DEATH OF MR. PATRICK LESLIE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1428, 27 August 1881, Page 3

DEATH OF MR. PATRICK LESLIE.

Notices.

The readers of this journal, more especiajly those reBident in the Waikato County, will hear with unaffected sorrow of the ouddeu death at Sydney, N.S.W., of Mr Patrick Leslie, late of Wartle, Tamahere. Though Mr Leslie was not one of the pioneers of settlement in this colony, or even in this district, yet during the ten years of his life, which were passed amongst us, he occupied so prominent a position that he was brought into contact with all classes of men, and was in truth as well known as the veriest "old identity." The respect in which he was held was strongly manifested on the occasion of his departure from the Waikato a few months ago, when having disposed of the larger portion of his Wartle estate to Mr J. J. Barugh, he went to reside in Sydney. A man of strong impulses and stronger will, endowed with the hot temper of his race, Mr Leslie made troops of friends by his sterling honesty of purpose and straightforward dealing. For several years he was a member of the Waikato County Council, and acted either in the capacity of chairman or member of the Tamahere Highway Board from the time of its establishment up till within a week or two of his departure from the district. In both these capacities Mr Leslie worked hard in the interests of the district, and whatever differences his colleagues may have had with him, and they were many, they never failed to recognise that the purpose which underlay his actions was an honest one, and not dictated by selfishness. But perhaps what endeared him most to those who knew and were intimate with him was his hearty, genial disposition, the utter absence of affectation from his composition, and his strong aversion to parade and shams of all kinds. We need not say that he will be missed— he has been missed already, and many will recall with regretful pleasure his form and manner now that he is no longer, and cannot again come among us. The circumstances attending Mr Leslie's demise may be very briefly told. On the 12th instant he went to see his grandson Leonard, who is at school at Paramatta. He returned on the Bth, suffering from a bad cold ; in two days more the medical man in attendance pronounced the disease to be pleurisy, and on the morning of the 12th he died. Mr Leslie came of very good family. He was born on the 25th September, 1815, on the estate of Warthill, Aberdeenshire, where for ten generations his family were born, had lived and died ; his father William Leslie being the 10th Laird of Warthill, who was succeeded by his eldest son William Leslie, the 11th Laird, lately deceased. The estate has by entail passed to Mrs Arbuthnot, the eldest daughter of William Leslie, and wife of Captain Arbuthnot, late of the Scots Greys, who now takes the name of Leslie. Patrick Leslie wa& educated at the Grammar School, and Maribchal College, Aberdeen. In early life he emigrated to Darling Downs, in Queensland, where he did well. He returned to England some twenty years ago, and in 1870 came out to New Zealand, and seltled at Tamahere. He left for Sydney, where he bad several relatives, about four months ago. Mr Leslie leaves a widow and several grand-children, one of whom, the Leonard William Leslie above referred to, is well known to Davis school-boys in Hamilton. He is now the last and only direct male descendant of twelve generations of the Leslies of Warthill.

ECHOES FROM THE CAFE. So all tho fuss about the nvlam 'tion his been a" st inn m a toipvl" The woi k i> to bo completed, and that not .it the expi-n-o of the loads and budges in this Provincial Distr u t, but out of tho \o o for tbc \nckland and Wnikato Uailwa; It was very good of Huist to say th.it ).c knew that tins vva* to be the < asp. "Win n Sheehan asked him why he had not Mid "■so, ho replied tli.it it was no' his business What a funny man ' Kot his bmine^s, and ho a ropiesontarivo I^l nplimdid lepieseutativo, t )o) of one of flieoonstatuencjii b of the cifcy of Auckland, it would ha\e been somewhat nearer the huth if Mr Hurst had said that tlie lensou he did not say so was that ho knew ho would not hivvc been believed. People :iro very apt to doubt the woid of tho-io bombastic mnn who piofess to know cvoiything, and very often know nothing. Ilowevei, " all's well that ends well" Tho reclamation is to be properly finished, and the money which has boon, and is boinjr spent on tho retaining wall is not to be wasted. One of our city men had >i jrreat fright on Sunday evening. Ho had wiitfccn a letter which he wished to .send to Sydney by the " City of Now York ;' so, in case she should arrive and dopaifc before be reached town on Monday morning, lie wont to tho Post Ollice after sci vice on Sundiv evening to post it. Disoovciing that he had not a postage stamp lio went, into his own place of business to got one, closing, but not Listening 1 tiic door after him. Having stamped his letfci ho was groping his way towards the dooi, when suddenly tho full blue of a bull s eye glared in his face, and he heaid a stonionan voice dem Hiding. " Who's theio." His heart jumped into his mouth, but ho in maged to c.ili out his name md to say that all was light. When he i cached the door, he found i seigeant of police, aieplesentative of the pie*-s, (it is astonishing how a repoitei always mmiges to be about when theio is anything exciting going ou), and another citi/cn, .'ill in readiness to anest i-ho supposed burglar Fortunately for lum, tho gentleman wa-> at onco rocoirnisod by tho soi<ji<;mt and tho pies-man, so lie escaped airest, and went away, zegisteiing a mental \owthat he would newer moie leave tho dooi unfastened after him wh^n ho hid ooiasion to go to his office at night. Tho Wade Smuggling ca^c was finished on Saturday, and lesnlted m the acquittal of the accused A trentlcrn.in who piofossiid to Iviiow rill about tho c i<o, t>ave me wh.it he (ioclaied v.'.is a "full, tine, ami p u ticular account of the whole jfl'uii I will not vouch fOlf 01 tho tiutli of it, but moiely repeat lL ms it was told to me, and tho leadeis of the IJ'atlato 'lnnn may please themsulvos about believing it Mamice Kelly, a " 1 ale old lush gintlo man," who, it lepoifc speaks tinly, u' eel to have all his bullocks i"gisteied as. eloirlorin tho daj s of tho supeiiutenclental elections, and to iei oul their vote-> m favoi of ihe I ito John Willi.ui m>ii, kept an hotel at the W.idc lie built, a n. w lintel, and ioifcuiri'oly, or unfoitnnati'lj'' ioi him the old hotel was bin nod down. The house and -~to( k wcio lusiued, so lie trot t'i< iiHur.int u money to console him ioi lib loss. Homo time aft cn 1 , aids Ins two biothcis-in-law weic .seen by the two men, Einiile and Polkinghoi no t iking i boatful of grog down the nvei . The latter men- ! tioncd to sc\eial jjeoplc what they hid seen. Kellys biothei>-in-law, afiaid of being ai eused ot nic indi.m-in, inioniied tho local fjonstablu that the giog J'.ul b'>on smuggled and pi tntedbv liinnlo and Polkmghorne, and bought by them Ot couiso ,ut lnfoim.ition ior smuggling was laid, and the two nun wlto h id sn n too much were found ifiuUy (^n the evideiu c of the informers, ulio ploah-d guilty All wero fined, j\fi.s Kelly paying the fines of her biothci^, while the othei men, who had no money, wcie sent to icaol Itepii son La ti oils \\ oie made to Hie (_!o\ i mment, the conscqueiii c of which was <hat the two men woio lolci i d from gtol, and a re-hraring of the < <si i was oideied, The re-hcanug lesultc el m the acquittal of the pusoners, but what iuithoi pioceediugs will bo taken remains to be .seen. The Hci alii is veiy tintalising sometimes. It provides ioi the delectation of its. leaders a number ot shoit pai igi iphs under the heading, "Xc\\s in bnef. Some of these p.uagi.iphs cont un jusr sufficient information to make the leadci, like Olnei Twist, ask foi moie One such stati s tli.it tlic 'Innam ILmbl de\otcs a leading .u ti< !< to the claim toi land made by Mr Ilichaid l''eltus on 1-ehalf of the sons ot old colonies. The Jhitild omits to stite wliethci its 'jontempoiar\ appio\c>ol tliedaim liioa^lit forw.ud l>> tin. fui'h I cit Bir (looige Gicy. Very cuul, is it iot ' How ('\e.'i, the Jfn"!il alone" 1 , to some evtent foi the omission iiy giving in <he sime coluiiin the. li'ioi iatio,i Hi it Ah Sheelian told in the Jhaise an amusing stoiy oi how he and Ins oaity went into oiiice- on the ciy ot "]{ tiem hnient and lteioi in, *' l em nnud m ohicu for foui yt.'i>, and only tool: 120 oil tho pay ot a jjohoenian, which tlie\ joifc on again toefoie they went out <>t o(/kp 'tills is indeed an ainusmir sloi\, and I hope the silly fools who put tho (!rey paity into ofliec will scj tho point ot the joke and take great cue th.it such an amusing &toij cannot be told aga'ii. By the m.ul =teamei I icooiv"d, amon<> other paper., a copy of the ,lc pmi (!n~, Ui, published at Yokali.nna. Tho .sub^cnption to the paper i- thici and a-half dollais per month, wlueli i-. equal to two guineas per ynaiLer. T'Hlier the h-.t ol subsciibe's must be vorv limited, or tlio^e subsenbeis do not pay tb it two iruiiicas pci quarter, or money innM, be veiy plentiful in i'okaliiinia, foi [do not think I have ever seen a paper which was such poor value foi it IH- pi I about the same H/e as the IVathato 1t,,, ■-, and thieo ot the four pa ixc> aie dev< !cd to adveih--c-ment 1 Most oi these t-ei in to be genuine the v irious m nuance f oiiipatnrs occupying aoonsidei lblo pen tion of the fir A pnge A fjrnHom.ni, iejoicin<>; in the name of CockKyo(l wonder il I is a iclatne of my fuend Dead-J'lye) intimates tli.it he lias icceived a cousiiMiinent of thin spim^ clc tb, w bile tho Hipi on (the name reminds moot my s"hool-boy dajs) Kacje (lub adveit.iscs its Spnng Meeting, at which the committee unite the ladies ot Yokah.'ima and Toki.i to be pusent. No tickets aio lcquiied by ladies, but the male men. who me not membpis of the Club, have to pay two doliais (eight shillings) for a single ticket or iivo dollais (a pound) for a ticket entitling the purchaser to admission on the three days of the meeting. The Auckland Racing Club might, I think, follow the plan j adopted by the Japs, and make a concession to those who wish to go to the laces on the tlnee dajs of a meeting. Customs duties must be lower in Japan than in this highly-favored and much indebted country, as whiskey is advertised at six and a half dollais per dozen, and claret at half a dollar per bottle. Among the advertisements theie is at least one familiar name* At the top of a list of unclaimed letters, appears the name of Major J. A. Baistow, who is. I believe, a brother of our Resident Magistrate. Of the reading matter in this cheap (!) newspaper, all except ouo column is copied from exchange, while of the remaining column the principal part is taken up with comment" on' an article which appeared in one exchange and on a statement which appeared in another. Leading article there is none, but I sup-

poso tlie editor was reserving himself for hib niciil biuiim&\y? which was to appeal on the following clay 7 and to contain three leading! ai tides. '> When 1 want .1 uhiUige of climate I \Vill 20 t<> Yokohama and ,stm b ' em 'opposition paper to the Japan G'ti&'tte. ' ' ' - St. Mungo.