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Mr J R Templin was born
in America, and although he lived in New Zealand
continuously since 1910 upon his passing in 1961, he
still maintained his United States citizenship. He
graduated in 1903 from Ohio State University with a
degree of mechanical engineering and foreseeing the
value of steam turbines in the future, took a job which
brought him to New Zealand in 1905 to install the steam
turbines for the Christchurch Tramways Board. During his
stay he met and married Mrs Templin. In 1906 he was
installing turbines in Bangkok, Siam (Thailand), but
came back to settle in New Zealand in 1910. He too felt
the lure of the gold fields although in a slightly
different form for his first job after settling was as
an electrical engineer to a gold mining concern on the
West Coast. Later, in 1914, he set up as a consulting
engineer in Christchurch, and continued in this
profession until his retirement in 1938. He was on the
board of directors of Skellerup Industries Limited and
of several companies in the Skellerup group including
the Dominion Salt Company Ltd and was actively engaged
with these and other concerns. |
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Mr Templin's horticultural activities and
interests were wide. Besides belonging to specialist
societies such as the New Zealand Lily Society and the New
Zealand Rose Society, he was also a member of the
Christchurch Beautifying Association and the Civic
Beautification Committee, which catered for the wider field
intimately connected with the public interest. In 1937 he
was elected to the management committee of the Canterbury
Horticultural Society, became its chairman in 1942 and its
president in 1956. The Royal New Zealand Institute of
Horticulture unanimously resolved that the distinctive title
of Associate of Honour of the Institute should be conferred
upon Mr J R Templin of Christchurch. This honour is only
granted to persons who have rendered distinguished service
to horticulture, and their number was limited to a maximum
of forty at any time. There was no one more richly deserving
of this signal honour, for few men had done as much for
horticulture in Canterbury as John Templin.
Horticulture and engineering were his two
loves and Mr Templin planned to further them when he and Mrs
Templin were no longer amongst us. The John Templin Trust
came into existence and provided Scholarships, dependent
upon finances available, for a student of proved merit in
engineering and another of approved merit in horticulture,
to spend a year in advanced training in America. Naturally,
being an old student of Ohio State University, Mr Templin
was keen that, if possible, scholarship holders should
attend courses at the excellent schools of engineering and
horticulture there, but wisely, did not make this binding to
the individual student. Research work, commercial work or
advanced study were all envisaged as fields for which the
scholarships would be applicable. Mr Templin saw his
scholarships as assisting not only the advancement of
horticulture and engineering, but of New Zealand herself,
and for this reason scholarship holders were bound to return
to New Zealand for two years to use the skill which they
obtained overseas.
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