MR. L. PREECE DEAD

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1940, Page 10

MR. L. PREECE DEAD

PROMINENT IN DISTRICT The death of Mr. Leslie Preece, aged 42 years. yesterday morning was a shock to South Taranaki, for although Mr. Preece, one of the best known farmers in the district and a man esteemed by all sections of the community, was known to .be ill, his death was unexpected. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Mr. Preece was the son of the late Mr. George Preece, a pioneer settler of the Matapu district, who left a name honoured throughout the province for a lifetime of service devoted to the progress of the district in which he had farmed with conspicuous success. Like his father, Mr. Preece gave promise of a noteworthy career in perhaps a wider sphere. He was educated at the Matapu school, in which he afterwards continued a keen interest as a member of the school committee, and except for a brief period spent in Australia, where he made a close study of farming conditions, Mr, Preece resided all his life in the district, settling first on the Hastings Road, and on his father's death in 1934 moving to Skeet Road. His wife was Miss Edith May Luxton, member of an equally well known South Taranaki family. About two and a half years ago Mr. Preece, who held a high reputation for his knowledge of farming, became one of the farm supervisors for the Farmers Co-operative Organisation Society of New Zealand Ltd., and he became known throughout Taranaki. Mr. Preece took an active part in local body work, notably as a member of the Matapu hau committee as a director of the Mangatoki Dairy Co. Ltd., and, further afield, as representative of his district on the South Taranaki executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union. the committee of the South Taranaki Boys and Girls Agricultural Clubs Association, and the commmittee of the Egmont A. and P. Association. He was also a director of the Waitotara Lime Company and a member of the South Taranaki Council of Primary Production. He was an enthusiastic angler.