Mr. Reginald Arthur Pyke, Private Secretary to the Hon. J. Carroll, is a son of the late Hon. Vincent Pyke, well-known in Australia and New Zealand as a politician and author of note. The subject of this notice was born in Sandhurst, Victoria, in 1859, and came to Otago with his father when but four or five years of age. He was educated chiefly at the Lawrence High School, afterwards joining the New Zealand Civil Service, wherein he served for several years. In 1891 he resigned and joined the Fourth Estate, taking over the Dunstan Times newspaper, in Central Otago, which he conducted for some years. On taking over the paper it was soon seen that Mr. Pyke possessed in a marked degree those gifts for which his father had been noted as a journalist. Under his editorship the paper quickly came to the front rank among country newspapers in Otago, and was largely quoted owing to the vigour and brilliancy of its articles. In 1894, when the Tuapeka constituency became vacant, owing to the death of his father, Mr. Pyke was solicited to stand for the vacant seat, and was promised large support if he did so; but thinking he could afford to wait, he declined to accede to the request. As it was, he threw his influence and abilities into the contest in support of the Government candidate, and it was largely due to his efforts in the upper end of the electorate that the present member was enabled to come in at the head of the poll. While in the district Mr. Pyke exercised his energies and abilities in the support of everything having for its object the advancement of Central Otago. Amongst other things, he started the Vincent Horticultural Society, which has been the means of drawing the attention of the New Zealand public to the exceptional capabilities of the climate and soil of that county for the cultivation of fruit. Mr. Pyke, wishing to have a larger field for his energies, gave up the paper in 1895, and in February of that year he left the district. Before leaving he was presented with a purse of sovereigns, and at the time of the presentation several speakers alluded in eulogistic terms to the able manner in which he had conducted the Dunstan Times, and to the public services he had rendered to the district.