DEATH OF THE REV. J.F. CHURTON.

Wellington Independent, Volume VIII, Issue 772, 5 March 1853, Page 4

DEATH OF THE REV. J. F. CHURTON.

•It is with'deep and sincere regret Unit wo record tho death of the Rev. J. F. Churton, Colonial Chaplain, and Minister of St. Paul's Auckland, which took place at his residence,-Little Sutton, on Wednesday last, the 27th inst. His illness was short, as he officiated so lately as the ovening of Sunday week, although in tho opinion of his physicians, pleurisy —tho malady which terminated so fatally—must have been.going forward in an incipient .stago longor than was supposed by himself or his friends. Drs. Fox, Matthews, Philsou, and Dayies were in attendance, and did all that unremitting care and professional skill couhLaccomplish. But their efforts were unavailing to avert tho event which wo, in common with tho community at large, now doplore.

The Roy. John Frederick Churton was born inJLondon on the Ist of Sept., 1797, and was consequently in his 56th year. Ho was originally brought up to tho legal -profession, and practised in London for a short time. Having subsequently devoted himself to the work of the ministry, ho was appointed Chaplain to the Now Zealand Company,-and arrived at-Wol-lingtou in May, 1840. /Towards the close of that year, he was appointed by the Bishop ofSydney.(in whose-dioceso New Zoaland then was) to the pastoral charge of Russoll.-at the Bay of Inlands,; but on his passage, thither Jie touched at Auckland, wh(!ii,<at tho. requost of Governor Hobson, and with . tho sanction of the Bishop, he...consented to take.tho office of Colonial Chaplain. --To this was added the incumbency of St. Paul's : .while, the Colonial Chaplaincyi.\vas connected with the charge of ministering to the troops, aswollasto the Hospital, patients, and the prisoners in the Gaol. 'All these duties woro performed with -fidelity and efficacy by Mr. Churton from that period to his final illness. It baa boen noticed, as a coincidence not unworthy of remark, that the lust -Sunday morning on which ho proachod at St. Paul's;,(tho niutli instant) happened to be tho Anniversary of his arrival, on which ho completed ex-, actly twelve yoars of ministerial servioe. To this circumstance hn J'eolingly and improssivoly referred in his sermon. Tho death of Mr. Churtou cannot be regarded as less than a public calamity. As a minister of the Gospol he was oarnest, dovotod, and indefatigable. His discourses wore rich in evangelical truth, embodying :and exhibiting with uncompromising faithfulness tho genuine doctrines of tho Church of England. But ho was not merely a preacher; he was also in tho best souse of the term a Pastor, ministering from house to house, and gonorally most suro to bo found whero most needed. In the chamber of sickness amlin the house of mourning ho was a constant and w-eicoiuc, because a sympathizing .and comforting visitor. It is no small '.tribute to his worth that the poor are the class who will most severely fool this boroavoincnt. Turn whore you will, thero aro anecdotes to bo told of his unwearying benovolcnco, which knew.no sectarian distinction or party limitation. It was enough that the case was ono of .undoubted distress, to soouro for it-all tho aid that-ho could himself afford, or by his justly- oxtonsive influence obtain from others.

Latest FiioM Couojiaxdel. Tho Influenza lms boon prevalent amongst tho diggers at Coroinimdel, and that, together with the Knees & Regatta, has tended to prevent tho steady coutiinianco.at their work of many partios, that bofore Christinas wore digging prosfitubly. Tho iuipositiun of tlio License Fee lias caused those whoso " claims" wore (lug out, to hositate 'ore they paid 305., unless they already know of;some fresb and promising locality. . . At-Wniau, Mr. Humphrey'sparty wore, still getting a fair 'quantity of .gold from tho bed of the. stream. ; Mr. •Ferguson and party, Americans, were preparing there to siiik down to; tho bed-rock, they having a very high opinion of the Holiness of the field generally, but deeming that all which has yot been obtained is merely a " surface .indication." At, Kapanga, Mr. Coolahan.'s bolo was dug out, as was Bonnet's also, King's pit, only ton yards distance, was being worked by Leery and others, and was yielding o good quantity of fine gold. Mr. Stephcnson'had worked a hole to a deptli of 22 feet, and had como upon

the bed-rock-at last. On it ho found some small nuggets of gold of an entirely new description, viz., smooth and solid, and .without the scaly and porous texture which characterizes surface gold. The bod-rock was however on too steep an inclination for it to be possible that much gold could here have lodged upon its surface. The hole was also too narrow to admit of a horizontal cutting being made from it along the rockya practice follote'din, California. Mr. Heaphy, tho Commissioner, had commenced sinking a shaft of sufficient breadth to enablo him fairly to ascertain what might be below on the bed-rock, at a depth of from 30 to 40 feet—S. Cross.