MR. B. M. WILSON DEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 225, 23 September 1929, Page 18

MR. B. M. WILSON DEAD.

HEAD OF TOURIST OFFICE. ATTACKED BY PNEUMONIA. ; (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Sunday. The death occurred this mornjng of Mr. Benjamin Marcus Wilson, general manager of the Government Tourist Department. He contracted a chill on Friday, and pneumonia developed yesterday.

Born at Thames in November, 1870, Mr. Wilson was a eon of the late Mr. B. Wilson, who was one of the first compositors employed at the Government Printing Office. He was educated at Wellington College, where he won a junior scholarship. He joined as a clerk the legal firm of Buckley, Stafford and Treadwell, remaining there for five years. He then entered the Civil Service, and was attached as private secretary to the Hon. A. J. Cadman (later Sir Alfred), Minister of Native Affairs and Minee in the Seddon Cabinet. Later he was transferred to the office of Sir Joseph Ward in a similar capacity, and served under him for 15 years. In 1906 he accompanied Sir Joseph, then Postmaster-General, to the Rome Postal Congress.

Upon the establishment of the Court of Arbitration Mr. "Wilson was in 1907 appointed its first registrar, and held that position until 1910, when he. became general manager of the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts. He was a member of the Tongariro National Park Board and the Scenery Preservation Board. In 1897 he married Mies "Dot" Pareons, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Parsons, one of Wellington's best-know a musical families.