OBITUARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2499, 5 February 1902, Page 44

OBITUARY.

Our S(. Batbans corespondent telegraphsthat residents of that district have learnt*! with deepjregret of tfc? death, early on Friday morning, of Air WJih'aiiv Thurlow, yf the Vulran Hotel, St. Bathani, familiarly known throughout the whole of Central Otago as " Uncle." He w:w one of the most popular and rcspaotpd rr-sidenbj vi ihe district, and had "been one .of the identities of St. Bathsus pud the Cambrians for over 30 years. An affection of tho heart was the caiiae of d*ath.

Information wai roceivfd in town last evening that Mi«s Chv.'srina White, for many years matron of the Union street School, hal died at Lake Marmpoui:.

llr TcJford M'Lsiinan, who stands second on the list of the University junior scholarships, is a eon oi Mr K. M'Lennan, manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Lyltelton. H« was educated at Tapanui School. wh»»re he obtained one of the Education Board's junior rcho!arship3, and on his removal to Chripichuroh won a bursary there, and now stands in a good po«ition in the University scholarships — a fact of which his old teachers are very proud.

Not a few of the colonists in Otago and I Oancprbury will learn with deepest regret | that Mr Abraham Blaoltmore, for many : years connpeted with the Railway Department of this town, died on Wednesday morning at his residence, Oamaru, after a prolonged and painful illness. The deceased gentleman, who was born in Devonshiie and who had bepn acting as engineer in the Channel Islands in conncofcion with the construction of some bridges, arrived in the colony and settled in Christen-arch about 30 yeara ago. Five years nftorwards he received the appointment of locomotive foreman, in which oapacicy he acted in succession in Timaru, Dunedin, and Christohurch. Several years ago he retired to his farm ai Makikihi, but his wife having been thrown on a bed of sickness the family removed to Oamaru in order that she might receive better attention. All expedients, lioweyer, proved unavailing, and Mrs Blackmore died. From that time — about tKree years asro^Mr Blackmore, who had appeared to be blessed with the strongest of constitutions, himself failed in health, and an insidious malady having taken hold of him he gradually, though at first imperceptibly, 6anlft He leaves a. daughter, who is in Oamaru, and who assisted in nursing him during his sickness, and three eons. One of his 6ons is on the clerical staff of the Railway Department in Western Australia, another is an engineer in the same State, and the third 13 a doctor, of whom we have published accounts from tinjp- to time, who has been Plague Commissioner in India, China, -and South Africa, and who is now employed as plague expert in Turkey, at the instigation of the Sultan. — Oamaru Mail. ji-.Mrs T. Handley, who went to Coromapdel about 40 years Bgo, being the first whitewoman to arrive In tho district, died at her residence, Ring's road, Ooromandel, last Thursday morning, having attained the age of 84 years. The late Mr Jas. Chalmers, who passed away at Lawrence, where he resided for many years, a few months ago, had by no means been in good health for some time, 4&d &i dMife WM &ot aUogethet •"Mffir'if'l

He was a very old colonist, and was highly esteemed by all who Jcnew him. He, wasj proverbial for his integrity -and uprightness of purpose, -and befriended many during the course of his long residence -in the vicinity of Lawrence. He landed in "Tictoria in the early fifties, when quite a youth, having left his native village of Airdree, in Lanarkshire, to seek his fortune in the colonies. He tried his luck on many of the famous Australian goldfields, with varying success. He was at Ararat when the rush first broke out, and thence tramped the 400 miles of rough country to Lambing Flat, and was also at Red* bark, Lamplow, and other famous digging districts. In 1861 Mr Chalmers decided to try his fortune elsewhere, and made for Tuapeka, then the newest Eldorado. He speedily left there for the Dunstan when thd rush , set in, and there did fairly^ well. J He was subsequently at the breaking out" 6F Conroy? and Fraser's River,, and in. 1863 b^ was at May's Diggings. Thence he went, to Wetherstones, where he became the proprietor of the Washington Hotel. Six yeare afterwards he tooK the Halfway House Hotel, where he remained a fixture until he came to Lawrence in 1879, and settled in the Royal George Hotel, which he conducted up to the time of his death. Whpe in Lawrence he filled many public positions with fidelity, and was, during his life, an enthusiastic and prominent Mason. He was one of the oldest members of the Tuapeka Jockey Club, and was known as an ardent bowler far and near. Kind hearted to an excessive degree, he was ever ready to assist the distressed and afflicted, and his death was regretted by all who knew his true worth. Mr Chalmers left * widow and a son, Mr Jno. > Chalmers, and also a daughter, Mrs John Tyson, with whom universal sympathy was felt at the loss they had sustained.