PROMINENT CITIZEN PASSES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 130, 18 June 1937, Page 4

PROMINENT CITIZEN PASSES

Death of Mr Cecil Duff This Morning L0SS TO HASTINGS Hastings lost a leading citizen this morning when the death occurred of Mr. Cecil Duff at a private hospital in Hastings. His passing came as a profound shock to the community, for it was barely 24 hours before that he was rushed to the hospital for an inimediate operation following some months of ill-health. He was wellknown and highly respected tliroughout the province. ( Mr. Duff was born at Waitaliura, I Otago. At the time of his death he I was in his 56th. year. He was the fifth son of the late Mr. and Mrs. vVilJiam Duff, well-known old settlers of that province, and spent his early i life at Edievale, latem going to Dunedin. There he studied for the legal profession He married Miss Florence j McDonald. He subsequently set up in practice in Stratford and later moved to Napier, but after a few years there he decided to take up permanent residence in Hastings. During the past 20 years or so that Mr Duff had been in Hastings few men took a more active or keen interest in the development and progress of the district. His interests were diversified, and he made contact with almost every section of the community, eithei in his public life or privately. For many years he was president of the Hastings Y.M.C.A. board of management, and lie was a borough. councillor for a twoyear term, commencing in 1921. Musical and amateur dramatic organisations found in him a keen supporter and enthusiast, and he took his share in educational affairs, not only as a parent but as a member of school committees and the Hastings High School Parents' League. The late Mr. Duff was also one of the principal office-bearere of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church during practically the whole of the time he lived in Hastings, and was particularly noted for his tireless service in this regard. In his early days he took part in the South African War, and latterly he had been a prominent member of the Hastings brancb of the South African War Veterans' Association. He was a leading member of the Hastings and Hawke's Bay Law Societies, and for a period was Chief of tlie Hastings Orphans Club, being

tne present cmers immeaiato predecessor tkijee years ago. He was also a member of tbe Hastings Rotary Club. In recent years the late Mr. Duff took a leading part in the hospital affairs of Hastings and the province. He joined the Hawke's Bay Hospital Board in May of 1929 and bepame an ardent advocate of improved and adequate hospital requirements for Hastings, and his efforts in this direetion brought him very much tq the fore in public life, a state that he naturally disliked, for he had no desire for publicity; but it was charaeteristic of him that, notwithstanding personal feelings, he would hold steadfastly to any cause that he considered a worthy one and in the interests of the community in general. Mr. Duff was a prominent member of the Heretaunga Masonic Lodge and was recently elected Master, but the installation ceremony was to have taken place next month. He was a man of sound judgment and ready understanding, and the people of this district found in hjm an ideal guide. A member of a well-known family in New Zealand, one of Mr. Duff's brotbere, Mr. CKIiyer Duff, was for many years editor of the Christchurch Press, and another brother, Mr, John Duff, was a prominent official of the transport division of the New Zealand Railways at Wellington. The death of Mr Cecil Duff will he regretted by a wide circle of friends who knew him as a man of a kindly and charitable disposition, and one who, particularly in his private life, did a great amount of good work in an unobtrusive way. He leaves a widow and two daugbbers, Miss 'Florence Duff, M.A. a teacher at the Wanganui Gijrls' Col-| lege, and Miss Muriel Duff, of Hastings, and to them will be extended (videspread sympathy, The funeral will leave the residence, 300 Nelson street N. Hastings,- on Suniay afternoon at 2.16 o'clock for 8t. Andrew's Church and later for the Hastings Cemetery. As a mark of respect to the late Mr Duff, flagB were flown at half-mast over the Hastings Soldiers' Memorial Hospital and also over the Napier Public Hospital. Proeeedings at the Hastings Courthouse were adjourned, ind the weekly luncheon meeting of the Hastings Rotary Club was abandoned.