OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10652, 13 May 1895, Page 3

OBITUARY.

An old and inspected servant of the Lyttelton Times Company died on Saturday, April 27, Mr James Cliff, formerly overseer to the Canterbury Times and Star room, who hud been employed in tho office for nearly thirty-two years. Mr Cliff, who was fifty-seven years of ago, was born at Camborne, Cornwall, where he learned tha printing trade, and for a time carried on buaaesa na printer and bookbinder. In 1563 he came to Naw Zealand in the ship Accrington, arriving at Lyttelton in September of that year. He was at oneo employed in the office of tha Lyttelton Times', which was then published three times a week. His connection with the office waa maintained unbroken till hie death. Having had somo musical training, ho became a member of tha Christchurch Musical Society, and sang at several concerts in the old clsys. Ho also took an . active interest in church matters, was a member .of the congregations of St Luka's and Sfc John’s churches, and eervsd »3 a vestryman. Hia fatal’■ illness began about five weeks ago, but his friends did not deem him in immediate danger till a week ago, whan ho took a turn for the worse, and cank rapidly. Ho passed away peacefully aboat 8.30 p.su, on Saturday. Ia private life Mr Cliff was highly and deservedly respected, for in all its relations ho was moat estimable. He leaves a widow, two daughters and six sons. Tho respect iu which ho was hold by hia late Mlow.employes and others waa shown by tho large attendance at hia funeral oa Tuesday. Upwards of two hundred parsons followed hia remains to their last resting place. Tho coffin was carried from bis late residence to tho Berbadoes Street cemetery by employes of the Lyttelton Times End Press Companies. Amongst those foiiowing wars the Chairman of Directors and the Manager of the Lyttelton Times Company, a very largo number o I his foilow-employea, as well as roproß«ntatteco of sill tho” printing offices in town, and a large number of friends. The service at tha grave was conducted by tho Yen Archdeacon Lingard. A number of wreaths and crosses covered tho coffin, including floral tributes from The Star, Canterbury Times and Lyttelton Times chapels, the directors hud manager, the commercial and lithographic, the jobbing department snd tho literary staffs of tho Lyttelton Times and Star.

THOMAS CASS,

To some of tha present generation tho name of Cass is associated only with a river and a halting place on the West Coast Road, but to those whose memories carry them back to tho sixties or earlier the name awakens reminiscences of the days—stirring days, in many respects—when' Canterbury and tha colony itself were in the making. So completely, however, had the bearer of that name passed out cf eight that some, even of those who knew him intimately, may learn with sarprisa that it was only on April 17 that ho passed sway from earth. About noon on April 17 Thomas Cars died, in hia seventy-eighth year, at the residence of bio stepson, Mr C. Hood-Williams, with whom he had lived since tho death of his wife in 1837. During that timo ho waa practically confined to the house, and for the last few yean waa unable to laavo his room. Asthma waa tho principal ailment from which he suffered, and thia was, doubtless, aggravated by the harduhipa which he underwent in hio younger days. Born in Yorkshire in 1817, he was educated at Christ’s Hospital—the famous Bluecoat School —and was for four years on the Royal Mathematical Foundation of that institution. When a youth he wont to sea, aud served for three years in the East India trade. He was afterwards educated as an architect emd surveyor, and was then employed as assistant in tha Tithe Commission Office, Somerset House. Early in 1841 ho wao appointed by tho late Lord John Bussell, then Secretary o! State for tho Colonies, assistant surveyor in the newly-founded colony of Naw Zealand, at a salary of £2OO a year. Ha left England in the ship Prince Rupert, which four monfchc after her departure was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope. Ho lost a great portion of hia outfit in the wreck, and did not arrive in New Zealand till the end of 1841, nine months after he had left tho Old Country. Ha was employed in laying out part of the city of Auckland, and waa afterwards occupied for some timo in surveying for the Land Commissioners’ Court at tho Bay of Islands and in the district to tho north of it. He also surveyed the town of Kororarlka, now Russel), and explored tho country to the northward for lines of road to "Wbangaroa. Ha was subsequently employed iu surveying the North Shore of Auckland, and again at the Bay of Islands until none the end of 1844. After two years and four months’ service ho was suddenly discharged ou the reduction of tho Survey Department. His experience at sea now proved useful to him, and bo became cor,!'. d a n<i a.f 1 erwa-ds chief met' c“ ‘!i Colonial Government brig Vicioria. While in hor ho served against the Natives at the destruction of Eororarika ,in 1845, and afterwards ia iha Cook Strait

war of 1846, aseinst Sauparalia aad Eong’ihaeata, of Wairau msssacre notoriety. Ho also had tlss task of conveying to the North. Island the fii’at who infested what is bow Canterbury. These scoundrels, three in number, had stuck up and robbed Maser a G-rasnwooA’d Btafiioa at Purau. They then went to tho plains to stick up Messrs Deans Brea/ place at Eiccarfcon, but Messrs Dean Bros, ware warned by the Messrs Greenwood, and stood a eic£Q for three days, at the end of which the robbers decamped. They were pursued; 020 met bin death and the others were arrested. In 1817 Mr Cass returned to England to urge on tho Colonial Office a claim for compensation for tho Icoa of his position as surveyor. Whether, as the result of this application or not, ia not clear, but next year ho was appointed assistant to Cop tain Thomas, agent and chief surveyor for the Canterbury Association, and arrived at Fort Cooper, in December, 1848, Ho was a kind of second in command of that band of pioneers, including Messrs S, HcwlingE,, E, Jollie, John Boys, C. 0. Torlesso and Gollan, by whom tho early surveys of this part of Now Zealand ware carried out. Of that band Mr Hewlinga is now the sola survivor. After conducting • sundry explorations on tho plains. and making a survey of Lyttelton harbour, he was engaged in raalricg the trigonometrical and topographical survey of the country preparatory to the arrival of . the “Pilgrims.” The only homestead in those days was tliat of the Deans r.u Bicoartoa.; and tho explorers endured toils and hardships such os ure scarcely dreamed of now. In January, 1851, Mr Caes succeeded Captain Thomas as chief surveyor, and held that office, with the title of chief surveyor of the province, until March, 1867, when his health, undermined- by hardships, gave way, and he retired on a pension. The extent of his work as surveyor and explorer ia shown by the number of times his same recurs in the nomenclature of the district—a river on the West Coast Soad, a peak in the Port Hills, and a bay in Lyttelton Harbour, have ■ .all been named after him. He took a prominent part ia tho politics of old provincial days, and was returned asi one of the members for Christchurch in the first Provincial Council of 1857. Ho belonged to tho Executive Council., under Mr William Sofiioa Moorhouso, and also under Mr Samuel Bealoy. Ea woe a member of the Canterbury Waste Lauda Board for a period of ton years. In 1867 ho visited England, and while there succeeded tho late Mr Crosbie Ward as immigration agent for tho province. In July, 38(18, immigration was for a time suspended by the Provincial Government; and ho returned to Canterbury, where! for another three years he served on the Land Board. He was & member of tho; Church of England, and' wan many years' ago oxlo of the churchwardens of St Michael’s pariah. After his final resignation from the Land Board, and especially sir.ce tho death of his wife, he lived 1 in. retirement, but esteemed and cherished by a circle of old friends, that included Mr S. Hewlingo and Mr John Msrshmsn, and many others, Ha w.aa of a most kindly and charitable disposition, and kept up his benevolence till the end; a donation of hia to Mr Herrick's Home being acknowledged only the day before he died. He married, in 1656, tho widow c£ an early settler, Mr David Theodora Williams, but leaves no children. Ac showing how few lives are required to link us with a remote past, it is of interest to note that Mr Caaa was acquainted, ia the early days of the colony, with a very old Maori of Mercury Bay, who asserted that, when a boy, be bad Been Captain Cook, and who supported bis claim with a detailed description of tho great navigator’s appearance, dress and astronomical observations.