THE RAILWAYS BOARD

Otago Witness, Issue 4031, 16 June 1931, Page 74

THE RAILWAYS BOARD

PERSONNEL ANNOUNCED COLONEL ESSON APPOINTED CHAIRMAN AIR G. W. REID A AIEAIBER. AVELLINGTON, June 9. The Prime Alinister (Air G. W. Fofrbes) announces that the following are appointed to the Railway Board:— COLONEL J. J. ESSON, of Wellington, chairman. SIR JAAIES GUNSON, Auckland. Air E. NEWAIAN, Rangitikei. Air D. REESE, Christchurch. Air G. W. REID, Dunedin, COLONEL J. J. ESSON. Colonel J. J. Esson, C.AI.G., was Secretary to the Treasury for a number of years. Born at Picton in 1869, he joined the Post and Telegraph Department in 1881 and the Treasury in 1906. For over 20 years he was closely associated with the Volunteer and Territorial Forces, and served in the Great War in Egypt, Gallipoli, and France. SIR JAAIES GUNSON. Sir James Gunson, 0.8. E., was for some 10 years Alayor of Auckland, and has held other leading positions in the northern city. Al E. NEWAIAN. Air Edward Newman, C.AI.G., was AI.P. for Rangitikei from 1908 to 1922, and later was appointed a member of the Upper House, but when his term expired last year he was riot reappointed. He originated the New Zealand Sheepownersk Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund, and is chairman of trustees of the Flock House estate. AIR G. W. REID. Air G. W. Reid was born at Riverton in 1886. He was educated in Wellington, where, at the Terrace School and Wellington College, he stood high on

scholarship and prize lists. He graduated from Victoria University College as Bachelor of Commerce, and obtained an honours pass in the accountancy professional examinations. His wife, herself a graduate of Victoria University College in arts, is a daughter of the late Mr C. A. Strack, who was well-known in educational circles, and was manager of the Education Court at the Exhibition of 1925-1926. Air Reid came to Dunedin in 1912 to enter into practice as a public accountant and to take up an appointment as the first lecturer in accountancy at the University of Otago on the establishment of the Commerce Faculty in that year. Air Reid has a record of 20 years continuous service at the University, where he now occupies the position of Dean of the Commerce Faculty and is a member of the Professorial Board. He is a member of the Council of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, representing Otago, and is chairman of the local branch of that society. Last year he was selected as a member of the Royal Commission on Railways, but a temporary indisposition prevented him from taking up the work. He is a partner-in the well-known firm of W. E. C. Reid and Co., public accountants, and has had a wide experience and a close connection with many of the business interests in the city. It will be remembered that, in co-operation with an electrical expert, he was selected to make a comprehensive report on the affairs of the Qtago Electric Power Board. Through.bis firm he has been closely associated with several large business mergers in recent years. He is well known as the secretary of the Dunedin Alanufacturers’ Association. " MR D. REESE. Air Reese, as a young marine engineer, saw much -work between 1903 and 1907, since when he has been in partnership with his brother, Air T. W. Reese, in business as builders and merchants. He has had close contact with sea and land transport through his association with the coal, timber, and cement industries. Born in Christchurch in 1879, he was educated at the West Christchurch

School and at the Canterbury Collegb School of Engineering. In 1894 he was apprenticed to the engineering firm of Alessrs Andersons, Ltd., where he remained until 1900, when he joined the great Australian shipping firm of Alessrs Howard Smith, Ltd., as a draughtsman in the Alelbourne office. He returned to New Zealand in 1903, and shortly afterwards left for England, and for the following three years and a-half served as a marine engineer in ships trading from London to the Far East, the. West Indies, and the Canadian and United States coasts. Returning to Christchurch in 1907, he joined 9 his brother in founding the firm of Alessrs Reese Bros., builders and merchants. The business, since formed into a limited liability company, under the style of Alessrs Reese Bros., Ltd., is now. one of the most up-to-date ami progressive of its kind in the Dominion, with Air D. Reese at its head as managing director. Air Reese is a director of the Norwich Union Insurance Society, the New Forest Sawmilling Company, and of the Al'Donald Lime Kilns, Ltd,, at Oamaru.

_ Perhaps the best all-round cricketer New Zealand has produced, Air Reese was associated during his active partticipation in the sport with some of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game. He first represented Canterbury in 1895 at the age of 16. In 1899, at the age of 20, he was a member of the New Zealand cricket team which visited Australia. En route, in a match against Otago, at Dunedin, he performed the feat of taking nine wickets for 14 runs. In London, in 1903, he played for several months in the London County team, of which W. G. Grace, J. W. H. T. Douglas, and W. L. Alurdoch, a former captain of Australia, were members. In 1906 he played for Essex County, and upon returning to New Zealand in the following year he continued his brilliant cricket career. Air Reese is president of the New Zealand Cricket Council and of the Canterbury Cricket Association. He represented Canterbury at Rugby as centre three-quarter in 1900.

t The Railway Board, which takes the New Zealand Railways away from political control, was first designed by Air Forbes to consist of a chairman at £1509 and two members at £750 a year each, but during debate on the implementing legislation the Prime Alinister introduced an amendment creating a chairman at £lOOO and four members at £5OO each, thus, as he said, giving the board the nature of a directorate. The board was to have taken over control of the railways from June 1, but some delay occurred in the announcement of the per- ‘ sonnel. APPOINTMENT OF MR REID MANUFACTURERS’ CONGRATULATIONS. Air Reid was warmly congratulated on his appointment at the monthly meeting of the Dunedin Alanufacturers’ Association on Tuesday evening. The president (Air W. G. Kindiey) referred to the fact that Air Reid had been appointed to the board. Air Reid, he said, had done wonderful work in Duendin in pulling businesses out of the mire, and in showing firms better ways of carrying on their business. His work, in fact, spoke for itself. Air Reid had not been merely a recording secretary so far as the association was concerned. He was one who “ begged to differ ” on many occasions, and in that respect particularly his work had been appreciated by the association. The president added that he felt sure that Air Reid would fill the position with credit to himself and to the city. There was need for good work with respect to the railways. The position would be no sinecure, but Air Reid delighted in hard work. If the rest of the board was composed of men of such outstanding business ability as Air Reid it would do good work and would have the full support of the community. The president heartily congratulated Air Reid, assuring him that the association felt that the Government had been extremely wise in its choice.

Air James Hogg, as a member of the Council of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, expressed the pleasure which it felt at the appointment. Air Reid was a valuable member of the council and chairman of the society in Dunedin. While the council felt that the selection had been made oq, account of Air Reid’s own ability it considered that a tribute had been paid to the society of which he was a member. Air Reid, in reply, said that he felt that the appointment was a considerable personal honour, but he knew that it had been due to a conviction on the part of the Prime Alinister that an accountant on such a body would be of assistance. There was unquestionably work for an accountant on the board. He would, no doubt, have an interesting task, although it would be a formidable one.