OBITUARY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 27, 1 February 1907, Page 7

OBITUARY.

SIR JOHN SEE. £PB£SS ABSOCUIION.I SYDNEY, 31st January. The death occurred to-day, of Sir John See, ex-Premier of New South Wales. The doctors have not yet decided what was the precise cause of death, which took place suddenly, though Sir John had been ailing for some time. A few months ago Sir John See met with a painful motoring accident. (Received February "1, 10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The immediate cause of Sir John See's death was heart failure. Sir John See was typical of a class of citizen which the public life of new lands knows well. — that class of men who by their own unaided struggle against the buffets of' fortune emerge from comparative obscurity and advance into the bright light of responsible citizenship. He was born in Huntingdonshire, England, ia 1845, and when he was nearly eight years old was taken by his parents to Sydney. The rich belt of country watered by the Hunter River offered attractions to the newcomers, and, young See made his first Australian home at the village of Hin-" ton. He enjoyed three years of schooling and then, till he reached his sixteenth year, worked upon a farm. In 1863 he went to the Clarence distr V*a removal which was in those days iio light venture — and acquired a small tract of land, upon which he farmed for two years. Thrift and hard work had found him some capital, and with it he made his way to Sydney. Although then wanting a year to attain his majority, he launched, out into business, and laid the foundation of an important commercial concern. He entered into the coastal shipping trade, and from his small beginnings there de\ eloped the firm of Nipper and See, which in turn becamo tho North Coast Steam Navigation Company. Sir John' was afterwards the owner of a large and flourishing industry of the country, and was onj of the managing directors of the shipping company just named. Fifteen years after leaving tho Clarence, namely, in 1880, he entered the political arena, and was returned by the Grafton electorate to the Lugislative Assenbly. In 1885 he joined the Dibbs Ministry as Postmaster-General, refusing the portfolio of Treasurer, and when the second Dibbs Ministry was formed, m 1891, Mr. See joined jt as Treasurer, | aud retained office until 1894, which wag the limit of the life of that Administration. It was during that term that the Dibbs tariff was passed. When Sir WilJiam Lyne formed a Ministry, in 1899, Mr. See accepted office as Colonial Secretary, and on the transfer of his chief to the Federal Government in March, 1901, he became the Prime Minister of thp State of New South Wales. Both as Colonial Secretary and Premier h° played a prominent part in the despatch of New South Wales soldiers to the theatre of war in South Africa, and premier bo received the Duke of York, aow Prince of Wales, when his Royal Highness visited New South Wales. ts:r John See was married in 1875 to Miss Charlotte Mary Matthew, who died in 1904. Ip addition to his connexion with the commercial interests whi:a ivero originated by himself, Sir 'oun was widely associated with tho business life of Australia. He was Presjdeat of the Royal Agricultural Society of Now South Wales, chairman of the board ot directors of the Citizens' Life Assura i :s Company, director of the London and Lancashire Insurance Company, director j of the North Queensland Insurance (.mipany, a diroctor of the Newcajtle aud Hunter River Steam Naviga'-'on Cerapany, and director of some other companies. Sir John was, personally kn-«wo far outside of New South Wales, f >r he had visited England, tho Continent, America, and New Zealand, SIR MICHAEL FOSTER., LONDON, 31sb January. Sir Michael Foster, scientist, Is dead. Sir Michael, who was Professor of Physiojogy in tho University of Cambridge from 1883 to 1903, was a distinguished scientist. For mony years past bis iext Book of Physiology " has been universally adopted in the great medical school*, and Sir Michael was held to be one pf tue glories of contemporary British Born at Huntingdon on Bth March, 1836, the son of Michael Foeter, F.E.0.5., ho was educated at the Grammar School of his native town, and then at. tue University. School and College, London. From 1860 to 1886 he prootused at Huntinsdon, but in tho following year was appointed teacher, and two yeara later professor, of practical physiology ot University College. Thence, only a year afterwards, ho migrated to .CMnity College, Cambridge, as Praeleetor of Physiology He was president of the British Association in 1899, and was returned as representative in Parliament of London University in 1900, but was defeated at ! the last election.