MR PETER HOCKLEY'S APPOINTMENT

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21415, 6 March 1935, Page 10

MR PETER HOCKLEY'S APPOINTMENT

PERSONALITY IN BOOK TRADE Mr Peter Hockley, one of the bestknown personalities in the book trade in New Zealand over a great number of years, has been appointed manager for New Zealand of Gordon and Gotch (Australasia), Ltd., and he will leave Christchurch, where he has acted as South Island manager for the company for the last 11 years, to take up residence in Wellington after a few months. Mr Hockley was born in London but came to New Zealand with his parents in 1878. and was educated in Christchurch at St. Michael's and the Cathedral Grammar Schools. His connexion with the book trade commenced in when he joined the firm of Fountain Barber in Christchurch. Later he was wren Champtaloup and Cooper in Auckland and R. J. Stark and Company in Dunedin. In 1902 he joined Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., as manager of the book department in Christchurch, and later he filled a similar position for the firm in Wellington. He resigned to visit England in 1909, and after two years' travelling in Australia and New Zealand and a second visit to England, he was appointed manager of Whitcombe and Tombs' publishing house in Melbourne. This position he retained until in 1919 he was appointed managing director of Hutchinson's Proprietary, Ltd., which held the lease of all the railway bookstalls of Victoria and which also conducted a large wholesale and retail book business. When the Victorian State Government resumed the lease of the railway bookstalls in 1924 Mr Hockley joined the firm of Gordon and Gotch and was appointed manager for the South Island at Christchurch, a position he has held up to his new appointment on March 1. Mr Hockley has been an enthusiastic member of the Christchurch Rotary Club and has been closely identified with many musical organisations in the city. He is a member of the Christchurch Liedertafel. He is a member of the executive of the importers' section of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the executive of the Christchurch Business Men's Club. He is also president of the Cathedral Grammar School Old Boys' Association.