DEATH OF CAPTAIN STEELE.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 344, 22 September 1898, Page 2

DEATH OF CAPTAIN STEELE.

The sorrow which we feel at having to record the very sudden death of Captain Wm. Steele, will be shared by the great majority of the people of Waikato. more particularly by the old settlers who are cognisant of the work the deceased gentleman has done in forwarding the interests of the district. They, also, wiM have known him in the time of his prosperity, and be able to call to mind many evidences of his liberality. The circumstances surrounding his awfully sudden death arc somewhat as follows :He It ft Hamilton at about four o'clock on Tu sday afternoon ; he unharnessed the horse from the buguy and led him into the stable. Shortly afterwards Mrs Steele noticed the horse coming out of the stable door with his harness on. She went to the stable to ascertain the cause and found her husband lying or, his back on a bunch of straw, apparently quite dead. Dr. Brewis was sent for immediately ; but death had ensued some time previous to his arrival. He is of opinion tint death was instantaneous. Capt. Steele had passed a somewhat adventurous life. He was bom at Bank Farm, Whitley, Shropshire, in 1831. In 1547 he left Home for South Australia, and spent about two years in that Colony. On the breaking out of the diggings in California in 1849, he went to that country, but with the opening of the goldfields in New South Wales he returned to Australia, and tried his luck on the Towron field. In 1852. on the discovery of gold in Victoria, he proceeded to that Colony. He was present at the Kaglc Hawk rush, one of the most celebrated leads in Bendigo ; he was also present at the opening of the Mclvor field. He only met with partial success, and lett for New Zealand in 1853, and started farming at Lucas' Creek. He sold out there and took up laud at Wairoa South. On the Otago goldtields' opening, he went South and tried his luck at Gabriel's Gully, but as Dame Fortune did not favour him with one of her bright smiles, lo returned to his farm at Wairoa. When the Maori war broke out he was appointed Lieutenant of the Wairoa Volunteers, and commanded them at the affair at Otau. He was shortly afterwards deputed by the Government to proceed to Sydney to raise men for the Waikato regiments, which were then beiui: embodied, the result beiug that he returned with the men who subsequently composed the 4th Company of the Fourth Waikato Regiment, which, at the termination of the war, was settled at Hamilton. At one time Captain Steele was tolerably well off, but in latter years he has been in somewhat straitened circumstances, consequent on his connection with the Piako Swamp speculation and the heavy fall in land values. For many years Capt. Steele has acted as a land agent, and many of the present ana past generation of farmers secured their holdings through his agency. The deceased gentleman leaves a wife, one daughter (Mrs Henry Reynolds), and one son in London. We tender to them our deepest sympathy in the loss they have sustained. We have knowu Capt. Steele for many years, and can testify that an upright, liberal and genial gentleman has passed away. The funeral will take place at Hamilton Fast Cemetery at two o'clock tomorrow (Friday). The funeral will be a military one.