THE LATE MR BAINBRIDGE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1272, 16 July 1886, Page 4

THE LATE MR BAINBRIDGE.

The following is a copy of the statement written by Mr Edwin Bainbridge just before he was killed by the falling of the Eotomahaua Hotel, at Te Wairoa, duriog the volcanic eruption in the district. It is evident that the document.was written with wonderful composure, and by a man prepared for the death which was so near him. The punctuation is attended to, the “t’s” crossed, the “i s ” clotted, and the handwriting firm and clear. The document is as follows, with the heading as we give it:—

WRITTEN BY EDWIN BAINBRIDGE, OF NEW-CASTLE-ON-TYNE, ENGLAND,

This is tbo most awful moment of my life. I cannot tell when I may bo called upon to meet my God. I am thankful that 1 iiud His strength sufficient tor me. Wo are under heavy fails of volcanoes— The ending of the last word is a little undecided, and it may possibly have'beer, meant for “volcanic.” At this point Mr Bainbridge was evidently interrupted. The half-quire of foreign note-paper, on the first page of which he had commerced to’write, was evidently hastily folded and p'aced in the writing portfolio, neither Sealed or addressed. The desk contained the usual stationery, private letters, mourning cards of his deceased brother and sister, a letter which he had partly written, evidently for the outgoing mail, and other mis. cellaueous articles. The desk had, of cours“, been much sailed with the mud and falling debris, and the docu raents within it are a good deal discolored, The passage of Scripture which Mr Cambridge read was that telling of the salvation of the thief on the cross, and he remarked that it showod-all might be sawmi* at the last moment. The statement Mr Bainbridge had not addressed to any particular person. It was evidently only intended to be a record of the terrible catastrophe, and to supply an account of the few last moments of his life.

A resident of Auckland, who knew deceased, writes thus to the ‘ Herald: ’ “ Poor Bainbridge was a scion of a large and enterprising family in tbo North of England. About 300 hands were employed in the Leeds factory of the Bainbridge firm, and at the warehouse in Newcastle-on-Ty ne also about 300. A few days since, when conversing with an old friend of his father’s, now partner in an Auckland firm, young Bainbridge spoke with, great affection of his father and mother, who died suddenly when life- Was about five years old. The father died in a few hours from typhoid feyey) the mother about four months afterwards of grief. Reference has previously been made in the ‘ Herald ’ to the death of his brother by a gun accident when ho was twenty years of age, and to his sister’a death at eighteen, caused by grief through the loss of her brother, Bainbridge and the younger members of his family lived with his grandfather, near the Border, up to the time he left England. The deceased had charming manners, being young in face, speech,

and feeling, and yet with the set-up and manly style whfeh is characteristic of a thoroughly manly Englishman. Ha at once became a great favorite wherever ho went. His father combined the qualities of a scholar and an untiring man of business with those of a zealous local preacher of the Methodist Church, To show the Christian character aud light heartedness of the man, we may mention that a heavy bereavement fell upon young Baiubridge’s Auckland friend, when he wrote a letter of condolence, wise and kind, characterised with a large amount of Christian love and sympathy as well as manly philosophy, combining in its sentences the spirit of innocent boyhood and manly force. Ho was a youth of much promise thns lost to a world which needs such men as he, and may need them more than ever. A keen sportman, a good rider, and a devout Christian, he has gone to the better land. One cannot deplore him except for the world’s sake and that of his family.”