,” "Land Laws of New Zealand” and “Opinions on Local Government Law in New Zealand. He is survived by his widow, a son, Mr. T. M. Martin, solicitor, of Wellington, and two daughters, Mrs. Charles Clark, of Murchison, and Mrs. Ernest Anderson, of Day’s Bay.