OBITUARY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9443, 15 June 1896, Page 6

OBITUARY.

MR J. E. THACKER.

It is with regret that we learn the news of the death of Mr J. E. Thacker of Okain _ Bay, Banks' Peninsula, which took place on Saturday morning. Mr Thacker was one of the early settlers of this province, having come one in the Sir George Seymour, one of the first four ships. Shortly after his arrival he was associated with MrGodley, in looking after the stores of the Canterbury Association. He had been a pressman while at Home, And started one of the first newspapers in Christchurch, bis printing office being on the site of the buildiug known until recently as the Cathedral School. When tho gold rush took place in Melbourne he went over there, and was engaged as a compositor on one of the Melbourne papers, where he earned no less thau £15 a wesk. He returned to New Zealand subsequently, and was the first to bring a .teame. on the coast-—the Alma—which was afterwards wrecked at Sumner. At the time he possetjied this steamer he owned a store at the oorner of Cashel street aud Oxford terrace. He sold out to L. E. Nathan and Co., and took up land at Okain- Bay. where he has since resided. He bad always taken a prominent part in the industries of the Peninsula, and started one of tho large it sawmills there. At the time of the West Coast gold rush he ran a fleet of small vessels to Hokitika, one of which was wreoked at the Hokitika bar. He has always been adding to his land at Okain _ Bay, and his property now is very extensive. His daughter was the first white child born on the Peninsula. Mr Thacker was noted for his geniality and genuineness, and his death leaves a gap in the history of !>ioneer settlement in Canterbury. He eaves behind him a wife and five children, four sons and a daughter.