OBITUARY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIX, 8 February 1936, Page 7

OBITUARY

MR WILLIAM CROW Information was received by cablegram yesterday of the death on sth February at Torquay, England, of Mr. William Crow. Mr Crow was the third son of the late James Crow. He was horn at Lawrence in 1865, educated at the Lawrence District High School, and after passing the Civil Service entrance examination he joined the Public Service in 18(7. He was appointed cadet in the Lawrence Post Office, and in 1881 was transferred to the Telegraph Department at Dunedin, where lie continued his studies at Otago University. When Mr Joseph Ward, as lie then was, was appointed to his first position as Minister as Postmaster-General, Mr Crow was selected from the service in 1893 to act as his private secretary. Later lie was appointed private secretary to the Premier, Mr R. J. Secldon, and accompanied him to the Colonial Conference held in London in 1897. He held this position for six years, and subsequently acted as private secretary to Sir George Fotvlds, the Hon. C. 11. Mills and Sir Heaton Rhodes for an interval. He was a member for a. short period of the Handsard staff. During the war. Mr Crow went with the.Postmaster-General,' Sir Heaton Rhodes, to Egypt for the purpose of improving the postal facilities provided for the soldiers. He returned to New Zealand and then received an appointment on the High Commissioner's.-steS (librarian), 1920-1924. On retiring’ front this position he came back to New Zealand and subsequently returned to England to live.;

In his youth Mr Crow was- a wellknown track and road rider—that was in the days of the high-wheel bicycle. : He was also a very graceful swimmer in the old single overarm style, and among his. achievements was victory in 1890 in the half-mile championship at Sumner. Christchurch. His time was 15min Ssee, then a record for the Dominion. In 1899 lie was first in the 4'CO yards ebampiousehip of Otago at the St. •Clair baths. Mr Crow is survived bv his wife, nee Miss Mills, of Christchurch. • DR. WILHELM SOLF (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) BERLIN, 6th February, , The death has occurred of Dr. Wilhelm Solf, aged 73. He handled the armistice negotiations as Foreign Minister and Was Governor of Samoa from 1899 to 1911, officially residing in the house in which It, L. Stevenson lived. • Nothing grieved Dr. Solf more than New Zealand’s seizure of Samoa, which he called the jewel of German protectorates. He vowed that the insolentintruders would' be dealt with, but later in the war became an advocate of peace by mutual understanding.