DISTINGUISHED BOTANIST

Evening Star, Issue 25462, 18 April 1945, Page 4

DISTINGUISHED BOTANIST

TRIBUTE TO DR HOLLOWAY The following resolution of appreciation of the work of Dr J. E. Holloway j was adopted at a recent meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Science of the University .of Otago:— ■ "The Faculty of Arts and Music, and the Faculty of Science unite in placing upon record their deep appreciation of the services rendered to the University' by the Reverend John E. Holloway, D.Sc, F.R.S. Appointed lecturer in charge.of the Department of Botany in 1924, he came to his duties with a record of nearly 20 years of botanical research, carried out partly jn England, where he studied' fossil plants, but chiefly in New Zealand, and especially near Hokitika, where there abounded the plants in which he was particularly interested. A long series of highly-original memoirs had been published by him written under conditions rendered difficult by the calls of parochial duties and the exigencies of time and distance. In these memoirs he made clear the lifehistory of many groups of Pteridophyta, the significance of their structure, and their evolution. In 1937 this work, already classical, was recognised by his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of London in the year of his first nomination. " Throughout his tenure of his lectureship he has continued to make discoveries of great importance, while with unsparing effort he has built up the Department of Botany and aroused the enthusiasm of his students, a remarkably large proportion of whom followed the courses to the most advanced stage, obtained high honours, and completed significant research. To his students and to his colleagues he was ever an inspiring example, quietly and with great effectiveness demonstrating the high ideals_ and the spiritual purpose which guide his life. His resignation, prematurely occasioned by reasons of health, and deeply regretted, means a conspicuous loss to science, to the University, andtothe community. He carries with him into his retirement the good wishes and the profound respect of all his colleagues. '