Cooper, Thornhill, Average Adjuster, Duncan's Buildings, Cashel Street, Christchurch. Mr. Cooper was born at Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, in 1840, and was educated at various schools in Yorkshire and Lancashire. In 1858 he became a clerk in the service of the Great Northern Railway Company, with which he remained for about two years and a half, chiefly in the audit department. In 1860–61 he was for a year in Victoria with the National Bank of Australasia. In 1862 Mr. Cooper visited California, where he remained about nine months, and sailed thence for Port Chalmers, in 1863, by the ship “Lady Young,” From 1863 to 1880 he resided in various parts of the colony, and was engaged for most of the time in banking. In 1880 Mr. Cooper became a partner in the firm of Lidbetter and Cooper, average adjusters and public accountants, of Wellington; and in 1882, he became sole proprietor of the business, which he has since conducted at Christchurch with considerable success. Mr. Cooper is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Accountants and a corresponding associate of the Association of Average Adjusters of London. He is the author of the well-known manual of book-keeping of the Southern Cross series, published by Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch. As a Freemason he was initiated in Lodge Otago Kilwinning in 1864, and is a Master Mason. Mr. Cooper has long taken an interest in art, and has been connected with the Canterbury, Auckland, and Dunedin Societies of Arts.