Obituary

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 869, 13 January 1930, Page 12

Obituary

mzr ' MR. ROBERT KING The death of Mr. Robert King, of Te Puke, occurred on the steamer Tainui, bound from Southampton to Wellington. Mr. King, who was 69 .years of age, left Te Puke in June on a tour of the United Kingdom. He was taken ill and died within two days’ steam of Hew Zealand. Mr. Kins arrived in New Zealand from Scotland in the ship Lady Jocelyn, and after living at Rotorua and Opotiki, settled at Te Puke. He was formerly chairman of the Tauranga Harbour Board, and until recently was chairman of the Tauranga County Council, which position he held for a number of years. He resigned it on his departure for Britain. He was a member of the Tauranga Plospital Board and the Tauranga Licensing Committee, and until recently of the Kaituna River Board and the Te Puke Town Board. . Mr. King took an active interest in education, and in the social and charitable organisations of the Bay of Plenty. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church. At the last annual communication of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand Freemasons he was elected a member of the Board of General Purposes and Board of Benevolence. Mr. King’s wife died in 1918. A son and daughter survive, Mr. R. Kins, ot Auckland, and Miss F. M. King, of To Puke.

MR. WILLIAM OATES

With the death of Mr. .William Oates at his residence at Tokomaru Bay yesterday the East Coast has lost a valued worker in the public life of the district. Born in Durham in 1860, Mr. Oates received his early education at Whorlton Village School, and came to New Zealand in 1880. In 18S8 he married Miss Judith Ball. For many years he followed farming and station work, later taking up butchering, contracting and storekeeping. He was conspicuous in the public life of his district, serving for many year* Waiapu County Council, the Tokomaru Harbour Board. Hawke’s Bay Education Board, Waiapu Hospital Board, and the Tokomaru School Committee. He was chairman of the two last-named bodies. He also acted as synodsman for Waipiro, and was chairman and secretary of the Tokomaru Bay Cemetery Trust. In the realm of sport Mr. Oates was also well known, being the president of the Waiapu Rugby Union for many years before it was merged with the East Coast Rugby Union. He was chairman of the management committee of the cricket association and was for 25 years secretary-treasurer of the Tokomaru Bay Cricket Club, later being elected president. For 11 years he was secretary-treasurer to the Waiapu Dog Trial Club, and in addition was chairman of the local horticultural society, and the patriotic committee, besides being honorary recruiting officer for Waiapu. In everything that tended to the progress of the district he was a keen and willing worker. He is survived by live sons and two daughters.