Agriculture Dept. Appointments

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30955, 11 January 1966, Page 10

Agriculture Dept. Appointments

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 10. Appointments to two high-ranking posts in the Department of Agriculture were announced today by the State Services Commission.

Dr. A. T. Johns, director of the Plant Chemistry Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, has been named Assistant Director-General of Agricul-

ture for the professional side of the department’s work. Mr G. J. Anderson, Director of Administration in the Agriculture Department, will become Assistant Director-Gen-eral (Administration). Dr. Johns was appointed Assistant Director-General of the D.S.I.R. several months ago. He had not taken up duty in this post, however, and would not now do so, the commission said. He has an international reputation in agricultural research, and is particularly well known in New Zealand for his interest in the practical use of research results.

One of his major contributions has been research into the problem of bloat.

Dr. Johns graduated M.Sc. in 1939 from Canterbury University, and the next year was awarded a National Research Fellowship. From 1945 to 1948 he worked in the Biochemistry Department and the Agricultural Research Council Unit of Animal Physiology, Cambridge University, where he was awarded a Ph.D.

He joined the Plant Chemistry Division of the D.S.I.R. in 1949, and became its director in 1956. In 1963 Dr. Johns became a member of the Massey Uni-

versity College council and the next year was Pro-Chan-cellor of Massey University. Mr Anderson’s public service career began in 1927 when he joined the Department of Agriculture, Dunedin as a clerical cadet. He served in Dunedin, Auckland and Wellington before becoming district chief clerk in Wellington in 1944. In 1945 he became the department’s staff training officer.

Mr Anderson became assistant to the secretary in 1949, and later Assistant Secretary, Department of Agriculture. In 1956 he was appointed Secretary, and in 1958 Director (Administration).