Edward Phillips Turner, 1865–1937.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 68, 1938-39, Page 28

Edward Phillips Turner, 1865–1937. (Reprinted, by permission, from N.Z. Journal of Forestry.) “Three score years and twelve had left him as erect and trim as the trees of the sub-antarctic woodlands in which he spent his life of worth and effort. He had dragged the chain and borne the theodolite in their survey, but their dark fastnesses became to him his cathedral, the stained windows in the forest heights lit with the gold of sunlight and the sapphire tints of the southern skies. These woodlands he served throughout his life, for the service which they rendered to the people whom he equally served in courage and in faith. A brave life; a true soul; an eye for the skies; a carriage distinguishing him in the forests of the world through which he trudged. Such was Edward Phillips Turner, a gallant gentleman, surveyor, forester.” E. H. F. Swain. Those who met Phillips Turner in January last, when he presided over the Forestry Section of the A. and N.Z. Association at Auckland had no cause to suspect that it would be his last public appearance in forestry circles. His stride on the various excursions was vigorous as ever; his interest and enthusiasm still had the fire almost of youth, and it was scarcely apparent that he had just passed the allotted three score years and ten. Six months later a trifling injury to the foot irked him chiefly because it interfered with a botanical expedition planned for early winter. Then suddenly came the news of his death from blood-poisoning. It is difficult to assess his influence on New Zealand forestry and New Zealand preservation of botanical monuments. He was the last of the old school of surveyors whose interest in their profession was largely the interest that the born natural historian finds in pioneering. In his case, the natural history bent was so obvious and paramount that for the major portion of his career his allotted duties were botanical rather than in direct connection with surveying, and from 1907, when he was appointed Chief Inspector of Scenic Reserves, both his interests and his duties were wholly in forestry. For just a quarter of a century, therefore, he exercised decidedly more influence than any other one man on New Zealand forestry and New Zealand's forests. No man ever sank his personality so completely in the forests that he served, forests that were at the one and the same time his hobby, his calling, his politics and his very creed. His great regret was that he was not by training a professional forester and his characteristic modesty made him stress the point, often needlessly. It is known to but few that when in 1919 he was appointed head of the Forestry Department, he recommended that it be but a temporary appointment, until a professionally trained

The Late Edward Phillips Turner

forester could be secured. This done, he voluntarily relinquished his post and served as Secretary to the new State Forest Service for the next eight years. Such self-abnegation he conceived to be his duty in the interests of forestry, and it is worthy of chronicle as a record of his greatness. All were pleased when finally he was appointed Director of Forestry, a post which he valued as an honour, rather than for its emoluments. His retirement was devoted, as had been his active career, wholly to forestry interests and pursuits. All foresters who knew him must feel his death as a personal loss. To the few who knew him intimately, his memory will be an abiding ideal of devotion to duty: single-hearted, selfless care for the well-being of the forest. C. M. S.