OBITUARY

MR S. MANNING The death. occurred at liis home, 17 Holly road, yesterday, of Mr Samuel Manning, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, bowler in New Zealand, and a former Mayor of Christchurch. Although aged 92, Mr Manning had taken an active part in the game up to the end of the last season. He was a wellknown and popular figure oil the bowling greens, not only of New Zealand, but also of Australia, in which country he three times represented the Dominion ia matches. He had livec? in retirement for a number of years, but was previously prominent in com- | mercial circles in the city, being the founder of Manning's Brewery. Mr Manning was born in Suffolk. England, and came to New Zealand by the ship Egmont, which also brought to the colony Bishop Harper and his family. After a few years in agricultural pursuits, he joined his father in the old Suffolk Brewery in Barbadoes street. A year or two later he commenced in business on his own' account in Ferry road, selling the concern after some years to a company known as S. Manning and Co.. Ltd. MiManning retained the position of managing director for several years, until his retirement. At the time of his J death he was a director of Week's. Ltd., and of the Glcnmore Brick and Tile Company. He had previously held positions on the directorates of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company, the Mutual Benefit Building Society, and the Provident Assurance Company. As Mayor of Christchurch, 40 years ago. Mr Manning was ? prime mover in bringing the outside boroughs into the city. Other public offices- Mr Manning held included that of City Sinking Fund Commissioner. His service to the public was given freely but: unostentatiously, and he was a -man who never sought public recognition. I Mr Manning took up the sport of bowls late in life, but he nevertheless i had an association of 51 vears with the [ Christchurch Bowling Club, of which jhe was president for some time. In j 3383 he won the first singles cham- | pionship of the South Island, and he ' was a regular competitor in provincial and national tournaments. Three times he was in the first eight players i in the country, and three times he I represented the Dominion in matches in Australia —1888, 1906, and 1908. In 1925 he gave » silver cup for competition by eight rinks from each club in Christchurch, this cup being competed j for in the pennant competition. One I of his more recent outstanding per- , formanccs was to be a member of the winning rink in the Christchurch I Club's full rink championship, alI though then more than 80 years of age. Mr Manning married twice, his first wife being Miss Ellen Piper, of Christchurch, and his second wife Miss Heuly. of Nelson. He is survived by the latter, three sons, and three daughters. Dr. L. S. Manning i Fenialtoni. Mr R. P. M. Manning (Auckland), and Mr M. S. H. Manning (Christchurch,!. Miss E. Manning 'Christchurch) Mr 3 Ernest Upham < Wellington), and Mrs | T. H. Caldwell i.Tokomaru Bay.i, j MR T. H. H. BEDDEK ; PI.K.--5 A?3OCIATIOir ir.I.ECBAM.I ! AUCKLAND, November 21. The death has occurred of Mr j Thomas H. H. Beddek. who served 41 > years in the police force. He was : senior constable in New Zealand when ! he retired eight years ago. MR AUGUSTINE BIRRELL . VIfITKU I A«SOCI.vn<iS-BT ELECIntC ■;i;i.En <>u —conaiii nr. > LONDON, November 20. The death has occurred of the Rt. i Hon. Augustine Eirrell, K.C. ; Mr Augirfine Eirrell, the essayist, j la wyer, and politician, was born near j Liverpool in January, 1850, the son of | a Scottish nonconformist minister. Educated at Cambridge, he was called ! to the bar. and built up a good pracj tice. In 1f,93 he took silk, and he | was a law professor at University j College, London, from 189G to 1899. ! But it was as a literary critic with a delightful style and an original vein of wit that he first became known to the public through his book of essays Obiter Dicta (1884). In 1889 he became M.P. for East Fife as a Liberal. His light but pointed humour miivened the Commons and led to the coining of the word "birrcllisms." His law bocks are as brigntiy written as his essays, and were a startling novelty in the legal world. A second series of Obiter Dicta appeared in 1887, and was followed by Res Judicatae and other volumes of essays and biographies. Returned for a Bristol seat in 1906. lie became Minister for Education and was responsible for a bill which caused such a controversy that it was withdrawn, as the Government refused to accept the Lords' amendments in the interests of sectarianism. Mr Biri ell was then made Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1907. His Irish Councils Bill, a halfway house to Home Rule, was repudiated by the Nationalists and withdrawn. He was powerless to suppress the cattle-driving agitation, as he refused to utilise the Crimes Act, but his plan for a reconstituted Irish Catholic University was very favourably received. In 1912 the' Liberals introduced the Third Home Rule Bill, which Mr Birrell prepared. When resistance war- organised in Ulster, volunteers called for and a provisional Government set up, he made light oi' the Ulster difficulty and was criticised for "flippancy,'' but he advocated a national settlement by consent. The war postponed this controversy and the danger was then from the Sinn Fein extremists of wh. rn Sir Soger Casement and I.arkm were the apparent leaders. They caiv;cd on successful propaganda in Ire ard against enlistment, which Mr Bii en failed to extinguish, and it culminated in open rebellion at Easter, 191,;. After the suppression of the nsicg he resigned, explaining that he knew he lpd run grave risks in not tackling Sinn Fein, but that he had subordinated everything to keepin;' the front in Ireland unbroken towards the Empire's enemies. He resigned from Parliament in 1913, and resumed his literary work In ia2o he published a memoir of his father-in-law, the pret, Mr F. LockerLampson. Another volume of Obiter Dictu came out in 1924. His other works include lives of Charlotte Lronte William Hazlitt, Andrew Mar* ell, and Sir Frank .Lockwcod.