OBITUARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 106, 7 May 1934, Page 9

OBITUARY.

MR. S. L. HIRST. Mr. Samuel Luther Hirst, who died on Saturday last,, had three-quarters of a century's close association with Auckland. Accompanied by his father, the late Henry Hirst, and his mother, he left London on October 20, 18u8, in the ship William Watson, which was nearly lost in a big storm in the Bay of Biscay. After a trip of 155 days they arrived in Auckland, and landed in Maori canoes and watermen's boats at what is now Fort Street. At that time a creek ran down what is now Queen Street, and that it was common to eee Maori canoes as far up as the present Town Hall site. During the Great War Mr. Hirst was a captain in the motor reserve which convoyed troops. He lost one son at the war, Leonard, of the stuff of the Bank of New Zealand, while his son Ernest, who died from war wounds four • years ago, whs mentioned in dispatches by Colonel Aldred in a recommendation for the V.C. for gallantry in the field.

During the gold rush at the Thames the late Mr. Hirst was manager of the Moanataiari Butter}', and it is recorded that in one week 10,000 odd ounces of gold were banked by him. For a period he was in Te Aroha as agent of the Northern Steamship Co., Ltd. He served on various boards and was Mayor of Te Aroha. He retired from active business, yet up to the time of his death was a director of several companies.

In 1919, after revisiting England, Mr. Hirst went to the battlefields in France. He had travelled extensively in China and Japan and had a wide knowledge of world affairs. Mr. Hirst was all his life closely associated with the Methodist Church, and for a long period was a trustee far St. John's Church. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mary A. Hirst, a daughter of the iate James Gribble, and two sons and four daughters, Messrs. H. J. Hirst (Whangarei), H. G. Hirst (Te Poi), and Mesdam'es S. A. Hetherington (Thamee), G. F. Stockwell (Masterton), G. H. Strange (Green Lane), and Miss R. Hiret (Auckland).