LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ST. JOHN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 20, 15 May 1876, Page 2

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ST. JOHN.

A well-timed tribute to the memory of this gallant officer is paid by a writer in the " Timaru Herald," who seems to have been well acquainted with the subject of his brief biographical sketch. He says : "In the old lighting clays in the North Island, ten or eleven years ago, St. John performed a series of exploits against the natives such as woukl do no discredit to the heroes of romance, and earned the reputation of being—without one exception —the bravest man in the Colonial forces. His utter disregard of danger, or rather his absolute love;' of it, led to his being constantly chosen whenever any particularly desperate work had to be done ; and he never on a single occasion showed in any-way. that he knew what fear was. An officer under whose command he was, and who, for certain reasons, had a strong peps'oiial antipathy towards him, was once speaking* against 1 him-. in unmeasured terms. ' But you surely, admit his courage," said one.of his liearers. " Courage!" exclaimed the officer, " If I were tb tell him to climb 'up that wall single-handed, and meet certain-death at the top, he would go without a question, and i-eally enjoy it.' This inordinate passion for military adventure, indeed, sometimes rendered St. John rather an embarrassment to his superiors or to the Government, for there was no knowing what complications liis dare-devil dash might give rise to. The gallant fellow was consequently kept very much in the background, ever since the Colonial troops assumed, under Sir Donald M'Lean's philo-Maori regime, tlie character of police. Sir Donald madd St. John, a sort of private secretary to himself, in the Native Office, and it was a miserable thing to see the poor Colonel, like a chained lion, dancing attendance on one who certainly was never accused of too much pluck. Colonel, St. John, in addition to being a spleinditl soldier, was also very accomplished in the softer arts. He wrote an admirable little work on certain phases of life in New Zealand, ;and with great literary powers and wonderfully versatile tatente, jnight : easily hay£> succeeded as a writer, or indeed in almost any 'other lifte'spf ; :life he "had .choseii /to adopt. Instead ofdoing«o, however,* ■eiid of his strange career lias, been v-hian^-' git 3he» 1 Newcaout ;'a ' _ . . . hack. Fencing Wire, all circuna- . Best Portland :. .vfoot,. an<s served

Anne's illustrious, but eccentric Minister. In many respects tlie character of the late Colonel St. John closely resembled that of liis celebrated ancestor. He had the same brilliant parts, the same unsteadiness of pra-pose, the same buoyancy of disposition; nor would the histoyy of his life much spoil the comparison. His vicissitudes were not less marked than those of the author of the Peace of Utrecht; and those who know what he was really capable of, do not doubt -that larger stage he might have acted as prominent a part.