Xll PROCEEDINGS. 



William McKerron, born in Elgin, Scotland, came 

 to Halifax about 48 years ago. He was essentially a business 

 man, but he took a keen interest in science, especiallj' in 

 those branches relating to agriculture and horticulture. 

 For some years he acted as secretary of the Halifax exhi- 

 bitions, and this position gave him opportunitj' to foster 

 scientific methods amongst our farmers. He was particularly 

 active in improving the breeds of cattle in the Province. 

 He was a faithful attendant at our Institute meetings and 

 could be depended on to be present whether the subject of 

 the evening was of interest to him personally or not. He 

 was the third treasurer of the society, serving from March, 

 1903 to Nov., 1906. Then he was appointed as one of our 

 auditors, which position he filled satisfactorily until his death, 

 which took place on March 23rd, 1915. 



John Forbes, son of William Forbes, a government 

 official, was born at Birmingham, England, January 26th, 

 1834. He came from England when he was between nine' 

 and ten years of age. The voyage in the barque "Ma-«%- 

 chester" took 58 days, a contrast to the time required to 

 cross the ocean in our present day. He lived in the United 

 States for some time, and in 1860 returned to Halifax. John 

 Forbes was a mechanical genius, and his ideas found expres- 

 sion in several patents which he took out. He was manager of 

 the Starr iNIanufacturing Co., and the skates made by them 

 under his patents were known all over the world. Later 

 on he branched out into structural work, and after leaving 

 the Starr Mfg. Co., he entered the government railway 

 employ. For some time he was in business for himself as 

 president of the Forbes Manufacturing Co. On his retirement 

 to private life he continued to exercise his inventive faculties 

 and had a little workshop fitted up at his home. Shortly 

 before his death he was working on a patent, and one hour's 

 more work would have completed his model. He died 

 June 18th, 1915, in his eighty second year. The older 



