Mr J. A. Flesher.

We announce this morning, with regret, the death of Mr J. A. Flesher, an ex-Mayor of Christchurch and a member of the present City Council. Mr Flesher's prominence in public life was very much more than that gained by men who are elected and re-elected, during a long period of years, to a variety of offices. It was not the length of his public service, long as that was, or the number of positions hi occupied, many as they were, that gave him his conspicuous place among the public men of the City, but the force and capacity that he constantly exhibited. -Perhaps not the best, but the most recent and therefore the liveliest proof of his ability is the fact, which must have been noticed by most citizens, that since his illness the de-' bates at the City Council table have been weaker in almost every way. He had the command of fact and the clear view of his object which keep discussion to the direct and useful line; and for this reason, with others, his place will be uncommonly hard to fill. The Council has now lost three members by death since the election of last year, a fact probably without precedent and a misfortune certainly without one; for these three members were all men of unusual firmness and vigour, whose criticisms, on whatever side they were expressed, cleared the issues for public judgment.