OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 24244, 30 September 1940, Page 6

OBITUARY

MR CHERRY KEARTON (Received September 29, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 28. The death has occurred of Mr Cherry ( Kearton, naturalist, author and pioneer photographer of wild animals in their natural surroundings. He was 69 years of age. i From boyhood Mr Kearton shared with his | elder brother Richard, the famous naturalist, a love of animal life. Together they roamed the countryside and studied the habits of birds and all the other creatures to be found on the moors and in the dales of Yorkshire. Perhaps Richard was the closer student, but Cherry evolved an entirely original idea—that of taking photographs of animals in surroundings which are not seen by every observer —the private life of the animal world. The work demanded almost unlimited patience and remarkable ingenuity in the matter of concealment in order to avoid frightening the quarry. But the brothers succeeded produced the first books on natural history illustrated throughout with photographs. To get these they | sometimes spent hours hanging. in dead silence from precipices or standing chindeep in water. Occasionally Cherry found it necessary to disguise himself as a sheep or an ox to allay the timidity of some creature which he wanted to picture. In later years he carried these methods into Central Africa and other foreign lands, and essayed the more fearsome task of snapping | big game. In this he was no less successful I than he had been in Yorkshire, securing in the course of several years, when he was constantly in peril of his life, a unique series of photographs showing lions, rhinoceroses, baboons, pythons, buffaloes and even such small creatures as white ants and locusts leading their normal lives in the wild. He took many of the later series of pictures with a cinema camera and thus secured moving pictures which were even more interesting. Many of his thrilling experiences are recorded in his books "Wild Life across the World,” “Shifting Sands of Algeria,” "Toto of the Congo,” “My Happy Family” and "In the Land of the Lion.” MR W. H. DAVIES LONDON, September 28. The death has occurred of W. H. Davies, the “tramp” poet, at the age of 69 years. Mr Davies was born in April 1871. As a lad he was interested in literature and encouraged to write by an invalid whom he knew. Taking £l5 of a legacy left him he went to the United States to get work. There he met “Brun,” a famous beggar, who induced the youth to wander about the country with him. He wrote his poetry later in life and received high praise from G. B. Shaw and other noted critics. His poems include “The Bird of Paradise,” “The Soul’s Destroyer,” “Nature Poems,” “Songs of Joy,” “Child Lovers,” “A Song of Life,” “Secrets,” “The Song of Love” and “True Travellers.” SENOR JULIAN BESTEIRO (Received September 29, 6.30 p.m.) MADRID, September 28. The death has occurred in prison of Senor Julian Besteiro, a former president of the Cortes, who was serving 30 years’ sentence. He was president of the National Council of Defence which surrendered Madrid. Senor Besteiro was president of the General Union of Workers and leader of the Socialist Party until the Socialist uprising in October 1934, He was also Professor of Logic and Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at Madrid University. MR WILLIAM , EADIE The death occurred at Pukerau recently of one of the oldest and most respected residents of the district, Mr William Eadie. Mr Eadie was born at Christchurch in 1866, and received his education at the Normal School, Dunedin. He went to Pukerau with his parents, who took up fanning in 1880. After the death of his parents Mr Eadie farmed the property very successfully until a few years ago, when he retired. In his younger days he took a very keen interest in all the activities of the district, and was a very prominent member of the local football and cricket clubs, for which he played for many years with marked success.