WARBURTON, JAMES KEMMIS (1842-1923) was born at Nelson, the son of Thomas Kemmis Warburton, who represented Wellington City in the Wellington Provincial Council (1857-61). He received some of his primary education in Wellington and then went to England, returning to the Colony in 1862. As a young man he was a successful athlete and a notable swimmer. Having a brother at Gabriel's Gully, he also went to the goldfields, joined the post office at Wetherstones and eventually became chief counter clerk in Dunedin. He was afterwards Panama mail clerk at Wellington, secretary to George Gray, the head of the department, and officer in charge of the post office savings bank and money order department, in which he initiated a new system of accounts. In 1891 he was commissioned by Ballance to reorganise the Public Trust office, then under criticism, and in later years he was called in to advise the British Government in the initiation of its public trust office. Perhaps the most important achievement of his career was the administration of the West Coast native reserves, and the legislation connected with it, which materially assisted to unravel the difficulties in native titles resulting from the Te Whiti movement. Warburton submitted to Ballance (shortly before his death) a scheme of advances to settlers. This was later adopted by the Liberal Government, which entrusted to him the management of the new department (in conjunction with the superintendence of the Public Trust). In 1896 he succeeded J. E. FitzGerald as Controller and Auditor-general, a position which he held to 1910. Warburton died unmarried on 9 Jun 1923.

N.Z. Times, 2 Jul 1923; App. H.R., pass; Cycl. N.Z., i (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 232

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