OBITUARY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15746, 13 November 1916, Page 2

OBITUARY.

REV. F. W. ISITT. (rEESS ASSOCIATION" TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN. November 12. The Rev. F. W. Lsitt. the well-known Methodist minister, formerly secretary 'of the Xrfsr Zealand Alliance, died yesterday trom heart failure. The late Rev. I\ W. Isitt. like his brother, Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P.. was a very ardent worker tor the Prohibition cause. He was born in England in October, 15-10. and in 1870 came to New Zealand. In IS7I he entered the Methodist ministry, and received his first circuit in liaklutha. A few years later, owing to failing health, be was compelled to retire from ecclesiastical work, and was for some years in business in Christclnirch. On returning to the ministry he was for about three years in Nelson, and a similar period in InvercargilL ultimately being appointed to the East belt Church in Christchurch. It was about that time that he came to the fore as a prohibition champion, and i'or many years he was secretary of the New Zealand Alliance, travelling the whole length of New Zealand in the interests of the cause. For a number oi years Mr Isitt shared ■with the late Mr T. E. Taylor the editorial control of the "Prohibitionist" (.now the "Vanguard ! ). As on© of the editors of the "Prohibitionist" Mr Isitt wan for three or four sessions a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, and was very popular among the * Press representatives who were on duty in the gallery at that time. About six years ago Mr Isitt, who had been in indifferent health since the early nineties, retired from active work, and since then he had been living in Dunedin.

Mr Isitt is survived by a widow, who is a daughter of the. late Dr. Purdie, of Dunedin, one son and two daughters. The son, Mr C. Isitt. is farming at Fairlie. One daughter is in Dunedin with her mother, and the other, who was for some years on the staff of the "Dominion," is now following literary pursuits in England.

An Auckland telegram states that Captain *T. Taw, for thirty years in the coastal and island trades, died suddenly on the bridge of the steamer Gael.

Mr P. Hanrahan, who died at St. Bathans recently, was for 30 years proprietor of the Ballarat Hotel in that town. He arrived in New Zealand 54 years ago, and followed the various golfl rustics from Gabriel Gully to Fox's (Arrowtown).

The death took place on Wednesday at New Plymouth of Mr J. T. Campbell, a man of many attainments, wno had been a teacher in the service of tho Taranaki Education Board. Sincq his retirement some years ago he had been engaged in coaching pupils for examinations, in which he proved very successful.

Mr William Kerr, who died suddenly on Friday last, was buried yesterday in tho Linwood Cemetery. The deceased was a member of the Veterans' Association, who carried out tho funeral arrangements. The late Mr Kerr was in the Mounted Constabulary in the Maori War, and was despatch rider to the late General Cameron. The service was conducted l>y the llev. James Tennent.

Mr Walter Harris, who died in the Christcliurch Hospital last week, was until about six weeks ago manager of the South Seas Packing Company's business in Greymouth for Messrs Griffen and Smith, and left the district owing to failing health. He was b«rn at South Dunedin, was 35 years of age, and saw service with some of the Jftjw Zealand contingents in the South African War. He was prominent in athletic circles on tho West Coast.

Tho death of Mr James Miller, at Piimraerton, last week removes one of Palmerston's earliest business men. (says- the "Manawatu Standard"). Thirty-five years ago Mr Miller opened a general storo in Palmerston, at a time when that portion of the town consisted of ismall wooden buildings and vacant sections. He continued in business for a number of years, and afterwards conducted a store at Glen Oroua for several years, whero, as in Palmerston, he was widely known and respected by a largo circle of friends. Mr Miller retired from business some years ago, and more recently had been living in Wellington and Plimmerton.

A misapprehension evidently arose over the cable message that Mrs Dion Boucicault had died recently. It was taken to mean Miss Irene Vanbrugh, who is well known here, but as a matter of fact it referred to Mrs Dion Boucicault, sen., a lady of eighty-three years of ago at the time of her death. She was a Miss Agnce Kelly Robertson before her marriage, and the mother of Dion, Aubrey, and Nina Boucicault, prominent on the English stage at present. Mrs Boucicault made her first appearanco on the stage in 1843, in Aberdeen, and in London in 1850. She often visited America, and was a great favourite in London, where she appeared in some, of her husband's Irish plays.

The death last week of Mr Xuke Judd, known among his friend's as "Farmer Hunt," and to tho children of the Kensington School as "Undo Judd. removes a somewhat striking personality (says the "Otago Daily Times"). He was a very early settler in New Zealand, his name being inscribed in the jubilee souvenir of the province of Canterbury as that of one of the arrivals in 1854. He was then a young man of 19 years. Afterwards he followed the pursuits incidental to early colonial life. He took part in fencing contracts, surveys, such as those in the Mackenzie Country, etc., and participated in goldfields rushes, including that to Hokitika. In 1863 Mr Judd went to Dunedin, and thereafter became janitor of the Kensington School. The best testimony to Mr Judd's sunniness of heart was manifested at his funeral on Wednesday. The boys of the school formed a guard of honour. The girls lined his grave with weeping willow intermingled with May blossoms, and strewed the bottom of the r(rave with petals of multitudes of roses. The man who goes to his final rest with such tokens of the love of children must have been a good man.