Obituaries Australia

Having collapsed at his office, Mr. Frederick William Kitchen, managing director and chairman of J. Kitchen and Sons Pty. Ltd., died at his home in Sorrett avenue, Malvern, yesterday. He was aged 61 years.

The business was founded by Mr. Kitchen's grandfather, and was carried on his his father. When Lever Bros. Ltd., of England, acquired an interest in this business, following a visit to Australia of the first Lord Leverhulme, Mr. F. W. Kitchen was asked in 1924 to take charge of the whole of the Lever interests in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Seas.

Mr. Kitchen played a leading part in the development of the Victorian Chamber of Manufactures. He had been a member of the council of the Chamber since 1904, and was elected president in 1933 and 1934. He was chairman of the committee which conducted the All-Australian Centenary Exhibition in Melbourne, while president of the Associated Chambers of Manufacture. Mr. Kitchen went abroad on official business in 1935, and was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to act as the representative of Australian employers at the International Labour Convention held in Geneva. Since 1925 Mr. Kitchen had been an active member of the board of the Alfred Hospital.

Mr. Kitchen played golf, and was a keen patron of the Victorian Turf. Horses which he owned had many important successes. He is survived by a son, Mr. Frederick Burford Kitchen, and a daughter, Barbara (Mrs. Peter Fitzgerald).

The funeral arrangements are being made by A. A. Sleight Pty. Ltd.