The late Stephenson Percy Smith was born at Beecles, Suffolk, in June, 1840. He was the eldest son of John Stephenson Smith, member of an old East Anglian family, who brought his family out to New Zealand in the ship “Pekin,” which arrived at New Plymouth on the 7th February, 1850. Here the family settled and took part in the opening-up of what was for many years an almost isolated district. Mr. Smith joined the Survey Department at New Plymouth in 1855, and later became an assistant surveyor. He followed up his profession until his retirement from the service in 1900.

In 1857–58 Mr. Smith, together with several young companions, undertook an extended walking-tour across the Island from Taranaki to the Bay of Plenty by way of Mokau, Taupo, and Rotorua, returning by the Whanganui route. That trip was marked by the careful noting of much interesting data concerning the Maori and the natural productions of the districts traversed, a habit that Mr. Smith cultivated throughout his long life.

During the years 1859–63 Mr. Smith was connected with the Native Land Purchase Department in the Auckland District. The year 1865 found him back at Taranaki, where he pursued his profession for years under difficult and often extremely dangerous conditions. He spent the year 1868 in the triangulation and subdivision of the Chatham Islands. In the following year he returned to Taranaki, and for about six years he was engaged in the major triangulation of the North Island. In 1877 he was appointed Chief Surveyor of the Auckland District, and in 1882 he became Assistant Surveyor - General. In 1889 he was appointed to the highly responsible position of Surveyor-General, which he held until his retirement in 1900 after forty-five years of service. That long period of service was marked by unusual ability and devotion to duty, and by the confidence of succeeding Governments.

The unusual qualities possessed by Mr. Smith led to his being entrusted with various missions and tasks outside his professional activities. Thus we have his interesting work on the eruption of Tarawera of 1886, which shows that, had he devoted himself to geology, that science would have gained an able interpreter. In 1887 he was sent to the Kermadec Islands in order to take possession of that group, and in the latter “nineties” was appointed Chairman of the Urewera Commission. In 1902 he was requested by the Governor of New Zealand to proceed to Niue in order to institute a system of government for that island.

Mr. Smith will probably be best remembered by his remarkable work in Polynesian ethnology. He had an intimate knowledge of old-time Maori life, the language, history, and customs of our native folk, as also a remarkable acquaintance with those of the various far-scattered divisions of the Polynesian race in northern isles. He collected a great mass of data concerning these subjects, and in 1892 he was the chief agent in the formation of the Polynesian Society. The recording of the great volume of ethnological matter contained in the thirty-one volumes of the journal of that society may be placed to the credit of Mr. Smith, who acted as editor throughout that lengthy period.