Mr. Robert Wilson , who was well known in Dunedin as a merchant, and generally in connection with important companies, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1832. Educated at the local school, and brought up on his father's farm, he came out to Victoria in 1853, and, having settled in Geelong, became a proprietor of horses and carts, and commenced business as a carrier. In 1861, having chartered a vessel to carry goods to New Zealand, he crossed the Tasman Sea, and made his home in Dunedin, where he founded the firm which bears his name. His first warehouse was in Stafford Street—then the leading business street of the city—and he subsequently removed to Bond Street. Mr. Wilson was one of the first promoters of the National Insurance Company, of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand (of which he was a director till 1884, when he visited England), the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company, and the New Zealand Hardware Company. He had much to do with the formation of what is claimed to be the first refrigerating company in the colonies; and wrote a letter to the “Otago Daily Times,” offering to subscribe £100, on condition that nineteen others subscribed a similar amount, to test the matter. The Chamber of Commerce took up the offer, called a meeting, and a company was duly formed. Thus the initiation of one of the most important of colonial industries can be traced back to Mr. Wilson. For some years he was connected with the Mutual Agency Company of New Zealand, of which he became chairman. He was also interested in many other companies; in fact, he took an active part in most local public undertakings. Mr. Wilson was at one time a member of the Otago Harbour Board, had long been a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and was chairman of that body for one term. In the Dunedin Jockey Club he acted as a steward for twenty years, and always took a keen interest in the Caledonian Society, of which he was at one time president. In 1862 Mr. Wilson was married to a Victorian lady, and had three daughters and two sons. He died at his residence, “The Hermitage,” Dunedin, on the 19th of August, 1899.