OBITUARY.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13892, 24 December 1913, Page 4

OBITUARY.

•By the death jO f Mr T. M. Hamilton anotiier old ami respected resident has passed away. Mr Hamilton was bori m London, and after finishing his apprenticeship at the famous metal works of Sir Charles Christy, he made up his mmd to accept th 3 inducements then offering in the colonies, and ho left Xondon in the ship Cameo in 1&58 tor Canterbury. Some two years after his arrival in ~ .Lytteltoii lie took hie passage in the brig Hel>e for tho advancing town of Sydney, in the hope of getting employment in his trade, gasfittiug and plumbing. Shortly after leaving the New Zealand coast a heavy ga;e was met that severely strained the vessel, and at that time' Nelson was the only port in New Zealand 5 wnere a large vessel could be- raised high and dry. cm account of the great range of the tide. The old brig duly arrived at Nelson in a sinking condition, and during the stay for repairs Mr Hamilton was so attracted by the climate and conditions of the place that he made up his mind to permanently, reside here. At that time, when the gold diggings were in fuli swing, and tho price of produce was good, he took up land at the French Pass to start farming ,but eventually sold out and returned to Nelson.

The means of getting produce to the. market was by small sailing vessels and open boats, and it was on one of the trips in an open boat from the Pass that he nearly lost his life. On passing the lighthouse on a very dark night, it was thought that it was "high water slack," and an attempt was made to pull over the Boulder Bank instead of going by tho way of the usual entrance. The'boat struck the Bank in a tidal current running like a mill phnce, with theresult that the bottom was soon stove in, and the craft was swept into the harbour into deep water, with the unhappy occupants clinging to the keel. A baby, its- mother, and one man lost their lives, and Mr Hamilton was rescued some considerable time after-wa-rds in a state of collapse-by the late Mr Kidson, the lighthouse keeper. For many years Mr Hamilton kept the old. well-known Nelson oyster room^i in Bridge street. He never married, and for years past he lived in retirement. His only brother, the Rev. J. Hamilton, died recently in Bendigo. •