A MERITED HONOUR

Southland Times, Issue 21100, 4 June 1930, Page 4

A MERITED HONOUR

Southland’s interest in the Birthday Honours will be quickened by the inclusion in the list of the name of Mr R. A. Anderson. This announcement that his Majesty has been pleased to single out for recognition a Southlander so widely esteemed, will be read with a feeling of pride and gratification by those who are aware of the part he has played, with a characteristic absence of ostentation, in public affairs, as well as by those who are privileged to know him personally. Mr Anderson has never sought public acclaim, he has avoided anything suggestive of an appeal to public favour, but he has been, and is still, quietly influential in the general affairs of Southland and in the broader field of national interest. Such widely separated provincial institutions as the Bluff Harbour Board, the High Schools Board of Governors and the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Society have claimed his services and on all of them he has left the impress of his personality. His knowledge of financial matters, and his appreciation of local body requirements were responsible for his appointment to the Local Loans Board, an act by Mr Coates which was unanimously applauded, and his sympathetic understanding of problems confronting the man on the land led to the Government of the day availing itself of his assistance in connection with the administration of the Intermediate Rural Credits scheme. During the World War Mr Anderson undertook important duties in connection with the Overseas Shipping Committee, for which his long experience in the export trade fitted him. These facts cover only the more important of his public offices, and to them could be added a long list of semi-private bodies in which he found time to engage actively. His many public benefactions are well known, but his broad sympathies have led him tq even greater generosities where he could be sure that knowledge of his actions could be confined to those personally interested. Respected in the world of business as a man of unimpeachable integrity and outstanding capacity, Mr Anderson is, in the best sense of that admirable phrase, a good citizen, and we know we express the feelings of all Southlanders, who know him best, that' he deserves the honour that has been done to him.