OBITUARY

SIR JOHN SINCLAIR [THE PRESS Special Service.] DUNEDIN, December 3. The death has occurred of Sir John Sinclair, formerly a prominent member of the legal profession, who was associated with the public life of Dunedin and the Dominion for nearly 30 years. Sir John Robert Sinclair was born in 1850 in Anglesea. North Wales, where his father had gone from Scotland in the early thirties. He received portion of his education in Wales, and in the early sixties he accompanied his parents to New Zealand, landing at Port Chalmers. He attended local schools and later the University of Otago, and on qualifying in 1875 he joined the firm of Smith, Anderson, and Company, as a partner. The firm was subsequently well known as Smith, Chapman, and Sinclair, later as Smith. Chapman, Sinclair, and White, and still later as Smith, MacGregor, and Sinclair. Both Mr Chapman (later Sir Frederick Chapman) and Mr MacGregor were afterwards appointed judges of the Supreme Court. Mr Sinclair, who was knighted in 1918, remained continuously in active practice until his retirement in September, 1906.

Sir John's association with public life extended over practically half a century. In the early eighties he was associated with the original Chamber of Commerce, and at various times he held office on the Otago Acclimatisation Society, the Athenaeum Committee, the Dunedin Horticultural Society, the Art Society, and the Amenities and Town Planning Society. He took a very keen interest in highereducation, and devoted valuable service to the community as a member of the Otago High Schools’ Board of Governors. He was a member of that body for 19 years, and filled the position of chairman from 1903 until February, 1912, when he was relieved of that office at his own request. He was a member of the University Council from 1909 till 1912, when he resigned. Sir John became associated with the political life of the country in 1907, when he was first appointed to a seat in the Legislative Council, for which his acknowledged business ability and his extensive knowledge rendered him eminently qualified. When his term expired he was not reappointed immediately as he was then engaged in serving the country in another very important capacity—that of New Zealand's representative on the Dominions’ Royal Commission, the activities of which extended from 1912 till 1917. Sir John was reappointed to the Legislative Council in 1918, and was a member of it until 1932. Sir John Sinclair was for many years a director of the Mosgiel Woollen Factory Company, the Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers Company, and the Trustees, Executors, and Agency Company. In 1875 he married Miss Jessie Christina Chapman, daughter of Mr Robert Chapman, the first registrar of the Supreme Court in Dunedin, and his family consists of two sons and three daughters.

SERGEANT R. G. WADE The death occurred yesterday at the Lewisham Hospital of Sergeant Richard Graham Wade, of the Sydenham Police Station, at the age of 54. Sergeant Wade, who had been stationed at Sydenham for about two years, was a well-known and popular officer. He was about to be promoted to the rank of senior-sergeant. Born at Blackstone Hill. Central Otago, Sergeant Wade joined the police force in 1913. He was stationed at various centres in the South Island and the North Island, and about 15 years ago spent two years at Rarotonga. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 1928. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. A high tribute to Sergeant Wade was paid by Superintendent S. Rawle. who said that he was a capable officer and a man of goodwill, whose death would be deeply regretted by members of the police force. SIR THOMAS SNOW Described by “The Times." London, as a keen and capable soldier who entered the service at the time of tile Zulu War, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D’OylySnow, K.C.8.. K.C.M.G., died in August in England at the age ?f 82, He served with distinction during the Great War, and it was said of him that his military gifts matured with the changes that gradually transformed the army. In outlook and ideas he was always in advance of his lime. He excelled in practical training of troops and staffs for modern war, and the fighting efficiency of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 owed much to him. General Snow had several relatives in New Zealand. An uncle, Mr Charles Hastings Snow, retired about 1896 after 30 years’ service in the Government Audit Department. Two sons. Mr C. D’Oyly Snow and Mr E. H. Snow, live in Auckland. A cousin, the late Colonel Rochfort Snow, was well known in Christchurch. Another cousin is Mrs A T. C. Sellars, of Christchurch.