THE LATE MR W. G. BRITTAN.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 652, 21 July 1876, Page 3

THE LATE MR W. G. BRITTAN.

{From the Press .) M)re than twenty-five years and a half have elapsed since the first body of Canterbury colonists landed on these shores, and many of that body are still prominent amonst us in their several spheres. Time and death have wrought, perhaps, fewer ravages among them than might have been expected ; still, we must expect that every year will thin their ranks. The subject of the present brief memoir was among the first of those who enrolled themselves as intending land purchasers under the banner of the Canterbury Association. Turning to the fourth number of the Canterbury Papers, we find that he occupied the chair at a meeting of thirty -nine gentlemen, held at the Adel phi Rooms on the 25th April, 1850, at which meeting the Society of Canterbury Colonists was constituted. On the 18th July, in the same year, a Council of twelve was elected by this body, and at the head of the list, as given in the fifth number of the Canterbury Papers (p. 142), stands the name of Mr Brittan, who, at the first meeting of the Council on July 22nd, was elected their chairman. This important post he retained until the sailing of the first body, and, after their arrival in this colony, he became chairman of the Colonists’ Council on this side of the water. Mr Brittan sailed with his family in the Sir George Seymour, which left Plymouth on Sunday, September Bth, 1860, the three companion ships of the Pilgrim Fleet having sailed during the proceding night. We may mention here that he had been for many years previously a resident in the town of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, of which, we believe, he was a native. He had been in practice there as a surgeon, in partnership with his elder brother, the late Mr Joseph Brittan, of Linwood, and in his younger days had taken several voyages to India and China in the capacity of surgeon. The Sir George Seymour cast anchor in Lyttelton Harbor about 10 a.m.' on Tuesday, the 17th December. On the previous day Mr Brittan assembled the emigrants, and in an address of some length gave them some good advice with reference to the new life which was before them. Since his arrival in the colony he has come forward but little in public affairs ; he has not appeared on platforms at public meetings, nor been a candidate for senatorial honours, with the exception of one occasion, ifwc remember rightly, in 1853. He has, notwithstanding, been a valuable public servant of this province during the whole of its existence, having organised the Crown Lands Department, of which he was appointed Chief Commissioner when the Canterbury Association became defunct, and having held the office until his death on Tuesday last. He presided at the sittings of the Waste Lands Board held during last week, when an unusual amount of business, some of which was of a difficult and troublesome nature, was transacted.

Mr Brittan was a steady and unvarying supporter of the Church. He was the donor, if we mistake not, of the site of the second church erected on the Plains, and of the timber of which it was built. We refer to the original Papanui church which was erected as early as 1852. The church of Avonside, and afterwards that of Halswell, were also mainly indebted to him for their erection, and, in the first instance, for their support. He was a member of the first Diocesan Synod which met in 1859. By a wide circle of friends he will long be gratefully remembered for his genial hospitality. Bnglefield and Lansdowne were true English homes. English sports, too, more especially cricket, found in him an enthusiastic patron as long as his health permitted. But for some years past his health had been failing. His friends had long marked with pain his worn look and enfeebled walk. Yet his sad end came upon them with surprise, for his last illness was of only two days’ duration,

We shrink from touching on matters of a private and domestic nature. Yet this brief memoir would be incomplete if we did not add that Mr Brittan was a humble and devout Christian, and that under the pressure of severe trials which beset the closing years of his life, he was supported, first and foremost, by the consolations of religion, and together with these by the dutiful succour and sympathy of a united family. He was buried yesterday in the churchyard at Papanui, of which parish his second son, the Rev F. G. Brittan, is incumbent. It was his own expressed wish that his remains should rest there, and there let us leave them in reverent hope, trusting that he has “found a better country,” and is “ A breather of an ampler day, For ever nobler ends.”