THE LATE MR D.P SINCLAIR.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 230, 28 September 1917, Page 4

THE LATE MR D.P SINCLAIR.

TRIBUTE FROM THE BOROUGH

COUNCIL.

When the Borough Council had 1 assembled last night, the Mayor (Mr j J. J. Corry) rose and referred in feeling terms to the death of the lato Mr David Patrick Sinclair, who J joined the municipal staff on March 20th, 1903, and so had at the time ] of his death completed 14-J years of j service. Mr Corry said that no member of the present Council had attained municipal honors at the time of Mr Sinclair's appointment, the Mayor being Mr R. McGallum, and his associates Councillors Ching, Clouston, James, Macey, Penny, Priddle, Purkiss^ Scott, and Smale. Of these, Councillors Ching, Clouston, and Purkiss had joined the gi-eat majority. Councillor Smale had left the district. The rest of the Councillors named were not now in municipal life, and Mr McCallum was the Member for the district. It would therefore be seen that during the whole of the career of the present Councilors, extending over various terms, they had all had the advan-

tage of Mr Sinclair's assistance in the carrying out of their municipal work. In alluding to this help as a great advantage, he was sure he was voicing the entire consensus of feeling of the Council. Mr Sinclair was a man with a very high sense of duty, and he faithhilly carried out that ideal in his municipal work, to the great benefit of the citizens of Blenheim, and particularly to the Councillors associated with him. One could always be sure of any statement made by the late Town Clerk. He was the soul of truth and honor, and his death had left a gap that would be hard to fill in any case, but would never be filled in the affection and esteem of the Councillors, who ever took to him any problem which desired elucidation. It was perhaps due to the late Town Clerk more than anybody else that the present Borough Council Chambers were erected, and in numerous other instances his zeal and interest in his work were abundantly evidenced. He was ever and always ready to place his services at the disposal of the Councillors and ratepayers, and in his death they feel the loss of a personal friend. The Mayor added that he had been personally associated with the deceased in many other than municipal activities—notably on the Recruiting Board, the Efficiency Board, and at the departure and welcoming back of returned soldiers —and he "could bear testimony to his whole-souled patriotism and his desire to do all in his power to help the great national cause. He moved that the sympathy of the Council be conveyed' to the beroaved widow and young son in thoir irreparable loss. A letter from Councillor B. «T. Cooke, who was absent from Blenheim, was road, in the course of which he said: "Nothing that I could say would add to the common knowledge and appreciation of the special qualifications that were possessed by the late Mr Sinclair, of the unfailing willingness with which' he exercised his talents in the service of the Council, and of the consistent, thorough, and unsparing manner in which ho discharged his duties; but T would deem it a favor if your Worship would allow me herewith to associate myself with my colleagues' keen sense of loss that the municipality has sustained, and with whatever joint mark of respect this feeling will prompt. I would like, too, to acknowledge what I owe to the late \ Mr Sinclair in my individual" capacity as a Councillor. I have a grateful' remembrance, of the .readiness with which, and the extent to which, he helped me with information and ' advice, and of the courtesy that he extended to me in the handling of committee detail. The late Mr Sinclair had many claims, personal and official, on the esteem of the members of the Council, and one uses no empty form of words in saying that his place will be indeed hard to fill." Feeling tributes weie paid to the memory of the deceased by Councillor E.*S. Parker- (Deputy Mayor), who seconded tho motion, and Councillors F. Birch, W. Carr, W. D. Pike, A. Curry, J. A. Leslie, W. E. Gascoigne, and M. McKenzie.

The Council, respectfully standing, confirmed the motion, and it then adjourned as a mark of respect to the deceased.