FATAL ACCIDENT TO PROFESSOR ULRICH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2413, 31 May 1900, Page 46

FATAL ACCIDENT TO PROFESSOR ULRICH.

FALLS DOWN A STEEP HILL,

Professor Ulrich, who for so many yeari has been the head of the School of Mines connected with the Otago University, met wi*h an accident, which terminated fatally, at Poi't Chalmers on Saturday last. As was generally known, Professor Ulrich suffered a good deal from ill-health latterly, but he was apparently on tlie road to recovery — was, indeed, making gratifying progress — when the sad accident occurred, to the effects of Avhich it was recognised from ihe first he wa? sure to succumb.

It seems that oil Friday last the Professor, accompanied by his son Frank, spent the day at Port Chalmers, and he felt &o much better ioi the change thai he decided to go down again on the following day. Accordingly on Saturday morning father and son agaLi went to the-^Port for the purpo&e ot examining some mineial rocks on Flagstaff Point, at Port Chalmers. They reached a point hiqn on tho steep hill facing the graving dock. The place is precipitous, and young Mr Uliich went from place to place breaking off specimens of rock and taking them to his iather, v.-ho examined them with a lens. While examining these specimens, and when his son v>a^ some little distance away, the professor suddenly slipped, and tell down the Hill. It is considered most probable that he became a little giddy and nvsscd his footing in trying to steady him&elf. After tho first slip tl ere was no help possible. Professor Ulrich fell down the Fteep, bare hillside, almost precipitous, in a scries of falls, a distance ol about 100 ft, and the last was a sheer irop of 40ft or ,50ft. This fearful accident, which, happened just pboul 11 a.m., was seen by a number of people at the railway station, and by others on the ships and in the streets of Port Chalmers.

Several persons s-oon reached the place where the professor had fallen. Mr F. Ulrich \ came rapidly clown the side of the hill by ' sliding and holding on to the scrub, but other J people were there before he could reach his ' father. The injuries sustained were so ex- ; tensive and bevere that from the first there ' was no hope; indeed, the information that I was .sent to town was that ihe accident had ; been immediately fatal. This, however, was ' not the case. Dr Borrie. was soon in attend- 1 cuicel, and gave all po^iblo aid, and Dr Davies, ! who was telegraphed, for, left by the first train from Dunedin for the Port The pa-tie-ivt was removed to the office of Messrs ' Gardner and Co., the most convenient pre- | misep, and on the arrival of the train from i Dunedin he was examined by Dr Davies, who ! found that there was no hope of recovery, 1 the injuries being so severe and extensive that they were neoessirily fatal. The principal > injuries were to the head, but there were ■ others of a serious character. The professor never recovered consciousness. When Dr Davieri arrived he was still breathing, but absolutely nothing' could bo clone for him, and ' he died shortly before 2 o'clock, in {he even- i ing the body was brought to Dunedin. I Professor George tienry Freer-nek TJlrich, I F.G.S., was born at Clausthal-Zillorfeld, Prus- j sia, in 1830, and was educated in his native j town at the High School, and subsequently 1 graduated at the Iloval School of Mines, Clausthal, Hartz. 3lr Ulrich entered the ' Government >ervieo in the Mines department | in his native land, and oftev serving four years \ resigned his position to accept an appoint- j meal in the Bolivia silver mines. Just as he | was preparing for the journey news came of j revolutionary movements in thai country, in consoquence of which his appointment was cancelled. He therefore turned his faco to ! the colonies, and won I to Forest Creek, Vie- i ioria, in 1854. For nearly three >ears after ! his arrival in the colony Mr Ulrich worked at the diggings of Forest Creek, Daisy Hill, Bendigo, and at other places, until he was appointed in 1857 assistant secretary and draughtsman to the Royal Mining Commission in Victoria. Mr Ulrich was afterwards appointed assistant field geologist under Mr Sehvyn in the Geological department of Vie- ■ tona. During the 11 years in which he was ] Engaged under that department he assisted iv the preparation of the plans of the different Victorian goldfields, notably Forest Creek, Fryer's Creek, and Tarrangower. In 1867 he obtained leave of absence for one year to visit the Exhibition of Paris, having a commission to procure a good collection of exhibits for the Melbourne Technological Museum. 'During his absence he travelled through Upper Hungary and other. parts of the Continent. On his return to Victoria, jMr Ulrich wrote a little work on the methods of gold extraction at Schamnitz, Hungary, giving drawings of machines and apparatus employed. He contiiuied an officer of the Geological Survey department until its abolition in 1869. when he became curator of the mineral section under Mr Newbery, superintendent of the industrial and technological museum and lecturer in mining at the University of Melbourne, having at the same time the right to practise as a consulting mining expert. Professor Ulrich was appointed by the South Australian Government to report on their copper mines and goldfields. and in 1875 he paid his first visif to New Zealand and reported on the Otago goldfields, which report was published with Professor Hutton s report on the geology of Otago, under the direction of the Provincial Government. He was a corresponding member of the Royal Society of Melbourne and the Tasmanian Royal Society, a fellow of the London Geological Society, a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and was one of the original members of the Australian Institute of Mining Engineers. In 1877, the Otago University Council having decided to institute a school of mines, the Chancellor, the late Mr Justice Chapman, being in Victoria, secured the services of Professor Ulrich fo v the Otago University. The School of Mines was for some years small, and t not very fully equipped, but in 1887 additional lecturers were appointed, and as the advantages

of the course came to be appreciated, the number of students increased rapidly, till the attendance reached proportions it has been noted for during the last three or four years. Through the energy of Professor Ulrich the models and appliances which had been procured from time to time became a valuable collection, especially in the mineral department, to which he was constantly adding from his? own private collections of minerals and stones. The positions attained by the Olago School of Mines' students have frequently been mentioned in these columns, and in our last issue we chronicled some of the important appointments held by Otago students. All over the colonies may be found Otago students, some are in Charters Towers and the prominent mining centres of Queensland, others are mine managers in New South Wales

and Victoria, a good many are on the We,=tralisn goidfields, while the Otago School of Mines is represented on the Hand and in the United States. Professor Ulrich was always willing to examine any scientific specimens submitted to him for inspection, and for many years replied to inquirers in the columns of the Witness!. He was hampered a good deal in his work by ill-health, which restrained his enthusiasm in a way that luust have been extremely trying, but his zeal in his mineralogical studies was not one whit abated by his physical disability. He kept himself well up in all the latest literature on the subjects he had at heart. Latterly he had not done much in ihe way of publishing scientific papers, but one of these, which he wrote on the meteorite called Makarewa, which fell in Southland some years ago, will be fresh in the memory of those who read it. Professor Ulrich' s death will be heard of with regret in all the mining centres of the colonies, for as a mineralogist it is safe to say he had few equals in this hemisphere. His scientific attainments were beyond all question, and the quiet and efficient discharge of his duties and his unostentatious worth won for him the respect and esteem of all who came in contact with him. Professor Ulrich was married in 1871 to a daughter of the late Thomas Spence, of Belfast, Ireland, and" leaves four sons _ and three daughters, whose wide circle of friends and acquaintances sympathise deeply _ with theni in their bereavement. The loss is the greater, if comparison can be f-aid to exist in such matters, as the sad event occurred when tho professor &eemed to be on the right road t:> recovery. For a long time he had been ill, but for the last six weeks lie had been out daily, and wa< jusi contemplating a trip before" resuming his work at the university.