SCIENTISTS HONOURED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 571, 25 January 1929, Page 12

SCIENTISTS HONOURED

HON. G. THOMSON AND DR. COCKAYNE IMPORTANT RESEARCH “Th© grand old man of New Zealand science,” was the term applied to the Hon. E. M. Thomson, M.L.C., F.L.S., F.N.Z. Inst., a member of the Otago Institute, who was awarded the Hector Medal in Zoology. The award was made on the recommendation of NLr. G. A*. Hudson, Wellington Philosophical Society, and Dr. Charles Chilton, a Government representative on the board of governors. In their report Mr. Hudson and Dr. Chilton stated the award was made for Mr. Thomson's researches regarding New Zealand animals, particularly for his work in connection with the naturalisation of animals and plants in the Dominion. Another important work had been his experiments and researches on the introduction of food fishes and on the life history of New Zealand fishes, carried out at the Portobello Fish Hatchery. The board of governors also approved the recommendation of the committee of the Hutton Award that the medal should go to Mr. G. V. Hudson, of the Wellington Philosophical Society, for his entomological research.

The recommendation of the committee of the Hamilton Award that no award be made was adopted. The standing committee’s report referred to the overseas honours bestowed on two members of the board of governors during the past year. The Mueller Medal had been presented to Dr. L. Cockayne in recogition cf his research in botany, and a further honour had been awarded him in the Darwin Medal presented by the Royal Society, London. Dr. Cockayne is believed to be the first scientist in the Southern Hemisphere to gain such a, distinction. It was further recorded that Professor Coleridge Farr bad been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, London.