WELLINGTON NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXIII, Issue 3374, 11 June 1879, Page 2

WELLINGTON NEWS.

Wellington, June 10. The Harbor Board met this afternoon, when there were found to be fifteen apHoations for the office of Engineer to the Board. The applicants were : — Hender son, Wellington ; Knorp, Wellington ; Rees, Taranaki ; Grey, Wellington ; Thorndon and Bull, Christchurch ; Tatton, Wellington ; Thompson, Patea ; Latham, Christchurch ; Johnson, Christchurch ; Davies, Wellington ; O'Neill, Wellington ; Errington, Auckland ; Field, Invercargill ; Czenwonka, Christchurch. A committee has been appointed to consider the applications. The New Zealander this morning, in noticing the death of Mr Lazar, says : — "The name of John Lazar is so well known throughont the greater part of New Zealand, as well as in several of the neighboring Colonies, as one of the Colonial fathers of Masonry, and as a gentleman who held many high public offices, that we cannot omit noticing at some length the sad intelligence of his death, which reached us by wire yesterday." The paper then gives an outline of his life in England and in the Colonies, and concludes as follows : — " He was one of the most genial companions, and one of the most benevolent men that this Colony, or any other place has seen. Even when suffering so severely, his presence was highly valued on all social occasions, for he was full of anecdote snd humor, and the stories that he could tell of the times when this century was young, charmed all his listeners. His memory was most extraordinary, and it was recorded of him, between 20 and 30 years ago, that he once, for a wager, undertook to repeat by heart the whole contents of one page of the Adelaide Register newspaper, after reading it over only a very few times. This, it is said, he succeeded in doing without difficulty, and many other feats of memory of a like character he also accomplished. He was, as all our Masonic readers know, one of the highest on the splendid roll of Freemasons. He was a loving husband, and a most affectionate father ; a staunch friend, and no one's enemy ; a sterling, upright man in all conditions of life, and one whose memory will long remain green amongst those who knew him. We venture to say that few in the town where he lived for the past years of his life will fail to pay the last tribute of respect by following his remains to the grave ; and no well known figure will be more missed in Hokitika than that of him to whom we now refer. The sorrow that will be felt in Hokitika will be largely shared in elsewhere, both in this and the adjacent Colonies, where also he had many friends." Referring to his Masonic career in this Colony, the same paper says . — " How the crowded assemblages of the artistically decorated halls, in days gone by, paid homage to this venerable patriot of the craft ; how, at the banquets that followed his Masonic labors, the walls resounded with plaudits to the revered old gentleman after quaint speech and jovial song whose memory now recals." Reference is made to the ceremonies conducted by him in Dunedin, Wellington, and Auckland, and throughout the Colony, and the notice concludes by saying that—" Outside the craft, likewise, Mr Lazar's name was a household word. From Westport to Ross the sad news of his death will be spoken of in every house, and all who can be present to witness the last ceremony on his behalf will be sure to attend from miles around."