OBITUARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3898, 27 November 1928, Page 26

OBITUARY.

A Wellington message announces the death of Mr G. H. Scales, head of the firm of George II Scales, Ltd., well known in shipping circles. He returned to _ New Zealand by the Maunganui seriously ill, and was taken direct to a private hospital, where he died on Wednesday afternoon. At the age of 94 years. Miss Mary Greenwood died at New Plymouth. She was a daughter of Dr Danforth Greenwood, an early pioneer of Motueka. With her sisters. Miss Greenwood founded the Chilton House School in Wellington. She retained her faculties till the end, even voting at the recent general election by post. death took place last month in the New Plymouth Hospital of Mr Arthur Worsop, who for many years had been an efficient and courteous railway officer stationed at the Junction. Mr Worsop suffered a severe illness about 12 montns ago, and never quite recovered. An attack of pneumonia and complications proved fatal, and the travelling public and local settlers sincerely regret his death, and have conveyed deep expressions of sympathy to the bereaved family. The death occurred last week of Mr John Watson, 72 years of age, who passed away suddenly at his residence, 52 Eglinton road. Mr Watson, who Ifnd been associated with the building trade in Dunedin for many years, was supervising some work which was being carried out in one of his houses yesterday morning, and at that time appeared to be in his usual state of health, but later in the day he suddenly collapsed anB died. He leaves a widow, three sons, and three daughters. A Greymouth telegram announces the death of Mr William Robert Ixjettle, aged 74. He was born in London, and arrived with his parents at Greymouth in 1874. Subsequently he started business as a general merchant. He was during his career Mayor, chairman of the Harbour Board, the Grey Education Board, and the Hospital Board, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and he served on numerous local bodies and societies. He was prominent in commercial concerns, racing and trotting clubs,-was a Freemason and a Druid, and chairman of the Greymouth Evening Star Company. During the war he was a prominent member of the Grey Patriotic Society. He visited Honolulu for the Press Congress of 1923. Mr Kettle celebrated his golden wedding this year. He is survived by the widow, two daughters and one son. The death occurred at Devonport, Auckland, of Mr William George Urquhart, of Stanley Bay, in his seventyseventh year. Mr Urquhart was born in the Highlands of Scotland, and many years ago came to New Zealand and estfl,blishel a watchmaking business at Lawrence. There he became precentor in the Presbyterian Church, where the Rev. Isaac Jolly had charge. Mr Urquhart went to Auckland nearly 30 years ago, and after being connected with some of the leading jewellery firms of the city set up in business on his own account in Fort street, and later in Durham street. For over 25 years he was an elder of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and a member of its choir, while he was for some years a member of the congregation of St. David’s. An enthusiastic member of the St. Andrew’s Society, he took a keen interest in all Scottish gatherings. He is survived by Mrs Urquhart, three sons, and two daughters. The death of Dr Robert Martin, which occurred on Wednesday at his residence in Highgate, Roslyn, at the age of 80 years, removed one who was associated for many years with the practice of medicine in this city, and who may be said to have been truly representative of the family physician type of practitioner. Born in Lanarkshire. Scotland, in 1848, he was educated at Glasgow _ University, and at the Andersonian Institution, Glasgow. He obtained his diplomas in 1872, and practised his profession in Glasgow till 1875, in which year he came to Port Chalmers as medical officer of the ship Invercargill. After spending a short time in Dunedin he was appointed medical superintendent of the Reefton Hospital, of which he remained in charge from 1876 till 1879, engaging also in private practice. On returning to Dunedin in 1879 he established a practice, with his surgery in the .Octagon, and he followed his profession until some four years ago when he retired into private life. He is survived by his widow. Samuel Wark Rodgers Dickson, who died at his .residence in Mornington at the age o'f' 81, was born in the north of Ireland, and came to New Zealand as ,a young man. He was for some years engaged in agricultural pursuits in the Oamaru district, and subsequently joined the firm of Neill Bros general merchants, Oamaru. He then came to Dunedin, and was employed by i an<? l Co., contractors. In 1880 Mr Dickson joined the firm of Messrs Mackerras and Hazlett, and managed their bond for the following 43 years. Jllr Dickson had been a resident in Mornington for many years. He took a keen interest in politics, and was always an ardent supporter of Sir Charles Statham He was a member for a time of the defunct Mornington Borough Council, and c’ i° a ptea f° r period on the Mornington School Committee. Mr Lickson was the soul of integrity, and was very highly esteemed by his employers and' by "the members of the merchant firms and the Customs whose duties brought them into contact with him. Mr Dickson is survived by his wife, five sons, and a daughter. Father Hanrahan has arrived in Dunedin from Ireland to take up duty in the diocese of Dunedin. MR ROBERT HAY. ■General regret will be felt at the announcement of the death of Mr Robert Hay, civil engineer, of Dunedin, which occurred at the Waitomo Caves on Tuesday night. Though he had been living in retirement for some time, during the latter portion of which he had not enjoyed good health, Mr Hay was a very

well-known and highly respected resident of Dunedin. At the time of his death he was engaged on a motor touf’in both islands of the Dominion. Mr Hay was born in London in 1847, and had thus reached the ripe'age of 81 at the time of his death. He was the son of Captain Hay, and in 1809 married a lady of Indian blood, Frederica, the daughter of Colonel Coventry. He was educated at Wimbledon College. He arrived in New Zealand in the ship Ramsay in 1865, and in those early days gained the distinction of winning an interprovincial yacht race at Lyttelton with the cutter Spray. He entered the Provincial Government Survey Department, and was afterwards in the Provincial Engineers’ Department. For two years he was engineer for Mr David Proudfoot, who • was then carrying on large contract works in this city and province, and assisted in the Port Chalmers railway construction, which was carried out by Messrs Proudfoot, Oliver, and Ulph. This railway was originally a private venture, which was later sold to the Provincial Government. Mr Hay went into partnership with Mr D. L. Simpson, who became Harbour Board engineer in 1874. In 1876 he entered into private practice as civil engineer, and continued in this till his retirement in 1920. During this time he acted as engineer for the Taieri County Council, the Tuapeka County Council, the borough of North-East Valley, the

borough of West Harbour, the borough of Mornington, and the borough of St. Kilda. and he was also consulting engineer to the City of Dunedin. He had a very extensive practice among public bodies, and besides being engineer to the Otago Dock Trust he also superintended various water, drainage, and sewerage works, the construction of railways, dredges, and bridges, and hydro-electric and hydraulic installations in all parts of New Zealand. In his later years Mr Hay was for a number of years a director of the Otago Daily Times and Witness Company till he resigned some six years ago, and he was also a director of the Westport Coal Company, the Trustees, Executors, and Agency Company, and the Milburn Lime and Cement Company. Mr Hay is survived by three daughters and two sons. One is the widow of Sir Charles Burdett, another is Mrs Trimnell, of Christchurch, and the third is unmarried, and resides m Dunedin. One of the sons lives at Brighton, and the other is at Home.