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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4220, 29 September 1874, Page 2

Now that dust has returned to dust, and the grave has closed over his mortal remains, a brief space may be permitted for a few words of remembrance of one who for many years occupied a prominent position in our then little community. Robert Rodger Strang, originally a solicitor practising in Glasgow, and member of a Volunteer company (none of whom were under six feet in height), about the end of 1839 left Scotland with his wife and daughter, arriving in this Colony shortly after the advent of the first ship. As did others, he built a house for himself in the town called Britannia, at petoni, which was afterwards abandoned for the present site of Wellington, where ho built the residence'he has since occupied. Entering the Government service, he became Registrar 'of the" Supreme Court, on its establishment. Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Registrar of Deeds, Official Administrator of Intestate Estates, and in addition to the duties of these offices, was charged with the correspondence attending the inauguration of the Supremo Court in Nelson, Dunedin, and Lyttelton. With the progress of the Colony these duties became divided, and Mr. Strang retained those of Registrar of the Supreme Court. Eor

many years, his punctuality in attendance upon the duties of his office passed into a proverb. In private life he was a genial host, to whose hearty welcome and enjoyable fireside the fact of being a Government officer from another part of the Colony, or a Scotsman or connection of any kind with Scotland, was a certain passport. Holding the power of Attorney of the Procurator of the Church of Scotland, he represented in the Colony the tempc • rality of that Church and by his liberal bestowal of time and money mainly contributed to secure for it the benefit of the endowments which it possesses in this Province. Liberal lie was almost to a fault, and many who read these lines will remember the genial kindly hearty snrile which more than aught else enhanced the satisfaction of those who were his guests. Take him for all in all it will he long ere we shall look upon his like again. He died on the 22nd instant, in his 79th year. His wife and daughter had been many years lost to him.

The trade now springing up between the Australian Colonies and the ports of the Eastern Seas would seem to he becoming of considerable importance* In it, however. New Zealand has no share, and, so far, does not appeal* likely to'have any. The Torres Strait mail steamers, making the run each way once a month, starting from Hong Kong and making Melbourne their terminus, call at so many ports on their way down for cargoes of sugar, rice, &c., that they usually arrive with full cargoes, while they do not return empty. The Dutch Company, which send their vessels down from Batavia by the west coast, returning by the east coast, calling at north-west and south Australian ports before reaching Melbourne, have also begun their service with good hopes of profit. After two or three experimental trips they have now begun a regular service with new, large, and powerful vessels specially built for the trade. The first of these, the At jell, was to leave Melbourne on -her return trip shortly after the sailing of the Tararua, and would leave Hobson's Bay all but a full ship, with Sydney, Brisbane, and other ports at which to call. It is pleasant to see these new enterprises prospering, and it would be still more so if New Zealand had a share in the trade.

While so little is doing in Westland, Nelson, and the Southern Provinces to promote coalmining, the subject appears to be receiving a large amount of practical attention in Victoria. Several companies have been formed in Melbourne of late to work coal mines in New South Wales and Tasmania, as well as in searching for the mineral in Victoria Itself. The last formed—or rather, proposed to be incorporated—is the “Australasia Coal Company,” with a capital of £IOO,OOO, formed to work a block of 1094 acres of coal land on Winding Creek, within seven miles of the Port of Newcastle, only a small portion of which is freehold, and the refct selections under the mineral clauses of the Land Act of that Colony. The first name on the list of the provisional directory is that of Mr. J. G. Francis, the exPremier of Victoria. It is curious, in the face of what has been doing lately in Melbourne in this direction, that so much difficulty should have been found in floating the Wanganui West, and the Para Para Companies, the first of which proposes to deal with coal alone, and the latter looked to its coalfields for not a s nail share of its expected profits. Has there been a lack of local encouragement ?