PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 6 



matters, and he was at one time Master of Lodge Ionic 

 and subsequently a member of the Grand Lodge of New 

 South Wales. 



John H. Adams joined this Society in 1895, and died at 

 Waverley on 23rd March, 1913, aged 64. He entered the 

 Works Department in 1876, and was appointed Road Super- 

 intendent to the Walgett District in 1882. He was after- 

 wards transferred in the same capacity, first to Orange, 

 and then to Mudgee, and finally left the Department in 

 1895. Many of the excellent roads in the Districts referred 

 to testify to Mr. Adams' energy and engineering ability. 

 He was a popular officer who was entirely devoted to his 

 work, and could be found engaged upon it early and late. 

 The valuable work carried out by the officers of the Road 

 Engineering Staff passes by without much notice, as these 

 officers are not prominently before the public, but their 

 work is of inestimable value in developing the resources of 

 the country. Mr. Adams was a man of genial disposition, 

 and being an excellent whip, one of his favourite diversions 

 was driving a good team of horses. 



John Locke Estens was born at Bath on the 20th 

 December, 1859, and joined this Society in 1910. His family 

 can be traced back to John Locke the famous philosopher, 

 who lived from 1632 to 1704, and also to John Locke who 

 was Sheriff of London in 1460. When a boy, he was a 

 chorister at St. Stephen's Church, Lansdown. He came 

 to Australia in 1883, and entered into business in connec- 

 tion with the sale of musical instruments. He inherited 

 musical tastes, and twenty years ago was a soloist at 

 St. James Church, King Street, Sydney. He also found 

 time to devote some portion of his leisure to literary 

 pursuits and produced a work entitled " Paraclete and 

 Mahdi," a copy of which he presented to this Society. His 

 death took place at Maldon, New South Wales, on the 

 26th April, 1913. 



