Town Clerk Looks Back On 25 Years In Levin

Chronicle (Levin), 5 February 1949, Page 4

Town Clerk Looks Back On 25 Years In Levin

A heavily built hpr,se came ploddjng down Oxford Street • ridden by a weather-beaten old timer,' compl'ete with straw hat and pipe. "See that ehap on the horse," said a constable to .a • man, obviously a stranger, who had -joined him on the sidewalk. "Well he's one of our councillors. You'll meet him later." The policeman was the l§te Constable John Bagrie, a oneman police I'orce, and his eoippgmion was Henry- Leonard Jenr kins, town clerk for the Borough of Levin. . . . ( jjk The date was February 4, 1924 and Mr. Jenkins was takin^' 'f his first look at the town of which he has now beconie an inseparabl'e part.

Yesterday Mr. H. L. Jenkins celebrated his 25th year in office during which time he has served under five mayors and seen a complete change in the personnel of the council and his staff. 1 Although modest about his personal association with Leyin's growth and progress,- it was foqnd by a ' "Chronicle" reporter who calle'd on him yesterday that he was not lacking in remipiseences c| the earlier days. Prior to coming to Levin, Mr. Jenkins was tOwn clerk to the New Brighton borough, a popular seaside resort now amalgamated with the city of Christchurch. The mayor at the time of Mr. Jenkins' appointment in Levin was Mr. Thomas Hobson and the then council comprised Messrs. M. Mortensen, W. G: Clark, G. Stratton, W. Ryder, F. E. Parker, C. S. Keedwell and J. Harvey, and the- late Messrs. ,R. McAllister and F. G. Roe. The mayors who followed were the late Mr. Charles B'enkhorn, the late Mr. P. W. Goldsmith, Mr. H. A. Phillips an'd the present mayor, Mr. H. B. Burdekin.