OBITUARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 290, 8 December 1932, Page 5

OBITUARY.

MR. THOMAS BARR.

The death occurred on December 4 of Mr. Thomas Barr in. his eighty-fifth year, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. W. White, Hill Street, Onelmnga. Mr. Barr was born at Onelmnga, being the son of an Imperial pensioner who had served in the British Army in India. Mr. Barr was taken by his parents when nine years old to reside at Big Muddy Creek, and afterwards at Awhitu for a few years. In 1807 or 1808 Mr. Barr settled at Huia, where he engaged in mill work, bush contracting and farming. It was while he lived at Big Muddy Creek, that H.M.S. Orpheus was wrecked on the Manukau Bar. Although not an eye-witness of that catastrophe, Mr. Barr had considerable experience of the result of the wreck afterwards. He attended the funeral of some of the men who lost their lives and were buried there. He often spoke in after years of the wreck of the Olipheus, of which he had very vivid recollections, notably the loss of the ship's safe containing a large sum of money in. gold that was being brought out to pay the soldiers and sailors in other warships lying in the Manukau Harbour. Mr. Barr used to say that the safe was put into one of the ship's whale boats, and when the men in it had got away from the wreck a big wave struck the boat, capsizing it, and the occupants, some of whom were drowned. The safe was quickly buried in the sand and never recovered. Mr. Barr collected a large quantity of material as it came ashore from the wreck, out of which he made a fine model of the Orpheus. It is intended to place this in the Auckland Museum shortly. Mr. Barr was married on January 3, 1871, at Auckland, to Miss Eliza Woodward, of Onehunga, by whom he is survived with seven daughters, two sons and 40 grandchildren. The interment will take place to-morrow at St. Peter's Anglican Cemetery, Onchunga, where both his parents are buried.

MR. ALLAN STANLEY WARNER.

A "well-known 'resident of Auckland, Mr. Allan Stanley Warner, of Jervois Road, Heme Bay, who hag just died, was the fifth son of Mr. Henry Mason Warner, of Parnell. Mr. Allan Warner joined the staff of the Postal Department as a cadet at the Parnell branchLater he was postmaster at Whakatane and Feilding. In his earlier years lie plaved senior cricket for t a is an engineer m Auckland.