OBITUARY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13479, 19 July 1907, Page 5

OBITUARY.

A VICTORIAN JUDGE.

United Press Association. — By Electric Telegraph. — Copyright. MELBOURNE, July 18. Justice the Hon. H. Molesworth, of the County Court, who obtained six months' leave of absence, died on board a steamer en route for Queensland, whither he was going to recruit his health.

The late Mrs William Old — nee Harriett Foreman — who passed away after a short and painless illness at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr Sangster, Urenui, on Sunday last, was one of the pioneers of Taranaki, having landed here from the ship "Oriental," in November, 1841, with her father, the late Richard Foreman and other members of a large family. She endured the hardships of the early settlers, having been a pioneer settler in the Hua district, and after the termination of the Native troubles she, with her late husband, made their home on the Lepper Road on the site of an old Native settlement inland about three miles from Sentry Hill. The homestead commanded one of the finest prospects in North Taranaki, and was a beautiful site naturally and was improved by the care and labour of the late Mr Old. Here on the outpost of civilisation in the early 70's, the deceased dispensed the hospitality that was a feature of Taranaki early settlers. When the Moa block was opened in 1874, Mr Old's farm was the last clearing in the forest that then stretched unbroken from Sentry Hill to Normanby, and here the supplies for the founders of Inglewood [ were deposited and distributed. Mr | and Mrs Old gained a name during this time for kindness of heart and attention that the "new chums" of those days have never forgotten, . and many is the story I have heard around the camp fires of the Moa block in 1874-5 of the goodness of the deceased and her kindness of heart. The writer, as a cadet in the old Provincial Service, had often reason to thank the ever ready offer of hospitality given by the late Mrs Old when settlers were few and far between. The deceased leaves a large grownup family to mourn her loss, .and the scene at the cemetery on Wednesday last was a striking one. Such a sight of stalwart manhood, sons and % grandsons, that gathered around the open grave is rarely witnessed. -Thus passes another link with the early history of Taranaki. W. H. S.