AN OLD GUIDE'S DEATH.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15259, 22 December 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN OLD GUIDE'S DEATH.

WOMAN'S- TERRIBLE ORDEAL

The party which made the periodical voyage round the lighthouses with the HJnemoa last month had a sad story to tell. They made the discovery of Mr Sutherland's death when the vessel called at Milford Sound. Several o£ them went ashore to pay a call upon the old guide, and when they reached his two-roomed whare a pitia;ble scene awaited them. In one room they found Mrs Sutherland feeble and spent after a long period of anxiety and mental distress. In the other room her husband was lying dead. It appeared from what the distracted widow was able to tell them that his death occurred a month and three day 3 before. She had lacked strength to inter the body or even remove it from the house, and the conditions when the Hinemoa arrived may be imagined. Mr Sutherland died alter a protracted illness, during which his wife nursed him. There was no other human being to whom they could turn for help. ISeedle§s to say, the Hinemoa's company bestowed every possible attention upon the unfortunate woman.

Mr R. B. Jackson, of Nelson was a, passenger, and he and Captain Boilons, who are justices of the peace, held the necessary inquest, finding a verdict of death from natural causes. The body was interred, and three guides of the Tourist Department who were accompanying the Hinemoa were left at the place pending arrangements being made regarding Mrs Sutherland. She reso Ilutely refused to embark on the Hinemoa.

The-death of Mr Donald Sutherland, of Milford, removes a well known figure to tourists. The deceased came from Wick, in the north of Scotland. He came out as a young man and. served ia the Maori "War of the sixties, then ha had a turn at the Thames diggings. After that he came south, and started fossicking for gold in the hack country, of Westland. From gold hunting he took to exploring, impelled to that life by the beauty of the wild country, and when he saw Milford Sound he was so captivated by its grandeur that he stayed there. He lived by himself, on a flat bit of land, of which he occupied six acres, tor 12 years, undertaking pioneering journeys" In one of these he discovered the world-famous falls which: bear his name; on another expedition, in 1880, he found the pass which- has Itien named M'Kinnon's Pass, Sutherland named it Balloon Pass, after the mountain by its side. Thirty years ago ho married' a lady who was a widow. There are no children of the. marriage, and the deceased's only relatives in .New Zealand afe a nephew at Invercargil! and a niece at Wellington, both married. For many years he acted as postmaster! at Milford, and his house was the only; place of accommodation in the district. \