PERSONAL ITEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 14 January 1931, Page 4

PERSONAL ITEMS

Dr. Kathleen Curtis, of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, whose forte is research in plant pathology, including control of disease in orchards, returned by the Marama yesterday after nine months absence from the Dominion and arrived in Nelson to-day. Dr. Curtis was joint representative of the New Zealand Government and Cawthron Institute at the International Botanical Conference at Cambridge, England, and the International Horticultural Conference in London. On her way over Dr. Curtis crossed the United States and Canada, and visited all the chief research stations in plant pathology, investigating the most modern methods of technique, disease control, research in plant-breeding, and the most modern machinery for orchard and ■ general disease control. Before and after the conferences she visited the European stations for the same purposes, including those in Germany, Scandinavia, and Italy. “The trip was purely a business one,” said Dr. Curtis, when asked if she had done any travelling apart from that necessitated by her work. Dr. Curtis will make an official report on her tour.

Mrs Alice Watson Parker, whose death lias occurred after a lengthy illness, was a very old and widely respected Marlborough resident, having come to that district some 72 years ago. The deceased, who was the relict of the late Mr Richard Watson Parker, was born at Nelson in 1853, being a daughter of the late Mr Adam Jackson, senior, one of Marlborough’s earliest pioneers. Her husband, who predeceased her 32 years ago. was a well-known Blenheim citizen. She was held in high regard as a prominent worker in the Methodist Church, and always took a keen interest in the w.c.t.u;