The appointment of Mr. G. H. Mackley as General Manager of the New Zealand Railways in succession to the late Mr. P. G. Roussell, was announced recently by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes. Since the death of Mr. Roussell some months ago, Mr. Mackley has been Acting-General Manager, and prior to that, from December, 1931, he occupied the position of Assistant General Manager.

Born at Port Chalmers in 1883, and educated at the Invercargill Grammar School, Mr. Mackley joined the Railways as a cadet in the traffic branch at Otautau, Southland, in 1900. He worked at various stations in the Southland and Otago districts until 1907, when he was appointed as a clerk in the Chrischurch goods department.

After being transferred on promotion to Petone station, and later to Invercargill goods department, he was appointed Assistant Relieving Officer and later (1913) stationmaster at Heriot. Subsequent to this he had five years as stationmaster at Kaikohe and Onerahi, and served as Assistant Relieving Officer in the Wellington district, being later promoted to the position of Divisional Clerk in the District Traffic Manager's Office at Wellington, where he then qualified as a Train-running Officer (1920–24), being later transferred to Ohakune. During part of this period he represented the Department before the Railway Appeal Board. He was Chief Clerk at Ohakune from 1925 to 1928, and was selected in September, 1928, to be Chief Clerk in the Head Office, Wellington.

Service in Most Districts.

Mr. Mackley has had a remarkably wide range of experience in his thirty-three years with the Department. He has worked in practically every position in the traffic branch, and has had actual service in the majority of the larger districts, from Invercargill to Whangarei. The types of work have included goods, parcels and passenger traffic, shipping work of all types associated with the railways, train-running and transport experience (for he is a certified train-running officer), and executive responsibility as a District Chief Clerk and relieving District Manager.

As Chief Clerk at Head Office, Mr. Mackley had very comprehensive responsibilities. His office was the medium through which correspondence between the General Manager and the branch heads, as well as the public, was conducted. It was the central clearing-house of the service, and gave opportunities for knowledge of the inter-relation of the various branches of the Department not otherwise obtainable.

A keen student and collector of railway literature, Mr. Mackley has also taken a personal interest in several organisations outside the Department upon matters of public weal. For many years he was actively engaged in some of the more strenuous sports—football, rowing, and running, and he is an enthusiastic angler.

Keen Public Spirit.

An indication of his public spirit was shown when he took up the cudgels on behalf of the Dalmatians, of Kaikohe, who were threatened with internment during the Great War. He successfully defended them, and his action was approved by the Royal commission which subsequently dealt with the question. Mr. Mackley still prizes a watch given him by the grateful Dalmatians in recognition of his disinterested efforts on their behalf.

As a member of the Railway Officers’ Institute, Mr. Mackley took an active interest in the affairs of his fellow railwaymen, and was on two occasions chosen as delegate to the Institute's annual conference.

Throughout his career he has invariably gained the highest regard of the various officers with whom he has worked, and the reports of these officers bear striking testimony of the high regard in which he was held throughout the service. Among the general public also Mr. Mackley is held in the highest esteem, because of the helpful attitude he adopts toward all those with whom the Department has to deal, and the very thorough way in which all representations made to him are considered.

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