first party of settlers, sailing by the Fifeshire in Sept. 1841. In 1855 he was elected to the Nelson Provincial Council, and was appointed a J.P. in 1858. In the next year, having written a letter to the Nelson Examiner impugning the conduct of District Judge Travers, he was indicted criminally and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of £150, his name being struck off the commission of the peace. He was, however, promptly released, in compliance with a petition forwarded to the Governor by his fellow-settlers, his popularity being evidenced by the fact that he was re-elected to the Provincial Council whilst still incarcerated. Subsequently he was returned to the House of Representatives, and replaced on the commission of the peace. He, however, declined the position of Colonial Treasurer when it was offered him by Mr. (now Sir William) Fox. He was twice elected Superintendent of Nelson, but resigned in 1867. It was during his term of office that the perpetrators of a horrible series of murders, which startled the colony, Burgess, Kelly, Levy, and Sullivan, were brought to justice. On his return to the colony in 1872, after a long visit to England, Mr. Saunders resided in the Canterbury district, and was elected M.H.R. for Cheviot in 1877, and again in 1879. In 1880 he was Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, which recommended drastic reductions. In 1883 he published "Our Domestic Birds," and in 1885 "Our Horses." He has represented Lincoln in the House of Representatives since 1889.
Sawyer, Right Rev. William Collinson, D.D., first Bishop of Grafton and Armidale, N.S.W., was born in 1831, and consecrated Bishop of Grafton and Armidale in Feb. 1867. He had only assumed charge of the diocese for about three months, when he was drowned, with his son and servant, in attempting to cross the Clarence river in a boat, after conducting service on Sunday, March 15th, 1868.
Schomburgk, Richard Von, Ph.D., was the son of the late Rev. J. F. L. Schomburgk, a Lutheran minister in Thuringia, and brother of Sir Robert Schomburgk, formerly consul at Bangkok, who was associated with Baron von Humboldt in his scientific researches in South America. He was born at Fribault, in Saxony, in 1811; and,having studied botany at Berlin and in the Royal Gardens at Potsdam, accompanied his brother on several of his expeditions—notably that to British Guiana in 1840, where the latter acted as Commissioner for delimiting its boundaries. Returning to Germany, the subject of this notice became involved in the political troubles of the time, and, aided by his friends—Humboldt and Leopold von Buch—escaped punishment by a timely flight to South Australia, whither his brother Otto accompanied him. They bought land on the Gawler river, and engaged in farming and viticulture, calling their new location Buchsfeldt, in honour of the friend who had assisted them in securing their safety. Their wines quickly achieved a reputation; but after ten years Otto von Schomburgk died, and his brother, who had been curator of the Gawler Museum, accepted the post of Director of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and Secretary to the Board of Governors. When he went to them the Gardens were little better than a wilderness, but under his skilful management a revolution was quickly effected, and progress was begun towards the perfection now attained. In 1888 Dr. Schomburgk was appointed a member of the Central Agricultural Bureau of South Australia. He was decorated with several foreign orders, and was a member of a number of the leading natural history and scientific societies on the continent of Europe and in the colonies. He died on March 24th, 1890.
Scott, Hon. James Reid, son of James Scott, formerly Assistant Surveyor-General of Tasmania, was born at Gattonside, Melrose, Scotland, on April 1st, 1839. He was educated as a surveyor, but never practised his profession. Mr. Scott made many exploring expeditions in the western and north-east districts of Tasmania, and did valuable work in mapping the Western Highlands of the colony. Accounts of some of his explorations appear in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Tasmania for the years 1872 and 1875. He represented the district of Selby in the House of Assembly from Oct. 1866 to Nov. 1872. On accepting office as Colonial Secretary in the Innes Ministry on Nov. 4th, 1872, he resigned his seat in the Assembly, and
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