OBITUARY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 341, 30 October 1908, Page 8

OBITUARY.

'ME. A. S. ALDRICH, JAPANESE , CONSUL.' . ' '

The death ■ occurred, at Paraparaumu on Wednesday of A. S. Aldrich, Japanese Consul'for Wellington, and for maiiy years a resident in the district. The deceased gentleman, who,-, had he lived, would have'! celebrated : his, sixty-ninth ■ birthday next month' .was. in good health up till a week ago,'when he suffered an. attack of hemorrhage of .the brain; which brought op paralysis. ; . . Mr. Aldrich had a rather remarkable history. He was.a-young man in the railway service at Dublin some fortv years ago, "when Japan threw 6ff the yoke that bound her . to the past, and began to make systematic preparation for the assumption .'of greater , national importance. She began in the - best way possible by putting 'her house, in order by engaging competent men in England and Germany'to organise her civil service. The general plan included a : policy of railway building,- and among the experts who went to tlie-Land Chrysanthemum to teach the native how to. run a railway service was Mr. Aldrich"; who rose to !the position of Chief"Secretary;of Railwaysi ..He' remained in the Japanese service until the late.'9o's; when he retired on. a substantial pension, and settled in New Zealand,' where ne had purchased an'estate (at' Bunnythorpe) dur-. ing a visit paid to the Dominion when on furlough. The late Mr. Aldrich Tyas"the recipient of many special marks of distinction from the Japanese Government, being the first Englishman presented with tho Order of the Rising Suii,"and also that of the Mirror. A good many years ago Mr, Aldrich cut up his estate at Bunnythorpe- and purchased a home at fertile Paraparaumu, where he has lived ever since, though, of course, a frequent visitor to tho_ city. Some two. years ago Mr. Aldrich visited England (when his duties were assumed by. Mr. T. Young of Young and Tripe), during which timo .the training ship Matshushima (afterwards wrecked off the coast of Formosa) visited Wellington. Mrs. Aldrich is at present en route from England to Wellington. Deceased leaves an. adult family, of whom Mrs. P. L. Dignan, of Auckland; Mrs. R. B. Smith, of Wellington; Mrs. Chas. M'Kenzio, of Hawke's Bay; Mrs. Jas. Edgecombe, 'of Richmond, England; and Mr. A. S. Aldrich, jun., sheep: farmer, . are members. Mr! Aldrich was a frequent contributor to tho press, and his knowledge of- Eastern matters and language was considerable.