NEW YEAR HONOURS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19381, 4 January 1933, Page 10

NEW YEAR HONOURS

new ZEALAND RECIPIENTS. TWO KNIGHTHOODS CONFERRED. Announcements have been issued by the Governor-General, to the effect that the King has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the New Year to confer the following honours upon the gentlemen named below:— Knight Bachelor. j Mr Alexander Gray, K.C., of Welling- ■ ton. |Mr William Perry, J.P.. of Master- \ ton. C.M.G. (Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael -St. George.) Mr Robert Sutherland Forsyth, Representative in the United Kingdom of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board, and Representative of New Zealand on the Empire Marketing Board. Mr James Marchbanks, M.1.C.E., formerly general manager and chief engineer to the Wellington Harbour Board. C.B.E. Commander (Civil Division) of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Mr George Percival Newton, formerly Under-Secretary to the Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington. Companions of Honour. The Rev. Philip Clayton, founder of Talbot House. The Rev. John Scott Lidgett, President of the Methodist Church and Vice-chancellor of the London University, and warden of the Bermondsey Settlement since 1891. are appointed members of the Order of Companions of Honour. AMY JOHNSON OMITTED. SURPRISE AND DISAPPOINTMENT IN ENGLAND. United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, January 1. There is general surprise and disappointment at the omission of Mrs James Mollison (Amy Johnson), from the Honours List. It is understood the list of Dames is limited to three, and there is no present vacancy. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. SIR ALEXANDER GRAY. The legal profession in New Zealand has no more distinguished member than Sir Alexander Gray, and all members will feel honoured in the recognition that he has received from the King. Sir Alexander, who lives in Wellington, -was educated at Wellington College and afterward articled to the well-known firm of Izard and Bell. He was admitted to the Bar in 1881 and practised in Greytown for five years, then going to Wellington where he joined a former associate in establishing the firm of Gray and Jackson. His legal honours include K.C., 1912; vice-president of the New Zealand Law Society, 1918; president, 1926, and chairman of the Legal Conference, 1928. In 1926 he acted as commissioner in the Auckland Hospital Inquiry. SIR WILLIAM PERRY. The farming community in New Zealand is represented in the honours list by Sir William Perry, of Penrose. Masterton, who is one of the best known breeders of sheep in the Dominion, and has a more than New Zealand-wide reputation as an expert , on Lincolns. He was born in 1863. at Mastertoh and in 1891, married Miss Margaret Bridson, of Wellington. He was educated at Masterton and was a town and Wairarapa representative Rugby player. Sir William attained high prominence among sheep breeders by establishing his Romney stud in 1907. He began a long list of successes in the show ring and exported many stud ewes and rams. His work on public bodies, and particularly those established to further farming in the Dominion is shown by the following record:—President of the Masterton A. and P. Association for three years, Farmers’ Union, Meat Control Board 1923, director of the Wairarapa Frozen Meat Company 1923. president of the Royal Agriculture Society since its inception in 1924, president of the Board of Agriculture, chairman of the Wool Allocation Committee, Massey College Council, chairman of the Wairarapa County Council for sixteen years and member of the No. 1 Military Service Board. He has published a widelyread book cn sheepfarming in New Zealand. MR R. S. FORSYTH, C.M.G.

Mr Robert Sutherland Forsyth, on whom the King has conferred the Order of Commander of St. Michael and St. George, is the British representative of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board in London. He is one of New Zealand’s foremost business men and his sound executive ability and knowledge of the meat industry in its various phases eminently fits him for the position he holds. Born in Dunedin in 1880. he' was educated in that city and sixteen years later joined the staff of the National Mortgage and Agency Co. as a junior. For ten years Mr Forsyth was in charge of the merchandise department of his company at Dunedin. In 1916 he was appointed manager of the branch office at Ashburton and three years later became manager of the Timaru branch. He was chairman of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce for the year 1922-23. and was appointed to his present position in 1926. He is an exOtago representative Rugby player and ex-captain of the St. Clair Golf Club, Dunedin. MR J. MARCHBANKS. C.M.G. Mr James Marchbanks, upon whom has been conferred the Order of Commander of St. Michael and St. George, was formerly general manager and engineer of the Wellington Harbour Board. After receiving his education in his birthplace, Dunedin, he entered the Civil Service, finding his interest in the Public Works Department. He was articled under the then En-gineer-in-Chief, Mr W. N. Blair. Five years later he was successful in the New Zealand surveyors’ examination, 1883. and in the following year was appointed assistant engineer for Otago. One of his most important works was locating the Manawatu Gorge line. After carrying out a number of important works in Otago, he joined the Wellington-Mnnawatu Railway Company in 1890 as assistant engineer in charge of maintenance and construction. He was appointed resident engineer and locomotive superintendent, in 1897. Tn 1909 he began his lengthy career with the Wellington Harbour

Board. In 1889 Mr gained his A.M.1.C.E.. following it | year later with lvs M.I.C’.F. MR G. P. NEWTON. C.B.E Until two years ago Mr George Per rival Newton was Under-Secretarv o: ! the Department of Internal Affairs, but j

I is now living in retirement in Welling- j | ton. He w. s born in Victoria and j I arrived in New Zealand in 1833, taking j I a position as temporary clerk in the Education D< partment < >» h sr p< 1tions included committee clerk in Par- | liament and clerk to th? Bank of New j Zealand Commission of Inquiry. Ir

1896 he entered the Department oi Internal Affairs as a temporary clerk ; and was in 1912 appointed assistant Under-Secretary and Deputy Clerk, of Writs. He was promoted in 1928 to the position he filled at his retirement. He is at present a member of tlio Town Planning Board.