SIR ARTHUR D. DOBSON

Evening Post, Volume c, Issue 54, 5 March 1934, Page 11

SIR ARTHUR D. DOBSON

REMARKABLE CAREER

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHEISTCHURCH, This Day. Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson, 90, pioneer explorer, surveyor, and engineer, aiid one of the best-known figures in Canterbury, died, early this morning after an illness of two days. He had been remarkably active almost to the last. He arrived in Lyttclton when only nine years of age, and saw Christchureh and Canterbury rise from swamp and sandhills, and spent his life in the service of his country. After helping his father, Mr. Edward Dobson, then Canterbury provincial and railways engineer, to survey the Lyttelton Tunnel in 1853, he worked for a time with Dr. yon Haast in the alpine regions of Canterbury. Then in 1863, when the Government called tenders for a survey of the West Coast, Arthur Dobson, now 22 years of age, obtained a contract to survey the new district from the Grey River to Abut Head. He chartered a small schooner of 18 tons, loaded her with stores at Nelson, and took a full week to beat down the stormy coast to the Grey River." There the schooner was piled up o.n the beach. The crew were paid off, but, undaunted, Dobson continued the survey with the aid of Maoris, and completed it successfully within eighteen months. During that time he discovered Arthur's Pass. The greatest work of his life Mr.Dobson considered to be the erection of the breakwater at Warrnambool, Victoria, under contract for £150,000 in 1889. After various undertakings on his return to New Zealand, Mr. Dobson was appointed Christehurch City Engineer at the age of 59. He retired in 1921. He was connected with twenty-one organisation's in.th© city and abroad, and was knighted in ,1931 in recognition of his outstanding, services to the country and to science. Sir Arthur was a man of outstanding personality, cheerful in all circumstances, resolute in danger, inspiring in energy, and proficient in a wide range of subjects, from music to horticulture. Sir Arthur Dobson is survived by his sister, Mrs. G. Hogben, of Island Bay, Wellington, widow of the late Mt. G. Hogben, Secretary of the. Department of Education, and by three brothers. His wife died some years ago;