HON. G. M. THOMPSON

Evening Star, Issue 21515, 13 September 1933, Page 3

HON. G. M. THOMPSON

HIS WORK AS A NATURALIST “ As this is the first meeting of the institute since the death of our esteemed and respected member, the Hon. G. M. Thomson, it seems natural that it should fall to me, as the oldest' member of the institute and one whoso friendship with the deceased extends back thirty-five years, to move a resolution of sympathy with his sons,” said Dr Benham, at a meeting of the Otago Insitute at the physics , lecture room at the University, last night. The deceased, he said, was the last of the old-fashioned naturalists, in il:o widest sense. He was also an amateur naturalist, and the speaker did rot use the term in any derogatory way, for in the past much of the institute’s knowledge of zoology and botany was built up by jnen who took up the subject of plants and animals out of pure love. Mr Thomson was elected a member of the institute in 1872, so he was practically co-temporary ‘with it. He was elected to the council of the institute in 1875, and remained a member till the last. On three occasions _ho had acted as secretary, and a similar number of times he was president. Ho was also one of the representatives, or, governors, of the New Zealand Institute from 1905 till the last. The Naturalists' Field Club owed its inception to the deceased. The speaker gave a comprehensive survey of some, of the more important work with which Mr Thomson had been associated. Mr Thomson, said the speaker, was always ready to give assistance to other zoologists, and to that, end he presented to the Museum his collection of the Crustacea. It was hoped to add his portrait to that of other naturalists and donors. The following motion vas moved by the speaker, and carried by the meeting:— “That the council and members of the Otago Institute have been deprived by the deatli of George Malcolm Thomson, F ~S., of a member whom they held, in high esteem, and that they share in the sorrows of his sons and other relatives in Iho loss of a kindly gentleman and of an i able naturalist.”