DISTRICT APPRAISER RETIRES

Southland Times, Issue 24880, 21 October 1942, Page 3

DISTRICT APPRAISER RETIRES

Presentation To Mr J. J. Keppel Mr J. J. Keppel, who has retired from the position of district appraiser of the State Advances Corporation for Otago and Southland, was met on Monday by members of the Invercargill staff of the corporation. Gifts were presented to him from the Invercargill and Dunedin staffs. Mr D. Wilson, branch manager of the corporation, was chairman. He referred to the valuable service given by Mr Keppel as district appraiser and to the regret of the members of the staff at Mr Keppel's retirement. Mr B. C. McCabe, of Wellington, the corporation’s supervising valuer, spoke of the valuable work done by Mr Keppel in the Lands and Survey Department and in the Corporation. Other speakers were Mr S. P. Girdwood (who has succeeded Mr Keppel as district appraiser), Mr T. Cagney (commissioner of Crown lands), Mr M. T. John (officer in charge of the Valuation Department’s Invercargill office) and Mr A. M. Weir. Mr Keppel thanked the members of the staff for their good wishes and for the parting gifts. He referred to his connection with many of the pioneering industries of Southland and to the assistance which he had always received from officers of the departments with which he had been connected. Special reference was made to Mrs Keppel’s help at all times. Mr Keppel is, because of war-time conditions, temporarily attached to the staff of the Valuation Department at Timaru. He left Invercargill for Timaru on Monday afternoon.