THE LATE MRS MUNNS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 665, 28 November 1882, Page 2

THE LATE MRS MUNNS.

And yet another of the " Pilgrims " of Canterbury has been removed by death from pur midst, and the Hat of early colonists is now gradually getting " small by degrees." Mrs Esther Munns, the subject of this notice, was bom near Canterbury, Kent, England, on the 25th day of November, 1807, and died in Akaroa on the 24th of the present month, within one day of completing her 75th year. Mrs Munns, together with her late husband, left Lon - don in September, 1850, for Canterbury, in the ship Sir George Seymour, under engagement with the late Mr H. Lake. This ship was the second of the Canterbury fleet to arrive in Lyttelton, being preceded only a few hours by the ship Charlotte Jane, both vessels arriving on the 16th ol December, 1850. Shortly after arrival, Mr and Mrs Munns, with others, went to the Malvern district, and assisted in the formation for, we believe, the late J. C. Watts Russell, Esq., of one of the first— if not the first—stations held in that district by a Canterbury colonist. After being in the Malvern district for some time, Mr and Mrs Munns returned to Lyttelton, and purchased from a Mr George the first aerated water business established in Canterbury. For some years this business was successfully carried on, and it was ulti mately sold to the late Mr Richard Milsom, whose son, we believe, still has the original stand and connection. Having purchase d a property, from the late Mr Hempleman, at German Bay, Mr and Mrs Munns removed there. For many years the ready welcome, the genial, open-handed hospitality, the ready help of both husband and wite, in sickness and otherwise, is too well known among , the residents of that and other Biya to call forth eulogy from us. On the denth of her husband, Mrs Munns removed to Akaroa, where she has ever since resided, and in her home, surrounded by her " domestic gods," she has pasted her "evening of existence" away. For some months past the deceasod lady has suffered much from asthma and dropsy, but, whatever her sufferings, she was always pie.ieoil to be visited b} 7 her old acquaintances and neighbors, whom she always hospitably welcomed and entertained. Eccentric in disposition, but kindhearLed to a degree, was Mrs Munri3, and tlis (Utvjndiuice at he ,, funeral on Sunday, last told only too truly the estimation and regard in which she waa hold, both far and near. It is to us a despoudin* duty to

have to chronicle the " ravages of death," and yet we know that

" All that tread The globe are but a handful to the tribes That slumber in its bosom."