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ERNEST ALBERT LEE

Mr Ernest Albert Lee, a retired magistrate and one of two men who played a major part in getting the Totalisator Agency Board established in New Zealand, died in Christchurch last week at the age of 84.

Mr Lee acted as junior counsel to Mr Charles Thomas during the 1948 Royal Commission into horse racing, and it was these two who put forward proposals to introduce TAB betting in this country.

A former chairman and life member of the New Brighton Trotting Club, Mr Lee acted in an advisory capacity to the NZ Trotting Conference on his retirement as a magistrate, and few rule changes were framed without him giving his advice.

Appointed a senior magistrate in Christchurch in 1962 and a senior magistrate of NZ in 1967, the year he retired, Mr Lee was admitted as a solicitor in 1927 and a barrister in 1932. Born in Seafield, Mid-Canterbury, he practised with the Christchurch firm of Cifford Jones and Lee for 21 years until appointed a magistrate in 1948, serving in Timaru until 1958 when he was transferred to Christchurch. He was president of the Canterbury District Law Society in the 1940s, chaired the War Pensions Commission, and took a keen interest in youth rehabilitation throughout his lifetime.

Tennis and bowls were his other sporting interests, and he represented Canterbury in lower grade tennis and was a Canterbury and South Canterbury bowls representative. As a tennis administrator, he served as chairman of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association Management Committee, as Canterbury selector and as a delegate to the NZ Lawn Tennis Association.

Mr Lee is survived by a daughter and a son.

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 11Sep84