OBITUARY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 91, 14 October 1943, Page 6

OBITUARY

CAPT. H.S. BLACKBURNE P.A. AUCKLAND, October 13. The death has occurred of Captain Harold Sewallis Blackburne, former nautical adviser to the New Zealand Government, chief examiner of masters and mates at Wellington, and compiler of a number of nautical tables now used in all parts of the world. He was 90 years of age at his death. Born in England in 1854, son of the Rev. Samuel Blackburne, he arrived in New Zealand at the age of 4 and was educated at St. John's College, Auck-

land. He was apprenticed to the sea and served in the barques Thames and Derwent to the Gulf of California, China, Straits Settlements, and Ceylon. Afterwards' he was with the P. and p. Company, from 1874 to 1894, resigning at Bombay to free himself from all further participation, in the opium traffic. He gave evidence before the Opium Commission in Bombay. He was principal of the Navigation School in London from 1894 to 1899, in which year he was selected to take up the position of nautical adviser to the Marine Department and principal examiner of masters and mates in New Zealand. This position he held with the utmost ability and efficiency until he was superannuated in March, 1920. At that time, howeyer, he was engaged in the compilation for the Marine Department of a new issue of navigation tables, and he was retained .in a temporary capacity' until their completion and finally dropped out of the Public Service in 1923. In 1902 the Government had decided to issue a New Zealand Almanac with tide-tables, and Captain Blackburne was entrusted with the work, which, when it made its appearance, was considered to be the finest publication of its kind in the world, and was eagerly sought after. The book contained a large amount of valuable information with regard to tides, principal ports, and distances and courses on the New Zealand coast, and its publication each year since its origination had reflected the greatest credit upon its author. Captain Blackburne also prepared a number of other editions of nautical tables, which have always commanded a ready sale throughout the world. In 1928 he was elected an hon. member of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, an honour recognised as well deserved throughout the maritime world. Captain Blackburne was local representative for the China Inland Mission for thirty years.

MR. FRED ROFFE

The death occurred in hospital this afternoon of Mr. Fred Roffe, superintendent of the Wellington Free Ambulance since its inception in November, 1927. He was 61 years of age and had been'in hospital for almost three months.

•''After being, engaged in ambulance services in many parts of Australia, Mr. Roffe came to Wellington to take charge of the ambulance here. His father had founded the first free ambulance service in Australia. When Mr. Roffe first began in Wellington he had three men and five cars, only two of which. were new, and the service was operated from the Old Naval's building in Jervois Quay. Thanks largely to the organising ability and enthusiasm of Mr. Roffe, the Free Ambulance service developed into its present state of efficiency, with a reputation that .extends beyond New Zealand. One of the improvements being considered by Mr. Roffe recently was the installation of a radio telephone system in the ambulance cars.

Mr. Roffe is survived by his wife, two sons, Messrs. H. Roffe, Miramar, and L. C. Roffe, a member of the ambulance staff, and a daughter, Mrs. D. Parsons, Tawa Flat.