A BUSH FUNERAL

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6, 7 January 1908, Page 5

A BUSH FUNERAL

NEW ZEALAND WAR MEDALLIST'S BURIAL. (By Telegraph.— Correspondent.) WAIHI, this dtty. i In connection with the death of Mr. j Sainsbury, of Whangamata, briefly men- j I tioned in '"Star/ - it would appear ] that when Mr. Wallnutt, District Cor- j j oner, Dr. Claridge and Constable Dris- | I coll arrived at Whangamata they dis- | covered that the hotel was in the charge lof an old man. All the liquor in the I place had been consumed, there being a j great array of empty bottles. The body | of deceased was found lying beside the i bed with an empty laudanum bottle close ; ' by. At about 4 o'clock, after the in- i i quest had been concluded, as no relaJ tives of the deceased were present, all I ; being away in Auckland, Constable Dris- j • coll made arrangements for the burial. ' ! A carpenter from the Luck at Last mine j > made a rough coilin on the spot, and i ! Mr. Watt, junr.. provided a sledge and i I horses. The ?cene which followed was j ! undoubtedly typical of a bush funeral in ! • New Zealand. About a dozen people, all I ' told, followed the sledge, to the little | ! enclosure about a few hundred yards j from the hotel, which has served the pur- \ I po.M>s of a cemetery tor some years, j ! Whilst the party stood around, the grave I was dug in the same little enclosure as j : arc situated the graves of two of the de-' ' ' ceased's ?ons, the youngest of whom was j i drowned a few years back, also that 'of "AH." Carter, who was well-known j j: in cricket circles hero a few years ago, ' j and who was drowned at the same time j las young Sainsbury. Altogether there ] 11 were ten graves almost side by side, and : alongside the grave of his little son was; ! there and then interred the moj-tal re- j 1 j mains of his father. The Church of England burial service \rns impres-ively ■ read by Dr. Claridge, the scene being ! ' rather pathetic as the last sad rites wero performed over a n;un who had spent 28 1 years of his life in the vicinity, and who : ■ : ,had seen service in the Maori war. Aftpr > j the funeral, arrangements were made to ' . leave the premises in clnrjre of a man ■ ! named McKeowen, who had. previous to • the arrival of the Coroner's party been placed in charge by Mr. Watt. Post- [ master. Pome of "the more valuable ■ I effects of the deceased were carried into r I one room and locked up. Amonast the~e \ I were found a New Zealand war medal . j awarded to deceased for ■serrie?? vrhilst . I under fire with the No. 1 drris:on. A.C. j ■ Force, ISGS-0, on the rim of the rnerlal- . [was engraved the words "Constable .John , I Sainsbury, A.C. Force."