Obituary.

A telegram from New York, dated 12th September, records the death, from yellow fever, of Professor R. A. Proctor, at the age of 51.

La Typologie-Tucker records the death on the 6th July, at the age of 64, of M. Pierre Alexander Chapelle, Paris,—a notable typefounder and designer of many popular ornamental styles of letter.

We regret to see by the Rangitikei papers that Mr Isaac Down, a half-caste, who was apprenticed to the printing business in the same office in which the writer served his time, has been found drowned. The meagre paragraph before us does not give us the date or any particulars of the accident nor the name of the locality; we gather that an inquest was held on the 17th inst., and an open verdict returned. Deceased, who was a son of the late Mr. Down, of Wairoa, was at the early age of seven years placed at the printing business with the late Mr H. L. Yates, in Napier, late in 1861 or early in 1862, and was subsequently apprenticed. His career in after life was somewhat chequered. He acted as telegraph lineman, native interpreter, and occasionally as compositor. In the latter capacity he was employed for some time at the Government printing office, where his knowledge of the Maori language was of value. Some years ago, having married, he took a small farm at Kaikoura, Hawke's Bay, but did not find the venture a success. He leaves a widow and two children.