OBITUARY.

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 922, 12 September 1896, Page 16

OBITUARY.

MR THOMAS MACKY, Senb.

It may truthfully be written of the late Mr Thoma9 Macky that he died beloved of all who knew him. His was- indeed an exemplary life, and as he lived, so also he died, an example of Christian sincerity and consistency. Afflicted with an agonising vital disease that was slowly eating his life away, he bore his sufferings with admirable fortitude, graced by simple forbearance and gentleness, waiting calmly for the summons of the Master that would, he was satisfied, admit him to an eternity of peace and joy. It was a sublime end to a consistent and irreproachable life, and one that attested more eloquently than oceans of abstract theology the comfort derived by an earnest Gbtistian man in his dying moments from an absolute, unswerving faith in his religion and his Saviour. Mr Macky was a very old colonist. He came to Auckland forty seven years ago, from the North of Ireland, which, by-tne-way, has supplied this part of the world with some of its most . upright, able, and progressive settlers. He engaged in mercantile business with his brother, the late Mr James Macky. and after a visit to California during the period of the gold fever there, he finally settled down in Auckland to the business" of wine and spirit merchant and importer, which business he carried on up till the time of his death last week, at tbe age of 70. Cancer of the stomach was the causß of death, and from the moment of the diaguosis of this dread disease no hope was entertained of his recovery. The deceased gentleman leaves two sons and two daughters, the sons being Messrs J. C. Macky (Macky, Logan and Co.) and Thos. Macky, jnnr. He is survived by his brother and sister, Mr Wm. Macky, of Paterangi, Waikato, and Mrs B. Hall, of Epsom. Amongst his nephews are Messrs James and ft. G. Macky, sharebrokers, and Messrs S. C. and Joseph Macky, legal managers. Tne deceaseds brother, father of Messrs J. and R. G. Macky, died in Auckland exactly a year ago. Another brother was the Key. J. Macky, of Otahnhu, who died several years ago. The late Mr Macky was a liberal-minded man nud a keen observer of passing events, but nevertheless, he took no active part in public life. In the walks of commerce he enjoyed an irreproachable reputation for integrity amongst his- fellows' such as falls to the lot of few men to command. But it was in what we might call his religious life that Mr Macky was seen to the utmost advantage. He was one of the strict school of Presbyterians, holding faat to the faith that was within him, carefully refraining from obtruding his religious opiuiona upon his fellows, and scrupulously conceding to everyone else the freedom of conscience that he would himself enjoy. Eeyoud this, Mr Macky's practice in his daily life was consistent with his Christian professions, and was an object lesson to other men. His charitable lnip'ulscs were strong, and his sympathies with charitable work freely exercised. Since the establishment of St. James's Church, now more than thirty years ago, Mr Macky was one of its coQstant members and also an elder, and he was revered and loved by old and young in church and Sunday-school. ludeed, the scene at a prayer-meeting last week, when reference was made to his impeuding death, was an eloquent testimony to the worth of the man and the regard in which he was held. Strong men wept as children, and clergyman and people alike were in tears. Mr Macky, on the whole, was a man of sterling parts, and ju3t each an one wLo, in these days of scepticism and doubt, supplies in his own life a vivid example of consistency and an effective ausvver to the jeers of the uu believer against religion. Mr Macky's remains weie interred on Saturday afternoon at Symonde-streefc cemetery, the faneral obseqaies being conducted by Rev. K. P. Macuicol, the minister under whom the deceased gentleman had sat at St. James's for nearly thirty years.