OBITUARY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 258, 17 April 1880, Page 2

OBIT U ARY.

It is, with exceeding great regret, that we loam, by the last San Francisco mail, the sad nowsoof the death of Mr James Hay, brother of Mr John Hay of Kakahu. The deceased was one of our oldest and most respected settlers, arriving in this colony some twenty years ago in the very prime of life. For tko L..v ; : fourteen years he lived with his broth' 1 ? at Kakahu, and assisted him on the farm. At one time, shortly before

Che Provincial Councils were done away with, ho was returned as a member for till i district, along with his colleague, the )ato DrEavnor. After the dissolution of that Assembly, ho was elected a member of the Geraldine Road Board, where he discharged his duties so faithfully he was repeatedly returned to fill the same office. During the period named Mr Hay visited Scotland, where ho has a brother and sister living, only to return again after a brief stay,2 During the Usj. few years it was visibly to be seen that h e was gradually ’ falling’ into a premature oi l age. This°was brought on chiefly by a series of accidents ; on one occasion he unfortunately fell from an eminence and was sotiously hurc.

On another occasion he was thrown from hia conveyance, near Temuka, when turn* ing a corner, and was carried to a neighbor’s house insensible. When able to bo removed he was taken home to his residence at Kakahu, when, by great atton. tion on the part of his sister-in-law, Mrs John Hay, he gradually recovered, sufficiently to be able to walk about and do a little business, but it may be said that this accident was solely the cause of his premature death. About a year ago he resolved to return to his Native Country, and although when departing from his many sad and sorrowing friends, be often said he would Be o them no more there were some who cherished a hope that, the sea voyage would recruit him, and that he would again be seen some day amongst us, Th» intelligence of his safe arrival included; also, the cheering news that ho was considerably better ; but the last letter from himself by the mail before the one which brought the sad news, was written in rather a desponding state of mind, so much so as to lead his relations here to fear that he would not get over it. It is no exaggeration to say deceased had no enemies ; many have cause to bless bia memory for the kind and helping hand he always held out to them in their time of need ; but for him several families might still have been struggling in the depths of poverty, and have, through his kind consideration, been able to work round to a state of comfort and independence. His quiet unostentatious, kind manner, yet sterling worth, makes his death a great loss to our little community, and again re. minds us that tho old land marks, which marked the progress of this province in its early days are fast being removed. Few, shortly will be left to tell their children, or their childrens’ children, of the marvellous adventures and great hardshq S which tho pioneer settlers had to encounter. Mr Hay was not an old man, being only, at the time of his death, a little over sixty, possessed of a good sound constitution and robust frame, he might have lived many years before natural decay would have closed his useful life.

How strange it is that so many in this country have to leave before they hav e fulfilled half their days. Accidents in th e case of many, a life of self abuse by some, the worry and cares cf life experienced by the active and enterprising, bring gray hairs and bald heads long before the natural vigor should cease. In the colonies the death rate of the very young and the prematurely aged is much more than it should be with such a salubrious climate, where also the products of the soil, and other natural advantages, are so very greit. ____________

Just as we we going to press intimation was received of the death of another old selttler (Mr Win Currie) who died at Waitohi yesterday at the advanced age of eighty. The deceased was a native of the North of Ireland, and came to this colony in 1862.