OBITUARY

SIR GEORGE TROUP , (P.A.) WELLINGTON. October 4. - The death has occurred of Sir George Troup, former Mayor of Wellington and prominent for many years in various branches of civic life. He was for long an elder of St, John’s' Presbyterian Church, did, much for the welfare of youth, and was the founder of the Wellington Boys’ : Institute. He also initiated the public movement which resulted in the erection of the Dominion Museum and Art Gallery. He was bom in 1863 and educated at Aberdeen.- He served his-appren-ticeship to. architecture in Edinburgh, and arrived in - New Zealand in 1884. In 1890 he joined the Railway Department, and in 1919 was..made officer in charge of the Architectural Department. CAPTAIN H. R. HUGHES (P.A.) AUCKLAND, October 5. Captain Harry Rochford Hughes, a retired master mariner with a fine record Of submarine cable work in the Pacific, died on Saturday at his home in St. Heliers, aged 60. Captain Hughes was - born in Worcestershire and'served his-apprentice-ship in sail for some years, including the Boer War period. He was a junior officer in the union Castle Line between British ports and South Africa. In 1903 he joined the marine staff of the Pacific Cable Board as fourth officer of the cable ship Iris, which had just been built to the board’s order for repair and maintenance work. He remained with the vessel continuously for nearly 30 years, eventually becoming her commander and retiring in 1932. - ' During his long service, Captain Hughes established a very high reputation as an expert in laying apd-re-pairing cables. He carried on, this work in Australia and New Zealand, Polynesian and Canadian waters, often under conditions which tested the skill and endurance of the ship’s- company to the utmost. He was called upon frequently to' undertake repairs to cables In Cook Strait for the New Zealand Government. Among shipmasters he was known as*an extraordinarily skilful navigator, and he accomplished many remarkable feats, locating cable faults at points far distant from land; When the Iris was armed and sent out from Auckland in the last war to search for von Luckner, who had escaped 1 from internment on Motuihi Island, Captain Hughes was in command: of a shore party at the Kermadec Islands, where, the Germans were recaptured. Later the Iris was renamed the Recorder and passed to the ownership of Cable and Wireless, Ltd., which no longer operates her from Auckland. After his retirement. Captain Hughes did a large amount of coastal pilotage work for overseas shipping companies. He is survived by his wife, daughter, and son—Flight-Lieutenant S'.. W. R. Hughes, Royal Air Force.