THE HON. JAMES MCLEOD

Taranaki Daily News, 23 June 1934, Page 6

THE HON. JAMES MCLEOD

HIS SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC PROMINENT PLACE IN SPORT. LEADER IN RUGBY MANAGEMENT. ACTIVITY IN BUSINESS SPHERE. Best known, perhaps, as the chairman of the management committee of the Taranaki Rugby Union, a position he has occupied for 25 years, the Hon. James McLeod has taken a prominent part in the public affairs of New Plymouth and Taranaki over a long period. His name has been synonimous with Rugby in New Zealand for many years. After retiring from active participation in the national game about 30 years ago he directed hisx energies to its administration, a sphere in which he is recognised as one of the leading figures and authorities. Though never actually president of the Taranaki union, he is acknowledged as probably the most dynamic personality amongst its officials. His influence in the cause of the game has, however, reached far beyond the boundaries of the province, with the result that with Mr. G. H. Dixon, Auckland, he has shared the distinction of being one of the only two persons to be twice president of the New Zealand Rugby Union. It was during his occupancy of that position in 1921 that the Springbok team toured the Dominion. He was manager of the All Black team that visited Australia in 1929. Because of his expert knowledge, his services have been used freely by the New Zealand union in the negotiations that have been conducted at various times with the object of achieving uniformity between the rulings in England and other countries playing the code, and securing the recognition by the English union of interpretations of rules peculiar to New Zealand. WAS PRESIDENT OF CHAMBER. Once president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce and for many years a member of its council, Mr. McLeod has been closely identified with many public and semi-public institutions, of New Plymouth and Taranaki. His intest in Pukekura Park has been a strong factor in its development as the finest reserve of its kind in New Zealand. He was appointed chairman of the old park board and retained that position when the board was reconstituted as a committee of the Borough Council, which took over the control of the park. In this capacity Mr. McLeod was closely connected with the transfer to .. the borough of the Brooklands estate, envied throughout the Dominion as a very beautiful extension to a very beautiful park. Mr. McLeod was one of the foundation members of the Pukekura Park sportsground committee and is still a member of that body.

, Mr. McLeod’s community activities extend widely through the town. He is a member of 'the New Plymouth Rotary Club, a trustee of the New Plymouth Savings Bank and has been a member of the Taranaki Licensing Committee for many years. He represents the Director of Civil Aviation on the, New Plymouth Airport Board, and is associated with several private undertakings in the district. Philanthropic movements have always had his active support. As a member of the executive of the New Zealand Racing Conference and vice-president and trustee of the Taranaki Jockey Club, Mr. McLeod has taken a keen interest in the development of the sport throughout the province and the Dominion. When the round-the-mountain cycle road race was instituted in 1911 he was appointed the first secretary of the controlling committee. He has been a member of the New Plymouth Bowling Club almost for the whole period of his residence in the town. Bom at Stirling (Otago) in 1882, Mr. McLeod was a son of Mr. Robert. McLeod. He was educated at the Stirling public school, the Balclutha High School, and the Otago Boys’ High School (Dunedin). Mr. McLeod commenced his career in the service of the National Bank of New Zealand in the Otago district after giving up the idea of a mechanical training that commenced in the Government railway workshops at Hillside, Dunedin. After spending three years in the bank and a short period at goldmining in Otago and on the West Coast, he entered journalism. He was editor of the Eltham Argus in 1904-5, and afterwards was sub-editor of the Taranaki, Daily News from 1906 to 1912. •He then joined Mr. G. W. Slade in the purchase of the printing and letterpress business of Joseph Hooker and Co., New Plymouth. This business was carried on under the style of McLeod and Slade, Ltd.; he is still managing director. Mrs. McLeod is a daughter of Mrs. J. Hodson and the late Mr. Hodson, formerly of Christchurch.

MR. T. O'BYRNE,

Interest in politics led Mr. Thomas O’Byme to become chairman of the Southland Liberal and Labour Federation in 1904. He was bom in Tasmania in 1874 and was brought up on his father’s farm and worked on farms in New Zealand for some time after his arrival. He then took up farming on his own account in Southland. He was president of the Southland Timber Workers’ Union and took an active interest in athletic and axemen’s societies.'

MR. WILLIAM PERRY.

Mr. William Perry was educated at the Wellington College and University, graduating LL.B. In 1922 he was elected president of the Wellington District Law Society and president 4 of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association 1920-22, Dominion vice-president R.S.A. 1925-30, member of Eastbourne Borough Council 1913-15. He served for three years in the First Wellington Regiment and was wounded during the Great War. "He was bom in Westland in 1885 and is in practice at Wellington as a barrister and solicitor.

MR. F. WAITE.

Mr. Frederick Waite, D. 5.0., J.P., was elected member for Clutha in 1925 and retained the seat until 1931. He saw considerable service during the Great War. He was in command of the Otago Mounted Rifles from 1927 to 1930 and is now on the retired list, being decorated with the territorial long service medal. He wrote an official history, “New Z ■'danders on Gallipoli,” published in 1919. He was born at-Momington,

MR. V. A. WARD.

After the death of his father, Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. Vincent Aubrey Ward contested and won the Invercargill seat in 1930, retiring from politics in 1931. He was bom at Bluff in 1888 and educated at St. Patrick’s College, Wellington. He joined the staff of the National Rank. In 1907 he left New Zealand for England, where he was connected with merchants and insurance companies. In the following year he went to New York, where he joined the staff of the United States Steel Corporation. In 1911 he was transferred to Montreal as joint manager of the New Zealand Shipping Co. there. Having performed many public offices in Canada he returned to New Zealand in 1920, joining his father’s firm of J. G. Ward and Co. - ,