OBITUARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2927, 20 April 1910, Page 27

OBITUARY.

SIR ROBERT GIFFEIS,'.

LONDON, April 12. The death of Sir Robert Giffen, the eminent statistician is announced. He was 73 years of age.

Sir Robert Giffen, who ws born in 1837, was a clerk in a solicitor's office from 1850 till 1855. He then entered the ranks of journalism, and was sub-editor of the Globe from 1862 till 1866, and assistant editor of the Economist from 1863 till 1876. In the latter year he became chief of the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade, and '"- '-?ld that position till 1882. He was ; ; ■'i appointed assistant secretary to the -T . vd of Trade, and afterwards controller - general of the commercial, labour, and statistical departments, holding these offices till 1897. From 1882 till 188* Sir R. Giffen was president of the Statistical Society.

SIR WILLIAM ORCHARDSON. LONDON, April 14. The death is announced of Sir William Orchardson, the artist. Sir Willliam Quill-ear Orchardson, R.A., p.C.tt.. who was knighted in 1907, was born m Edinburgh in 1335, was educated in Scotland, and first exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1863 he came to London and exhibited in the Royal Academy, and has ever since retained a wide popularity as a. painter of portraits and " subject pictures." In 1863 he was elected A.R.A., and R.A. in 1877. In years to come his pictures of the social life of his time will probably be valued, like those of the late Mr P. Frith, for their fidelity not only to the outward vesture but the spirit of the time, and they axe interesting 1 also as marking the change *in both respects since the earlier artist was in his prime. They are less literalistic, and, in harmony with the contemporary spirit, seek to penetrate deeper into the reality of thing.?. Apart from portrait commissions, he was a fairly prolific artist. A few of his principal pictures are. "The Challenge" (1865), "Christopher Sly" (1866). " Napoleon on Board the Bellerophon" (1880), "Un Marias© de Convenanc© " (1884), and its sequel (1886), "The Salon of Madame Rccambier" (1885), "The Rift Within the Lute" (1887), "The Young Duke" (1887). "Blossoms Fair" and "In the Gloaming" (1901). His eldest son, Charles Q. Orchardson, R.8.A., was born in 1873, is Principal of the St. John's Wood Art School, and, like his father, paints portraits and subject pictures chiefly. A MEXICAN MINISTER. MEXICO, April 18. The death of Sen or Mariscal, the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, is announced. He was 82 years of age. HON. JAMES HOLMES, M.L.C. AUCKLAND, April 16. The Hon.- James Holmes, M.L.C, who has been ill for pome months, died on the 18th at the residence of his daughter, Mrs W. Robinson, who resides at Epsom. The deceased Councillor, who was born at Wrichton, Sussex, in 1831, had been in indifferent health for some time, and last session was almost entirely absent from his place. He was a great personal friend of the late Mr Seddon, to whom he owed his elevation, In the early days Mr Holmes stood behind the " Kumar a King " wlien he fought all his political battles, and was chairman of his committee when he contested Westland at the general election in the seventies, when. aa a Greyite, ho defeated! Mr Barff, and it was very largely owing to Mr Holmes's tactful handling of the campaign that Mr Seddon owed his return, as he always freely acknowledged. Mr Holmes was "called " in April, 19»r, along with his colleague from the " Coast," the Hon. James Marshall, and was reappointed last year. Deceased, who was a painter by trade, arrived in Australia in 1852, and worked as a digger on several of the "rushes,"- He cams to Dunedin in 1861

on the discoveay of goldl at Gabriel's Gully, and migrated to Hokitika on the discovery of gold there in 1865. Having made a competence as a claimholder at Kumara and elsewhere he took up his residence at Hokitika, and there engaged in local and provincial politics, which greatly engrossed his attention. He served successively on the Borough Council, the Licensing Committee, the Harbour Board, and the Education Board.