THE LATE MAJOR COOTE. (FROM THE "WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT," MARCH 28.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3026, 8 April 1867, Page 6

THE LATE MAJOR COOTE. (FROM THE "WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT," MARCH 28.)

Thb following particulars respecting the career of Major Coote, who died on the 25th instant, after a protracted illness, will, we know, be perused with interest, not only by his personal friends, but by a large body of his fellow settler*, both in thii and other provinces. Major Coote entered the lervice when he was seventeen, and in a few years went with his regiment, th« 22nd, to India, where they were soon called upon to act under Sir Charles Napier in the conquest of SciDde. He was aide-de-camp to Sirj Charles Napier in the never-to-be-for-gotten Expedition through the desert to Emaunghur, and was present at the celebrated battles of Meaneo and Hyderabad, in the latter of which he led the force into the enemy's entrenched position — took the first gun and the first colour, and was severely wounded while helping his men up the sides of a nullah. Sir , C fii^apier, in his account ofithis engagement, stated that /'the intrepid Coote " was the first to leap into the enemy's entrenchments. The wound he then received disabled him for some time, and after a few more, years of service he exchanged to go home, and subsequently joined the 36th Regiment in the lonian Islands. There he took a very active part in sup* pressing an insurrection in Caphalonia, during the time that Sir Henry Ward was Lord High Commissioner of the Islands. He not only received the thanks of the civil and military authorities for the energy and gallantry he displayed in the harassing operations undertaken during the continuance of the rebellion, but Sir H. Ward so warmly appreciated his services that he recommended him for some special mark of her Majesty's favour. He some time afterwards received the appointment of brigade-major to the forces in this colony, an appointment which he held for a period of five years. On the staff being broken up ne returned to England, and, during the heat of the Maori rebellion, requested the tanction of the War Office to bis embodying a force to be olothad and trained specially for bush service. His proposals were favourably veceived, but after three mpnthi had been spent in effectually endeavouring tomduc? the War Office to

take steps for carrying them into practice, ho sold out of the army and came back to New Zealand. After remaining two or three years in Canterbury, where he was engaged in sheep-farming, he returned to this province (in which it had always been his intention to settle) bought a block of land iv the Wairarapa, near Masterton, built his house, and was making extensive improvements, when symptoms of the disease which has consigned him to the grave appeared, and oompelledhimto abandon what he had intended to hare been his permanent home. During the Weld Administration he was appointed a member of the Legislative Conncil, in the deliberation! of which he took an active and intelligent part. Few men have more thoroughly identified themselves with the colony, or evinced a greater desire to promote its true interests, than Major Coote.