LATE SIR JAMES BURNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18497, 6 September 1923, Page 9

LATE SIR JAMES BURNS.

FRIEND OF THE ORPHAN. TOUCHING , SCENE AT FUNERAL. [from OTTR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] : _ ' ~ SYDNEY. Aus. 28. ' There have been few more impressive scones in Sydney for many years than the funeral, amid the peace and the beauty of ' the- countryside of Sir James Burns, chairman and managing director of Burns, Philp, and Co.' As a" philanthropist, it might be said. of Sir James Burns, as it was said of Sir Christopher Wren, "If you seek a monument, loo'k around." His monument stands to-day, arid will stand for all time, in tho magnificent Burnsido Homes for orphans, gracing either side oi the ... country road which leads :to tho stately old place, Gowan Brae, which had been Ids home for, many years out beyond Parramatta. ...'.\j/ • : - :"■'■■■.','_;,.'[- Set amid a great wooded estate, and suggestive of some old baronial home o? Scottish demesne, one fi*rds tucked away beneath, towering trees the little private family cemetery. ,'■. There, in that pictur-esque-little God's acre, rests Sir James Burns. The brawny , pipers, playing tho old Scottish laments, broke the calm of the countryside with their plaintive notes, as thev headed the funeral, and along the road' the 500 or. more orphans from the homes were line'd up on either side to witness the. passing'of the man who had been everything to. them. ;. .- .'. '_'• ; Among those little folks, boys and girls, there was hardly a ; dry eye. All that Sir. James Burns had been to them came back to them'as the. old hearse trundled past, behind, the Scottish' pipers, and tears welled up into their eyes and streamed down their cheeks. Many of them.sobbed bitterly. It was a touching little scena, that moved not a; few,) of the unemotional business community .that paid Sir James Burns their last respects. - The great hali of the old home was-blotted, out .by magnificent- wreaths before the' funeral moved on to;tho graveside. ■ ■■■■'/■;■..,'