SIR C. TODD DEAD.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 730, 1 February 1910, Page 5

SIR C. TODD DEAD.

A NOTABLE CAREER. Br Telegraph-Press JVflEooiatlon-CoDrrlchL

■■■:'■ '■£'■'. Adelaide, /January. -31.; ' • ;TKe..death.: is■;announced-of- Sir-'Charles Todd, fformerly./Postmaster-General: and. Government■ Astronomerj-' aged ,83.»'\ . ■ :■■':

TRANS.CONTINENTAL TELEGRAPH GUILDER;

182B i; -Sir 'Chas.'.Todd;was.-• educated :'at Greenwich.v.andvehtered the / Greenwich Observatory, , in .1841. as Astronomical Computor.l He was Assistant: Astronomer at Cambridge from: '1848 -to ;185i,-: when, he returned ;to.,Greenwich; but in- the .following .year :was•- appointed ,by ; theiiCol-■ omal.. ; Office ■. Supennterident v ■ of I Telegrapha/and Government Astronomer .in South Australia.-.■■'■,•'■ \:• :-- v ;. / ;•'■-■''. ■■.-. • :"J6hns's :Notable .'Australians" -writes:-- : ..He : riecommended.'in 1856 .and saw completed in two 'years . the connection- of Melbourne and Adelaide:' by • telegraph. • His; next, great work; was ..the completion of .'a.:direct Vline between , ' Adelaide andSydney; :and on accomplishment util-. ised.it for , the purpose of determining the 141 st ■ meridian, and thus fixing the eastern, .boundary, of South Australia. The work ..with- whichv.hia name will -.always be identified was the construction.of the trans-continental .telegraph line, an im'pqrtant /link connecting tho Old Worldwith .the New.' He conceived the idea of linking-Adelaide' with Port- Darwin by wire, in .1859, and embodied, 1 the scheme in a/dispatoh to the: Colonial Office. The South Australian Parliament authorised the:undertaking in 1870.' Sir Charles personally superintended 'the .'erection of the I line; and communicatibn/iyith Adelaide and Port Darwin was established on August 22/1872. .The-line to '.Euchv! connect- , ling with/Perth followed:,, : - ■-;■.-•.-..' 'For half a century ho was- Superin-tehddnt.ofTelegraphs-in. South. Australia,' j and from 1870.to" 1905/ presided over the Postal Department' as'Postmaster-Gorieral until'■;• Federation' ,, and afterwards' as ■ De-1 puty Postmaster-General'.for/ the ; State, 1 retiring V.on June/eO, 1905. 'For nearly. , fifty, years he: was Government:Astrono--1 m'er,-and took part in a number of astronomical observations in : conjunction with ' other : astronomors throughout : the : world." -He was created C.M.G. in 1872 and K.C.M.G. in 1893, and was , a Fellow of the Royal Society, London, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Fellow of the Royal British Meteorological- Society,-and-Fellow of: the- Society of .Electrical Engineers, besides" honorary niember of two European \ scientific ' societies. Hβ had been prominently connected with the Royal Society in S.A.; the South' lian 'Institute- of-.Snpoyors, and the Council of the University of Adelaide, and had been'for many years a member of the Board 'of -Governors of the. ■ Publio Library, Museum, and Art Gallery, z^ , . ,, .