A PATHETIC STORY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 71, 23 March 1912, Page 19

A PATHETIC STORY.

A pathetic incident marked the Brisbane Scottish Society's recent dinner, at which the Governor of Queensland, Sir William MacGregbr, was present;. During the proceedings a bouquet presented to His Excellency by little Nellie. Munro, who, with her two* sisters and her 'brother, was -orphaned by a fatal accident 'to her father and mother soon after landiug in Queensland from Scotland. The case aroused much practical sympathy. To the bouquet was attached a card, inscribed j "In grateful recognition of tho generous praotical sympathy accorded by the people of Queensland, per medium of the Brisbane Courier, to the four orphan children of the' late Mr. and Mrs. James Munro, Brisbane. Sir ' William MacGregor said ho could not allow the occasion to pass without saying one or two words on a matter which appealed so strongly to one's feelings. He wished to remind the gathering what, this case really was and what it meant. His Excellency continued: "Mr. and Mrs. Munro and their four children— three girls and ohe boy— frorii 13 to five years of age— arrived in Brisbane by the steamer Torilla on 16th October. Mr. Munro was accustomed to dairy and ordinary farm service, and had come from a "district near Aberdeen, Scotland, as an aesisteo. Immigrant. In response to an advertifiemnt relating to the working of a farm on the share system at Lowood, Mr. and Mrs. Munro left their four little ones with friends in Brisbane, and proceeded to view the farm, where they arrived on 18th October. In returning they lost their lives in crossing a swollen stream in a small punt. The four children were left thus in a strange land, without father or mother or other reiAivee, but, luckily, • among kind friends. The Brisbane Courier promptly opened a subscription list for the stranger orphans, and that paper was supported by the press generally and the public in such a way that the fund now stands at £2410. "It would seem that these children havo been adopted, not as 'State children,' but as the children of the private citizens of Queneland, moved Dy one common impulse of compassion. j Never in all my experience have I seen ' an appeal meet with such promptitude and such conspicuous generosity us in this case. I have unbounded confidence in a community that can feel and that can act as the people of Queensland have acted ia this matter. Such a people can make any sacrifice in a good cause. It is a splendid example of true, practical religion, and I, as Governor of Quensland, am proud of it."