Obituary.

A Sydney telegram of 29th October records the death of the Hon. W. B. Dalley, at the age of 55. Mr Dalley was not only a prominent statesman of unblemished record, but a gifted orator and able writer.

Mr George Small, for twenty years bookseller at Timaru, and who had only a few weeks retired from business, died suddenly on the 21st inst., aged 62. His health has been failing for two or three years.

The Rev. Johann Martin Schleyer, the inventor of « Volapük, » died in Paris on the 9th October. He is entitled to the credit of devising the most scientific and widely-accepted scheme of universal language yet known; but it has not proved a practical success.

English papers record the death of Mr Henry Stevenson, F.L.S., for many years proprietor and editor of the Norfolk Chronicle, and a distinguished local naturalist. He was the author of a good many books; his chief work, published in 1866, being The Birds of Norfolk, with Remarks on their Habits, Migration, and Local Distribution.

Mr William Chappell, music-publisher, died on the 20th August. He was born in 1810, and was the eldest son of Mr Samuel Chappell, who died in 1834, and on his father's death, he with the assistance of his brothers carried on the business for his mother. He was the author of several standard works on old English music.

Mr F. T. Gammon, managing partner in the firm of Partridge & Co., died at Hastings in September, aged 39. He was a son of the Rev. John Gammon, and conducted the British Workman, Band of Hope Review, and other periodicals published by the firm, besides being the author and compiler of several of their most popular books.

Mr John Gully, whose beautiful water-color drawings of New Zealand scenery are widely known, died in Nelson on the 1st November, aged 69. He settled in Taranaki on first coming to the colony, and saw some active service in the native war. He removed to Nelson in 1860, and three years later was appointed draftsman and surveyor under the Hon. J. C. Richmond. The last ten years of his life were devoted entirely to art.

Police-sergeant Dalton, who joined the Victorian police in 1859, died on the 16th inst. He is noted as the originator of the term « larrikin, » now in common use in all the Australian colonies. He had brought a rowdy youth before the magistrate, and in reply to the magistrates' question: « What was the prisoner doing? » replied in a rich brogue, « He was a larrikin, (larking), your worship. » « Larrikin » seems to have secured a place in the language. It is equivalent to « hoodlum » in San Francisco.