DEATH OF MR ARCHIBALD BARR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11198, 22 August 1898, Page 3

DEATH OF MR ARCHIBALD BARR.

We regret to have to record the death of1 another-of the fast-decreasing'band of our earliest settlers in the person of Mr Archibald Barr* first chief postmaster for Otagd, who has passed away in the fiftieth year of .almost continuous residence in this provincial district. ■.Mr Barr, who was a native of Glasgow, arrived in Ota^o by the ship Mariner in June, 1849. Prior to leaving the old country he had-been employed in & large wholesale manufacturing house, 6ut after landing in the colony he devoted his attention to the farming of land in company with- his brother. -The land he took up was -acquired by liiin under the New Zealand Company's terms of i purchase, Mr Barr having brought but orders I ..of choice from London. It was at the HalfWay Bush that he selected- his suburban land, | and there he married; but after some years ! ie sold out and removed to New South Wales, I y/here he obtained an appointment as-assistdnt ! clerk jn the Audit Office of the Treasury doj partinont in Sydney, \but'afterwards ex--1 changed to Murrurundi, about ,200 miles in I the interior, where he performed the duties of -several public departments^ including those of clerk of petty sessions. In 1856 he returned to,J3unedin,'and here his first wife died. "In j 1857 he was appointed clerk to the Customs I and Post Office in Dunedin, under Mr Logic. I Upon the separation of the Postal and Cus- ! Toms department in 1860 Mr Barr was apj pointed to the charge of the former with the ■ title of postmaster for Otago. With the disi eovery of the goldfields in 1861 an immense '. increase in the work of the Post Office was j experienced— so much so, indeed, that it is j recorded that* on one occasion there was such ! an accumulation of mails in Dunedin that the j postmaster for three days and two. nights did j not leave th"c office even for meals, taking his j^ sleep in snatches upon the piles of newspapers | that were heaped upon the floor. The conseI.Quence of the rush was,' too, a demand for j district post offices and for postal communieaI tion, and Mr Barr, dooming it absolutely i necessary in the interest of the public service j that a personal knowledge of the various j localities should bo obtained by him before j the opening of any office or the institution i of any mail route, undertook long journeys j with that object in view, riding frequently i through unoccupied country which was unproj vided with the modern conveniences of roads | or bridges, and in many cases he. acted on his j own authority in establishing country post j offices without waiting for the "sanction of the ! Government; For 31 years Mr Barr held; ' with great arcdit to himself, his position as !/?hief postmaster for Otago, and during por- | tion of that time he acted also. a,s Colonial ! sub-treasurer of the province of Otago, while i he conducted the agency of the Government i Life Insurance department during the first ! four years of its existence. In all those long years of service Mr Barr asked for only one I holiday, and that was granted him by appointing him mail agent on the steamer that carried the secoifd outward mail t^ San Francisco—an office that he found anything but a sinecure. When he retired from the service in 1888 it was with an enviable record of conscientious and faithful work, and he carried with him into his retirement the best wishes of the officers of his department and of the public generally. Under him some of the officers who have since taken a high position in" the colonial eervice were trained, among them being the present chief secretary of the Postal department. Mr Barr always took a lively interest" in church matters, and he took an active part in the opening both o£ the old Knox Church and the Moray place Congre- ; gational Church in each of which he was an office-bearer. He was also closely associated with numerous philanthropic movements. Mr Barr was twice "married, and the only child of his first marriage is now the widow of the late Fred. B. Wilson, solicitor, of Tapanui. •In 1858 he married the eldest daughter of the late Mr George Hepburn, another jof the earliest settlers, by which marriage ho had one son and six daughters; one of j the latter.dying in infancy, and four being now married.

. . - -V : .... We regret to have to record the death of1 another-of the fast-decreasing-band of our earliest settlers in the person of Mr Archibald Barr* first chief postmaster for Otagd, who has passed away in the fiftieth year of .almost continuous residence in this provincial district. ■.Mr Barr, who was a native of Glas- • gow, arrived in Ota^o by the ship Mariner in June, 1849. Prior to leaving the old country jhe had-been employed in & large wholesale