OBITUARY.

Colonist, Volume XLVII, Issue 11248, 3 February 1905, Page 2

OBITUARY.

JOHN WALLIS BARNICOAT. Death has removed from us a man who, from the first days of the settlement, did good work in the land, and who has left an example which may be followed through time with advantage, one who loved work not merely to benefit himself, who gave I: his services for his adopted country, for his church, and his fellows, and whose uprightness and kindliness of heart won him the esteem fof all. John Wallis Barnicoat was_born at Falmouth, England, in June, 181*1— nearly ninety-one years ago— and on leaving school was articled to a civil engineer and surveyor. He subsequently practised his profession in England, but in, 1841 he left the Old Country, taking j passage by the ship Lord Auckland arrived at Nelson on the 23rd February, 1842, with the late Mr T. Thompson, and for some time these two gentlemen were in partnership as surveyors. In March, 1842, Mr ' Barnicoat started business in Nelson as surveyor and civil engineer, and ' was engaged by the New Zealand Company. Soon he was hard atlwork j surveying and subdividing the lands ' in the Waimea and Moutere districts. i A little later he went to the Wairau, and was present st wahat is known a j the Wairau Massacre, which occurred ! in June, 1843, and of the forty-eight , white men present he was one of twenty-seven who escaped. In 1844, . in conjuncttion with Mr Tuckett, he - was engaged in the survey of New | Edinburgh, nowJDunedin, while in 1846 Jhe was exploring the Pelorus. i Three years later he was appointed one of two arbitrators on claims by the New Zealand Land Oompany, . and in 1850 was sent by the Governl ment, with Mr John Tinline, to find I a route between Nelson and the Wairau. He was elected, unopposed, a ' member of the first Provincial Counr cii of Nelson in 1853, and for many years was Speaker of the Council a ' post he held with dignity and 1 ability. From the earliest days he took a keen interest in the matter » of education, and not only was be (• one of the Trustees under the Nel- , son Trust Funds Act, but v*as one of • the first Governors of Nelson Col- ! lege, a position he held till quite recently, when, owing to increasing deafness, he resigned, to the regret f of his colleagues. It may be mentioned here, too, that the College T Governors, on learning of his death, I yesterady passed a resolution ex--9 pressing their estimation of the good work "'he had done, and condoling with his relatives. Mr Barni--1 coat was also a member of the Edu- ' cation Board of the Province, and for ' most of the time its Chairman. As early as 1846 he became a Trustee of the Richmond Institute, and many • were the local institutions for whoße • advantage he labored. In church matters," too, he always took a keen it interest. He was a member of the 1 old Archdeaconry Board in 1856, and in 1859 was a member of the first 3 Nelson Diocesan Synod, and was ape pointed assessor of the Bishop's - Court. He was also a member of 2 the Standing Committee, and Trustee of the Diocesan and Waimea Trusts. Ho was also a member of 3 the second General Synod, which met J in Nelson in 1862, and from 1875 to 1897 he was Diocesan Treasurer. Mr " Barnicoat did good work as a memf ber of local bodies, and particularly i as a member and Chairman of the 7 Waimea County Council, while in larger politics he served for many t years as a Legislative Councilor, 1 thereby earning the title of Honor- ! able. While he interested himself in 7 public affairs, his chief personal des light was in the more domestic side . of life. His first interest was, 1 naturally enough, in his family, and his picturesque and original home. g At the rear of his house, which faced _ the sea, he had planted a grove of oakg, and it was not without aome x pride that about a quarter of a I century ago he declared after he had been missed for some days that he j. had been laid up through injury in falling from an oak tree that he T himself had planted. The fact was J that he had been lopping a branch \ from a ladder that slipped. We are \ unable to state the date of Mr Barni- , coat's -marriage, but it was in the x early days, fand by his marriage he p was connected with the late Inspec- , tor of Schools, Mr W. C. Hodgson, r who became his brother-in-law. The 1 deceased gentleman leaves surviving 5 his two sons, Mr W. Barnicoat, of t Wanganui, and Mr J. Barnicoat, of Palmerston North, and three , daughters, Mrs Kirk, of Petone, Miss i Constance, who was private secrej tary to Mr W. T. Stead in London, 3 and Miss Barnicoat, who has re- { mained at home and tended her [ father. , So estimable was the life of the , deceased pioneer that we can only , rejoice that he was permitted to be with us so long, but, nevertheless, his decease has caused a blank in , his home circle,and in our sympathy with the afflicted we can only say •■ that theirs is the satisfaction that the deceased gentleman acquitted himself nobly. i