GEORGE UNDERHILL.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 24 December 1912, Page 3

GEORGE UNDERHILL.

(An appreciation by an old friend)

One summer evening, about thirty years ago, after a hot and dusty walk from Makarau, I met ; a man at the door of a Helensville' hotel whom I had never seen before, In reply to my enquiry if tea was over, he said- " I'm not sure, I'll go and see." He soon returned with the joyful intelligence that there was still a drop in the pot and that he had announced that there was a traveller just arrived, who was eager and ready to take it. The kindliness of his demeanour and his evident desire to be of service to a weary wayfarer, impressed me greatly at the time, and laid the foundation of a friendship that lasted unbroken till the death of " George Underhill " in the Hamilton hospital at the beginning of last month —for he was the man. I little knew 1 last saw him at the Auckland railway station, some six months ago, when he was good enough to come down to see me off, that I saw him for the last time for ever. I thought, judging from his appearance, that there were twenty good years in him yet, and I believe he must have thought so himself, as a short time before his death he asked his old friend, Mr Dickson, of Newmarket, to forward a box of his to his headquarters at Tauhoa to be returned with tools for his summer campaign. The brief announcement of his death in the Auckland papers must have been received by his many friends in Helensville and elsewhere with deep regret. George Underhill, as he was familiarly called, was a good citizen, a competent, conscientious tradesman, an undemonstrative, but true friend. One who never sought the limelight of publicity or the applause of men. One who believed that One self-approving hour whole years outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas. Our deceased friend had, of course, his fads and fancies like all of us ; he wouldn't have been George Underhill, such as we knew him, if he hadn't. He may have had his faults ; he wouldn't have been human if he hadn't, but they were few and microscopic Though a most patriotic Englishman, I believe he would have made a bad soldier. He couldn't for long, allow any man called a " superior officer " to do all his thinking for him. He thought deeply for himself on all subjects, and spoke seldom, but always spoke well. He was a .voracious reader. Often when sleeping in the same room with him, have I woke up after my " first sleep " to find my old friend deeply engrossed in his book. He evidently believed with Moore that The very best way t,o lengthen our days Is to steal a few hours from the night, boys. Though of a serious, almost sad, turn of mind, no one ever enjoyed a clean joke, or made one apropos to the occasion better than he, but it was alway clean. He had a large stock of amusing little stories that were always well told, and always set the table in a roar. He was fond of music, could play both cornet and oboe, and, I believe, a little on the violin. Though I do not wish to imply that my deceased friend played always on borrowed instruments yet, paradoxical as it may appear, no one had a greater repugnance to " blowing his own trumpet" than he. He used to drolly remark that the fellow who did, played only one tune on it, and the world soon got tired of that. Though not a regular church-goer George Underhill was a deeply devout man. Of the future he often said to mo " We know nothing," though he had the greatest toleration for those who said we do. I never heard him speak of any relative but a sister living in the South of France, at Nice, whom he^often expressed the intention j of going to see. Although he was always very reserved on matters of that sort, I'm sure " George" must have acquired a competency, as he worked steadily all his life and was always in demand. How his estate has been disposed of I have no idea. For over twenty years he made his home with his old friends, Mr ■ and Mrs Littin, of Tauhoa, and "Mr and Mrs Stevenson, of Mangai kura, and the uncertainty of his i movements between these two places was a source of amusement amongst his many friends. He . generally dropped in at either home when least expected, and generally dropped out as he drop- \ ped in, and always quietly. lie 1 was a foe to unnecessary noise of t any sort. r I will conclude this imperfect j sketch by quoting the opinion of a man who knew the subject of it 3 well, and who knew the world well too —" George Underhill is 5 one of the most genuinely polite s men I ever knew." As to the ; quality of his work ; an architect under whose supervision our

friend worked, said to me years ago in Auckland —" I wish we had more Underbills ! " What his hand—and such a hand !—found to do he did with his might. Old friend, a long farewell I—W.A.W.