OBITUARY

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6893, 26 April 1929, Page 6

OBITUARY

MRS. ISABELLA SLY, AGED 80. At seven o'clock on the morning o£ Auzac Day, as if to commemorate her long years of personal service to others, “Auntie Cozie,” as she was affectionately known, passed peacefully and painlessly over that thin border line which marks the only difference between life and death.

After a quick passage of 132 days from London her parents, who hailed from the Highland glens, landed on the sandy beach at Pipitca. point in Wellington harbour on Christmas morning, IS-iO. There, a scant score of silent pakclia greeted the hundred passengers with a hearty hand grip, while nigh upon a thousand dusky skinned Maori men, women and children chanted a welcome “Ilaerc mai, hacrc mai, c to Manubiri Ki to whare o aku Tapuna ’ ’ (Welcome, welcome, our visitors to the home of our ancestors). Thereupon man to man, woman to woman, in tho ceremonial “Hongi” flat black and arched whito noses met in token of lifelong friendships, many of which were unbroken for three generations. Born in 1848, the deceased lady lived for over SO years in Riangitikei, Wangachu, Pohangina and Manawatu, where her personal ministrations and private benefactions in sorrow, sickness, or poverty will bo long remembered. She visited tho homes of the poor, and became intimately acquainted with their difficulties, and was thus able to relievo their most pressing necessities. Embarrassments were avoided by persuading them that she had been led into the purchase of supplies of clothing, furniture or foodstuffs at a bargain sale, and fqr which she had no room in her own home. Even tho simple-minded Maori people near whom she lived for so many years saw through the pretences by which their friend Hipora (Isabella) “lent" them money and other necessities, the return of which she neither sought nor accepted. The absence of drugs and doctors enabled her to acquire a rare skill from Mother Nature and her Maori friends in the making and use of “gentles and simples” in the form of herbal remedies upon which the old school of apothecaries relied with so much success. Eight up to the day when the haemorrhage occurred which caused her death she walked the usual daily rounds of several miles to visit her many grateful “patients.” She leaves three sons, Messrs Alfred Richards, Palmerston North; George Richards, Johannesburg; and Frederick Richards, Kaikohe; and three daughters, Mrs. Spinlcy. Auckland; Mrs. Blake, Auckland; and Mrs. Arlidge, Woodville. Mr. Harold Sly, the wellknown Rugby footballer, was a stepson, and Miss Sly, of Sydney, is a step-, daughter. There arc also 17 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. If the purpose and meaning of her life could bo put into words, this is how they would do it —“Do your work as well as you can, and be kind.”

ME. MICHAEL ENRIGHT. The death of Mr. Michael Enright, which occurred at his residence, Bryant street, yesterday, removes another of the band of early pioneers of tho Manawatu. Deceased, who had reached the ripe age of 80 years, was born in County Limerick, Ireland, and migrated to New Zealand with his wife and eldest son in 1874 making tlie voyage in ilte ship Ocean Mail. His first residence was in Nelson and from there he moved to Karamea (West Coast) for' a short time. In 1876 he came to the North Island settling in Ashkurst when the district was practically all in bush. A 1 few years later he went farming at Piripiri (Pohangina Valley) when tho block was first opened up for settlement. Eight years ago he retired to • Palmerston North, the farm being carried on by a son. Deceased’s life as a pioneer settler was an arduous ouc. For a short time ho worked on the roads in addition to farming and carried mails between A shhurst and Piripiri, using coach and packhorsc. Four sons and one daughter survive him, Mrs. Enright having died many years ago. The sons are Messrs James (Frankton), Daniel (Palmerston North), John (Piripiri) and Edward Enright (Blenheim) and tho daughter Mrs. Hutchison (Mastcrton). The funeral takes place to-merrow at 2.30 p.m.