Obituary: Kenneth Sandford

Kenneth Sandford

* Kenneth Leslie Sandford, CMG, lawyer, author, cricket administrator. Died aged 91.

Kenneth Sandford was the first chairman of New Zealand's ground-breaking Accident Compensation Commission for eight years from 1972.

The Accident Compensation Act, with its promise of full accident cover for all New Zealanders at any time, came into operation on April 1, 1974. That same year, Mr Sandford was awarded a CMG for "public services".

At the end of ACC's first year (which saw 103,000 claims made), he was able to offer a stark example of the new scheme's comforting effects.

Five men were killed in a major accident in late 1974. If it had happened before April 1 their widows and dependants would have had to bring common law actions to prove who, if anyone, was at fault. They might not have known for years if they would get any compensation.

Instead, within a month of the tragedy the widows had received lump-sum payments from the ACC and the first of weekly payments, related directly to their husbands' incomes, to continue until they were 65, regularly adjusted for cost-of-living rises.

"I don't say that every case can be handled as quickly as that one," Mr Sandford said at the time. "But it shows what we are aiming for and, I hope, achieving."

Kenneth Sandford was far from being just some bureaucrat running a Government scheme. Before that the barrister and solicitor had been a senior partner in a Hamilton law firm for 22 years and a Crown Prosecutor in the city for a similar time.

The one-time president of the Hamilton District Law Society had two other great interests, writing and cricket.

He wrote two novels, published in London, but his best-selling effort was Mark of the Lion, the story of Charles Upham VC and Bar.

Telling the story of New Zealand's greatest war hero meant winning over a reluctant Upham, as well as consulting those who knew him. The book took Mr Sandford, an infantry captain in World War II, five years from 1957 to complete. It has been reprinted several times.

With cricket, Mr Sandford's interest seemed insatiable. A one-time Waikato representative player, he was on the NZ Cricket Board of Control for 15 years and a president of the NZ Cricket Council.

But he was also involved in the game at all levels. He watched countless first-class games and tests but once observed: "I've always thought the real heart and strength of the game lies with players of much lesser standard, even down to village cricket."

He took teams including young players, or ones from minor associations, on tours to South America and other places where touring teams seldom penetrated.

Auckland sportswriter Peter Devlin reckoned in 1988 that Mr Sandford, then 72, was up to his fifth such tour since 1964, always accompanied by his wife, Airini.

If there was a disappointment in Mr Sandford's career it came in 1981 when the three-man permanent Accident Compensation Commission he headed was replaced by a corporation run by an eight-person, part-time board.

He was saddened by plans to "water down" a compensation system then widely acclaimed abroad - especially moves to reduce lump-sum payments.

Mr Sandford thought the investigations of the Quigley committee, which recommended the changes in a scheme viewed by many as overly generous, had been "shallow" and "inadequate".

In retaliation, National Government members launched a stinging attack on him in Parliament - for which one MP later apologised. After that, Mr Sandford removed himself from the heat and returned to the law.

Educated at King's College and the University of Auckland, Kenneth Sandford was predeceased by a daughter, Julia, and by Airini, whom he married in 1946. He is survived by children Roger, Diana and Emma.