Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/128

 the guidance of the delegate, and to draw up a petition, requesting the Colonial Secretary to hold his hand until Mr. Cuninghame's arrival in London. On the committee were such well-known names as those of Curr, Westgarth, Niel Black, Stephen Henty, William Campbell, Verner, Stawell (afterwards Sir William), Pohlman, McCombie, Dalgety, and O'Shanassy. Mr. Cuninghame continued to represent the colony in England for some years, and died at the family residence, Thornton House, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in October 1856, without having revisited Australia. He was the eldest son of Lieut.-Col. John Cuninghame of Caddall and Thornton, and Sarah his wife, only child of Major John Peebles.

Curnow, Francis, J.P., was appointed District Clerk and Paymaster in the Roads Department at Ipswich, Qd., in March 1864; organiser of the Railway Store Department in Nov. 1865; Railway Storekeeper in June 1866; Administrator of the Locomotive Branch of the Railway Department, in addition, in June 1876, and Chief Clerk of Railways in Jan. 1877. In Jan. 1884 Mr. Curnow became Acting Commissioner of Railways, was permanently appointed in March 1885, and retired on a pension in July 1889.

Curnow, William, the present editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, was born in Cornwall, and emigrated to Australia in the year 1854. He had been in England a student for the ministry of the Wesleyan Church, and on arriving in Australia became an assistant minister in Queensland, being for some period in the Warwick district. He afterwards went to New South Wales, and resided for a number of years at Goulburn. He finally became the minister of the chief Wesleyan Church in Sydney, and remained in this position till about 1877, when, his health railing, he made a voyage to England. For some years Mr. Curnow had been editor of a religious newspaper in connection with the Wesleyan communion, and had also been an occasional contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald. On his return from England, with the throat affection from which he suffered still uncured, he resigned his charge, and became a member of the staff of the Sydney Morning Herald. When Dr. retired from the editorship in 1885, after many years of service, Mr. Curnow became editor.

Curr, Edward Micklethwaite, the eldest son of the late Edward Curr, was born in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1820, educated in England and France, and in 1841 and subsequent years was a stockowner in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. In 1862 he was appointed an Inspector of Sheep in Victoria, and later on Chief Inspector of Stock. At that date there were five millions of sheep suffering from scab in the colony, the annual loss on which was computed at over half a million sterling. Parliament offered a prize of £150 for the best essay on scab. The prize was given to Mr. Curr, and eventually the steps recommended therein were adopted, and the disease got rid of entirely. His essay was reprinted by the Government of Tasmania, and has been in demand in various parts of the world. In 1863 Mr. Curr published a work entitled "Pure Saddle Horses," in 1883 "Recollections of Squatting in Victoria," and in 1886 "The Australian Race" was published for him by the Government of Victoria. Mr. Curr's father, the late Edward Curr, of St. Heliers, was styled in Victoria " the Father of Separation," from the efforts which he exerted to secure severance from New South Wales. This gentleman had been manager for the Van Diemen's Land Company. Between 1827 and 1830 he induced the company to lay out £30,000 in the importation from Europe of prime sheep, chiefly merinos, and further sums on pure cattle and high-bred horses. From the merinos thus imported, which were from the very best flocks of Germany, the leading flocks of Australia are principally descended. Mr. Curr resigned his position as Chief Inspector of Stock on July 30th, 1889, and died on August 3rd, 1889.

Curtis, Oswald, formerly Superintendent of the province of Nelson, N.Z., son of Stephen Curtis and Eleanora (Llewellyn) his wife, was born in London on Jan. 20th, 1821, and landed at Nelson, N.Z., on June 18th, 1853. He was for many years a member of the Nelson Provincial Council, and was Superintendent of the province from 1867 to 1876, when the provinces were abolished. Mr. Curtis was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1867 to 1878, 112