N.Z. SCIENTIST DEAD

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24914, 29 June 1946, Page 6

N.Z. SCIENTIST DEAD

WORK OF SIR GEORGE JULIUS INVENTOR OF AUTOMATIC TOTALISATOR The death has occurred at Killara New South Wales, after an illness, o£ Sir George Julius, aged 73, a distinguished New Zealand engineer and scientist, and the inventor of the automatic totalisator. The eldest son of Archbishop Julius, former Primate of New Zealand Sir George Julius had a distinguished academic career. A grandson and a great-grandson of physicians to the ourt of St. James, he was bom at Norwich, England, in 1873. His secondary education was at the Church of England Grammar School in Melbourne. Coming to New Zealand he attended Canterbury University College, from which he graduated B.Sc. in Engineering (Meeh.) in 1896. Going to Australia after his graduation, Sir George Julius became an engineer with the Western Australian Railways and held that position until 1907. Since 1907 he was a well-known consulting engineer *in Sydney. He was created a knight in 1929 and in 1940 was honoured by the University of New Zealand, which granted him the honorary degree of D.Sc. A former president of the Australian National Research Council and of the Standards Association of Australia, Sir George Julius was appointed in 1926 the first president of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research—known

throughout Australia as the “C.5.1.R.” He held the position for almost 20 years, retiring on December 31 last year after serving throughout the strenuous years of the war. He remained a partner in the Sydney engineering firm of which he was a founder, and a director of Imperial Chemical Industries. His chairmanship of the C.S.I.R. was regarded as a remarkable personal achievement. The “Sydney Morning Herald” said of him when he retired last year that his work had been a "great contribution to Australia’s ecpnomic development.” Sir George Julius wrote widely on Australian engineering and economic problems, the furthering of Australian research, and the development of industries. Apart from war problems in the years from 1939 on—and they in themselves were considerable—the council, under the direction of Sir George Julius, dealt efficiently and adequately with many scientific and industrial Sroblems peculiar to Australia. Jkmong lem were the prickly pear problem. in conjunction with tlfe Gov-, ernments of New South Wales and Queensland, the council is estimated to have reclaimed 30.000.000 acres of good land, worth at least £30,000,000. The valup of the work of the council, again in the opinion of a special correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald,’’ was impossible to assess in money. After 1937, and in the years until his retirement at the end of 1945, the council extended its work to secondary industries. On its recommendation, guided by Sir George Julius, a national Standards Laboratory was set up and, with it, an aeronautical laboratory. Australia’s industrial war effort and her aeronautical industry, it was universally admitted, owed a great deal to the council, guided always by the ability of its chairman. The council naw employs about 2000 workers and spends about £1,500.000 a year, much of that sum being derived from contributions for endowments from industries which benefited greatly from its early work. Sir George Julius leaves two sons— Mr Awdry Julius, who took over his father’s engineering business and who recently visited New Zealand; and Mr Patrick Julius. Another son was Mr Roderick Julius, who was keenly interested in civil aviation. He was killed in an accident some years ago. His relatives in New Zealand include a brother, Dean Julius (now living at St. Andrew’s Hill), and sisters, Mrs Cecil Wilson, wife of the former Bishon of Bunbury who jvas previously Bishop of Melanesia. Jfrs Af thu £ . Elworthy, now of Christchurch and formerly of Holme Station, Pareora.' and Mrs Percy Elworthy, of Gordon’s Valley. South Canterbury. Another sister was Mrs Hansell’ Wlfe ° f Archdeacon A - L.