AIR CRASH VICTIM

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 449, 3 June 1937, Page 4

AIR CRASH VICTIM

INQUEST OPENED

Well-known Business Man

An inquest into the death of Mr Philip Joseph Nathan, of Wellington,, the. victim of yesterday’s air crash, was opened a>t the Stratford Courthouse this morning befor e Hr W. H. Woodward, S.M., and was adjourned sine- die after evidence of identification. had. been given by George Fitzgerald Petheram, company manager, New Plymouth. A civil inquiry will be held latier. The late Mr Nathan, who was aged 68, was a member of a well-known New Zealand family and was managing director for New Zealand, of Joseph Nathan and Co., Ltd. Educated at Wellington College, he was in his youth a champion weightlifter and a capable boxer, and. as a sprinter he had many even duels with tlhe one-time champion Hemp, ton. At the same time he was keenly interested in (art and literature, an enthusiastic economist, sincere in his politics, a lover of travel and . a staunch pillar of th e Jewish church. Before undertaking the New Zealand control of the business built up

by the late Mr Joseph Nathan, his father, Mr Nathan was an intimate acquaintance and valued friend of the | majsrity of the pioneers of the coI operative dairy industry in Taranaki, l to which he was a frequent visitor as ■ butOter buyer for his firm. Members lof hit family who surviv e Mr Nathan, I who leaves a wife but no children, j are Messrs Alex. J. Nathan (Lon_ ■ don), M. J. Nathan (England), Char" ies J. Nathan (Auckland), and F. J. Na'than (Palmerston North). The 1 late .David Nathan, formerly la. i director of the Bank of New Zealand, : and the late Mr Louis Nathan, were also brothers. i The pilot of the plane, Mr C. H. I Dunford, i t an employee of Joseph Nathan and Company. A pilot of long standing with the Wellington Aero Club, he has 80 hours’ flying to his credit and holds an endorsed A . license. | Mr R. C. Keen, inspector of civil : aircraft, Flight-Lieutenant J. E. j Pawnsley, and Mr R. Morphy, in. j structor and ground engineer respeci Lively to the Wellington Aero Club, : arrived st Stratford last night and I this yiorning the/ inspected 'the re- ; mains of the machine.