OBITUARY.

MR R. BEATTIE.

Our readers will "learn' with deep regret of the death of Mr Robert Beattie, of the firm of Black, Beaiitie and Co., drapers, of this city, which has taken place at London. News of Mr Beattie's death reached here on Saturday, and a confirmatory cablegram was received yesterday. Mr Beattie, with two of his daughters, left New Zealand in the Gothic in the beginning. of April to be present at the Jubilee celebrations in London this month. The deceased gentleman was a man of kindly and gentle disposition, liberal in his charities though never ostentatious, of a sympathetic character, just in his dealings with all with whom lie came in contact, and ever ready to help the young with advice, which many in this town have turned to profitable account. He was about fifty-three years of age at the time of his death, and was born at Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where he served his apprenticeship to the drapery business. As a young man he visited London, to which city he was,, a perfect stranger, but succeeded in finding employment with a prominent firm, and the experience he gained served him in good stead during his colonial life, which commenced about thirty-three years ago. He came out to Dunedin early in the sixties, and his first employment was at the first Exhibition in, that city. He was afterwards for some time with Messrs Herbert Haynes and Co., but his health breaking down he accepted ihe position of traveller for Messrs Butterworth Bros., with whom, save for about two years, he remained for fifteen years, up to the time he became partner with Mr R. W. . Black in 1883. While he was with Messrs Butterworth Bros, he became recognised as one of the most successful men on the road, and he was the firm's pioneer in the days of the Otago goldfields. From traveller he became manager for the firm in Invercargill and subsequently in Christchurch. During these years he took to farming near Dunedin, but upon pressure from his old employers he relinquished it and resumed his occupation. He, however, did not part with his farm until shortly after he entered into business with Mr Black. In 1883 the firm occupied the premises immediately at the corner of High and Lichfield streets, which were soon given up for the more commodious in' High street, where the deceased assisted his partner to carry on a trade which has gradually grown to satisfactory dimensions. He was a Presbyterian by religious persuasion, a memberof St. Paul's church, elder,and Superintendent of the Sunday-school for many years, but subsequently, vhen he took up ins residence at " Croftshead," near the corner of -the Ferry road and Wilson's road, he joined St. Peter's Church. He became Superintendent of its Sunday-school, and in other ways assisted the Church, in a manner those connected with it will long remember. He was a Justice of the Peace, s. Trustee of Herriok'B Mission Home, a man of pro* nounced temperance opinions, and was for a little while a member of the late Sydenham Licensing Committee. He leaves three daughters and' two sc-tts, tbe youngest of whom is fourteen years of age, to mourn their loss, which is a specially heavy one, as about six years ago Mrs Beattie, a sister of Mr Gilbert Anderson, was accidentally drowned while she and her husband were crossing, the river Hapuka, at the Kaikouraa. The two daughters, who accompanied Mr Beattie to England, where three of his sisters are living, return to New Zealand by an early boat.