Ojala, Eric Mervyn

(1916– ).

Director, Commodities Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Food and Agricultural Organisation, Rome.

Eric Mervyn Ojala was born at Auckland, New Zealand, on 16 September 1916. He was educated at Tauranga District High School and Auckland Grammar School before studying for the Agricultural Intermediate Examination at Auckland University College. He completed a master's degree in agricultural science at Massey Agricultural College in 1939 and then completed a B.A. in economics at Auckland University College in 1945. From 1946 to 1948 he did post-graduate work in agricultural economics at the University of Oxford. His first appointment was as an instructor in agriculture for the New Zealand Department of Agriculture, 1938 to 1942. After serving in the New Zealand Army for 18 months, he was appointed as an agricultural officer for the Defence Force (later Public Service) at Guadalcanal in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate to develop a progressive agricultural policy for the area. From 1949 to 1952 he was a rural economist in New Zealand, after which he spent three years as Deputy Chairman of the Research Council for the South Pacific Commission. Since 1956 Dr Ojala has been Regional Economist for Asia and the Far East for the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations stationed at Bangkok, and chief of the ECAFE/FAO Agriculture Division. He published Agriculture and Economic Progress in 1952.

Since 1959 the operatic tenor Colin Young (Wellington) has lived in Italy, where he sings under the stage name, Enrico Colli. He has travelled widely and has sung in Spain, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Australia.

New Zealanders working in these countries represent a number of occupations, such as business and commerce, missionary work, medicine, teaching, and engineering. In India a sample of prominent expatriates might include such missionaries as the Revs. B. N. and M. J. Eade, of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society, Agartala; Brigadier M. J. Gould, the Salvation Army's editorial and literary officer in Poona; the Rev. and Mrs R. S. Roxburgh, of the United Church Compound, Uttar Pradesh; Major and Mrs R. P. D. Snow, Salvation Army workers in the Poona district; Lorraine Saunders, who has given nearly 30 years' service in India and is now stationed at Kharar; and the Rev. Max R. Robinson, of Saharanpur's United Christian Seminary.

D. N. Chalmers came to India in 1948 and is stationed in Calcutta as manager for India of the New Zealand Insurance Co.D. W. C. Kelsall is an engineer for Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners. Another engineer, who is also a businessman handling electrical equipment, is A. Monkhouse, of Baroda. Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Titchener worked originally with the Missioners' Association, but is now in business in Ahmedabad as a “management consultant”.

In the medical field Dr H. D. L. Russell is Regional Community Development Adviser at the World Health Organisation Regional Office, New Delhi. Two New Zealand women are working at the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana – Sister M. C. Livingston, who has spent 30 years in India, and Dr Beryl Howie.

Molly Mullan is headmistress of Bishop Azariah School and D. J. R. Cashe has been principal of Noble High School, Masalipatour, since 1939.

In Pakistan Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice Brown is principal of the Pakistan Army Cadet College. He was formerly with UNMOGIP. Among businessmen are I. L. Burr, managing director of the Pakistan Shell Oil Co. in Chittagong; and D. L. Sutherland, of the National Insurance Co. of New Zealand, at Karachi. Another Karachi resident is the Rev. Canon S. N. Spence, of Holy Trinity Compound.

Dr Marjorie R. Young is medical superintendent of the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Gopalganj and Dr G. R. Butterfield is stationed in Karachi.

There are very few New Zealanders working in Nepal and Afghanistan, but a recent arrival is F. Young, ICAO Adviser in the Department of Civil Aviation, Katmandu. Miss D. M. Ross also works in Katmandu as a World Health Organisation nurse. At Kabul is Miss M. S. Lochore, a United Nations technical assistant.

Those in Ceylon work mainly in Colombo - R. J. S. Bean, formerly a tea planter, now in business as a merchant; C. R. Dodd, of the commercial services of Radio Ceylon; N. H. Bow; K. D. Banks; and H. W. A. Tarrell. Group Captain Watts is Station Commander at Katunayake, Negombo.

SeeUnited Kingdom — Colonial Service.

Bolt, Basil Franklin

(1923– ).

Ghana Civil Service.

Basil Bolt was born in 1923. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University College and served in the armed forces from 1941 to 1946. In 1949 he was appointed Administrative Officer in the Gold Coast and from 1958 to 1960 was a member of the Ghana Civil Service.

McLaren, Clyde Alexander

(1923– ).

Ghana Civil Service.

Clyde McLaren was born at Auckland, New Zealand, on 4 October 1923 and attended Mount Albert Grammar School and Auckland University College before undertaking post-graduate studies at the University of London. He served in the Second World War from 1941 to 1946 and in 1950 was appointed a cadet on the Gold Coast. Since 1958 he has been an administrative officer in the Ghana Civil Service.

McDiarmid, Douglas Kerr

(1922– ).

Artist.

Douglas McDiarmid was born at Taihape, New Zealand, on 14 November 1922. He was educated at Timaru Boys' High School and Canterbury University College, where he obtained his B.A. In 1945 he went to London, but after a brief period there moved to Paris where he has lived ever since. He worked at Cannes for one year and in 1949–50 revisited New Zealand. His works were exhibited in London (1960) and in New Zealand (1961). Douglas McDiarmid is at present working on landscapes and experimenting in new textures. He describes himself as an expressionist painter — one who expresses the visual rhythm of things.

Mirams, Gordon Holden

(1909– ).

UNESCO Secretariat.

Gordon Mirams was born at Christchurch on 9 March 1909. He was educated at Christ's College and at Canterbury University, where he studied for his M.A. and Dip. Journ. For eight years he was a reporter on the Christchurch Sun. From 1935 to 1937 he was director of publicity for the J. C. Williamson Corporation and for the next two years served on the staff of Radio Record. In 1939 he became chief subeditor and film critic on the New Zealand Listener. He spent 1948–49 with UNESCO in Paris, but returned to New Zealand to take up a post as Chief Censor and Registrar of Films for the Department of Internal Affairs. He held this position until 1959, when he joined the Mass Communications Department of the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris.

Among other New Zealanders living in France, the following may be mentioned: Vera Moore, who has won acclaim as a concert pianist, particularly for her interpretations of Chopin and Debussy; and “Count” Geoffrey Wladyslaw Vaile Potocki de Montalk (Auckland), a prominent eccentric, who is a poet (by his own definition) and claims to be Wladislavs V, the rightful King of Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia.

SeeUnited Kingdom — Colonial Service.

Hamlin, Reginald Henry James, O.B.E.

(1908– ).

Obstetrician and gynaecologist, Addis Ababa.

Reginald Hamlin was born on 21 April 1908 at Napier and educated in Canterbury (M.A. Hons. 1932) and Otago Universities. A gold medallist in gynaecology and obstetrics in 1941, he gained his M.B., Ch.B., in the following year and saw service as a surgeon-lieutenant in the Royal New Zealand Navy. After the war he took up a medical travelling scholarship and obtained a F.R.C.O.G. (London). Since then he has held obstetrical and gynaecological appointments in London, Sydney, and Hong Kong. In 1959 he became consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Princess Tsahai Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 1965 Dr Hamlin was awarded the O.B.E. for his “unremitting work for the welfare of the women of Ethiopia”. At the hospital he has built up a special unit which fights fistula—a name for the almost incredible injuries suffered by many young Ethiopian mothers in childbirth unattended by midwives.

There is one New Zealander on the staff of the English Department at the Charles University, Prague. He is Ian Milner, son of Frank Milner, and a former New Zealand Rhodes scholar and Commonwealth Fund fellow who undertook advanced studies at the Universities of California and Columbia. For five years he lectured at the Universities of California and Columbia and he has also lectured at the University of Melbourne, but resigned to take up his present position. He has published many articles on English, Scottish, and Australian literature and has written a critical study of George Eliot.

During the disturbances which accompanied the granting of independences, several New Zealand medical men made their way to Congo and Katanga. Among these are Dr G. T. Davies and Dr Ian Schneidman, both of whom are with the Congolese Red Cross in Leopoldville. Another New Zealander, E. J. Salisbury, has been a missionary in the Congo for over 30 years and has charge of a mission station at Luanza.

In addition to the above, four New Zealand missionaries came into the news during the rebellion in 1964. These included Cyril and Joy Taylor, of Christchurch, who were running a Bible school at Lowa. The Taylors were imprisoned in Stanleyville for a time, where Cyril was killed by the rebels on 25 November 1964. Marjorie Cheverton (Auckland), who taught at Egbita, near Paulis, and Patricia Holdaway, who was engaged in maternity and general nursing at Bamili, were rescued and repatriated to New Zealand. All had been resident in the Congo for many years.

Alley, Rewi, M.M.

(1897– ).

Secretary, Asian-Pacific Peace Liaison Committee, Peking.

Rewi Alley was born on 2 December 1897 at Springfield, Canterbury, New Zealand, and was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School. He served with the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1917–18 and was awarded the Military Medal. From 1920 to 1925 he was a sheep farmer near Waverley. He then went to China. For many years he was closely associated with the Baillie Industrial School at Sandan and, from 1943 to 1949, served on its teaching faculty. He has published many works, including some translations of Chinese poetry. Rewi Alley is, at present, secretary for the Asian-Pacific Liaison Committee in Peking.