OBITUARY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7332, 19 February 1902, Page 2

OBITUARY.

— » £ THE REV C. NEWMAN HALL, i MR PATOHETT MARTIN. . United Press Association— B7 Electria Telegraph— Copyright. (Received Feb. 19, 9.35 a.m.) LONDON, Ftb. 18. The deaths are announced of the Rev Q. Newman Hall and Mr Patchett Martin, the author. .. (The Rev Christopher Newman Hall, Chairman of the Congregational Union, was born in 1816. He has been for many years' a leading light. in Congregationalism. As a preacher he has long enjoyed a very wid« celebrity. He was a fluent speaker, his style toeing interesting and conversational rather than impressive. But he was always singularly earnest and had a touch which struck dieep into the hearts of his hearers. One of the most remarkable episodes of his life was the part he took during the Civil War in America. He then loudly raised his voice on behalf oFthw Federal cause and subsequently visited America to endeavour, so far as he might, to promote goddwill between the United States and» his own country. On that occasion he preached before Congress and frequently laboured to convince Northern- audiences tbat the people of England were in favour of the Union during the terrible struggle. He was. the author of many' religious works, and has written a number of well-known hymns.) (Arthur Patchett Martin, journalist and author, was born at Woolwich, 1851. When about eighteen months old he was taken to Melbourne. At, the Eclectic Society of Victoria, where he succeeded the founder, Mr H. R. Rusden, as secretary, he was a leading essayist and debater. During his secretaryship the society subscribed to a memorial statue to John Stuart Mill, erected on the Thames Embankment. Mr Martin was the principal organiser of the meeting which took place at the Melbourne Town Hall on July 29, 1878, "to express public appreciation of£ the services of the Earl of Beaconsfield in the settlement of the Eastern Question." Out of the Eclectic Society arose the "Melbourne Review," a high -class quarterly periodical, which existed from January, 1876, to October, 1885, and of which Mr Martin acted as editor. He left Melbourne for London in 1882, and has largely devoted himself to journalistic work ; but, in addition, has written in several of the magazines, the Australian poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon, to the English literary public by an article in. " Temple Bar " of February, 1884. His chief work was " Australia and the Empire," specially dedicated to Mr Balfour. The opening essay in this work, entitled "Robert Low* in Sydney," formed the nucleus of the complete poetical - biography of Lord Sherfoooke. Among bis other literary efforts in London may be mentioned "Oak-bough" and "Waterblossom," the first of these collective stories being "Australians in England," of which there are now quite a series. " Over-the-Sea Stories for the Children of Two Worlds," a profusely-illustrated gift book, is also a collection by Mr Martin. Mrs "Patclett Martin has recently turned her early Queensland experiences to account in "Under the Gum' Tree" (1890) and "Coo-ec" (1891), an interesting collection: of taks of Australian life by Australian ladies. Since July, 1891, Mr Martin has been editor of "Literary Opinion,)