Mr. Robert John Bell , Managing Partner of the firm of Messrs W. Bell and Sons, is the fourth son of the late Mr. William Bell, and was born at sea in the ship “Champion of the Seas,” in which his parents emigrated, in August, 1860. He was educated in Nelson, brought up to sheepfarming, and worked in conjuction with his father until the latter's death in 1895, when, in partnership with his brother Adam, he took over the estate. Mr. Bell is chairman of the Wairau Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, vice-president of the Marlborough branch of the New Zealand Farmers Union, a member of the committee of the Marlborough Agricultural and Pastoral Association, of which he was president in 1901 and 1902, and a member of the Omaka Road Board. He married Miss Wastney, of Nelson, in the year 1896, and has three sons and one daughter.