OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23324, 9 May 1941, Page 10

OBITUARY

MR E. T. SPIDY (p.A.) WELLINGTON. May 8. Mr E. T. L. Spidy (superintendent of the New Zealand Government railway workshops and Controller of Munitions, died in Wellington this morning. Born at Brighton, England, in 1887, Mr Spidy began life as an apprentice with the London-Brighton Railway Company. In 1909 he went to Canada and entered the production and piecework department of the Can-adian-Pacific Railway Company at

Montreal, rising to the position of workshops engineer in 1912, when he was stationed at Winnipeg. In 1917 Mr Spidey became production engineer for Canada for the Ingersoll Rand Company, and two years later was back in the service of the Canadian Pacific Railway as production engineer. Coming to New Zealand in 1921, he was appointed assistant superintendent of the railway workshops, and subsequently to the post of superintendent. After the outbreak of the war he was appointed munitions controller. In 1930 he became a member of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers. Mr Spidy wrote many technical articles on production and management. SIR JAMES FRAZER, 0.M., AND LADY FRAZER LONDON, May 8. The deaths have occurred of Sir James George Frazer and Lady Frazer. James George Frazer, the authority on folk-lore, was born in Glasgow on January 1, 1854. Educated at Glasgow University and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was elected a fellow of his college in 1879 and was called to the Bar. “Totemism,” his first book, was published in 1887, and in 1890 came the first volume of his great work, "The Golden Bough,” in which he set out to explain the strange rule of the priesthood or sacred kingship of Nemi and with it the legend of the Golden Bough immortalised by Vergil. He then dealt with the ancient religions of Egypt and Greece and their origins. By 1915 the “Golden Bough” had grown to 12 volumes. It discussed nature-worship, the influence of superstitions on the growth of institutions, taboo, totemism, and exogamy, and other customs and beliefs of savages, the magic art, the belief in immortality, the worship of the dead, the legend of Balder the Beautiful, the spirits of the corn and the wild, the scapegoat, and many other such topics. Sir James Frazer also wrote an exhaustive work on folk-lore in the Old Testament, and edited Cowper’s letters and Addison’s essays. Some years before 1932 his eyes began to fail and for 12 months he was unable to read, but as the result of four operations he recovered his sight. He was then able to go on with the writing of another monumental work in several volumes dealing with the fear of the dead in native and primitive religion. For this he had been collecting material for many years. But in 1933 he had renewed eyetrouble and was unable for a time to continue the intricate research required, The Court of the Drapers’ Company therefore offered him a grant of £4OO a year for three yeairs to provide expert secretarial assistance. Sir James Frazer had to go periodically to specialists abroad for eye treatment. But notwithstanding his bad sight he Wrote a great part of his books in his own admirably clear and neat hand. In 1936 he published “Aftermath," a supplement to his famous “Golden Bough,” and also the third volume of “The Fear of the Dead in Native and Primitive Religion." Sir James Frazer then planned a supplement to his “Totemism and Exogamy.” It was called “Totemica” and was completed in 1937 when he was 83. He considered it his best book. It was a fascinating record of primitive social organisations whose history is told by the carven totem poles to be found from Australia to Canada. His books, represent the greatest contribution made by any one man to the study of folk-lore and' primitive religion. One of his hopes was that by learning what the beliefs of primitive peoples are and how they arose those sent out to govern them might rule with more insight and deeper sympathy. Lady Frazer, who was French, was his devoted companion in research. She went with him to the British Museum day after day, working tirelessly to take the place of his failing eyes. She also dealt with the secretaries, the typists, the publishers, and the housekeeping. A writer herself, she translated several volumes of “The Golden Bough” into French and in 1937 collaborated with her husband in a children’s book, “Baba the Imp'.” The object of some of her books was to make the study of French easy and pleasant for children. In 1907 Sir James Frazer was appointed professor of social anthropology at Liverpool University. He was knighted in 1914, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1920, and received the Order of Merit in 1925. A Fellow of the British Academy, he was the recipient of many honorary degrees and other distinctions, both British and foreign, including the title of Commander of the Legion of Honour. SIR EDWARD MITCHELL MELBOURNE, May 8. ’ The death has occurred in Melbourne of Sir Edward Fancourt Mitchell, K.C., a leader of the Victorian Bar and a high constitutional authority. Sir Edward, who was born in Surrey, England, was 86 years of age.