THE LATE SIR DONALD McLEAN —HIS PARENTAGE AND EARLY CAREER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4943, 25 January 1877, Page 3

THE LATE SIR DONALD McLEAN —HIS PARENTAGE AND EARLY CAREER.

(From the New Zealand Herald.) Since the appearance of our biographical notice of the late Sir Donald McLean, we have been, put in possession of the following particulars concerning his family relations, as well as his movements in his youthful days; Sir Donald was the youngest son of Mr. John McLean, of Kilraaluag, in the Island of Tyree, Argyleshire, Scotland. The Kilmaluag family—who were offshoots of the McLeans of Coll—resided in Tyree for several generations as tacksmen, paying a nominal rent to the Duke of Argyle, of whose large estates in the Western: Islands that island forms a portiop. Sir Donald McLean’s father married ja ; daughter of the Rev. Donald McColl, minister of Tyree, by whom he had a large family* several of these dying in infancy. Mr. McColl educated one of his sons (Donald) for the ministry, and after being licensed to preach, he was appointed missionary at Kingairloch, on the wettern shores of Loch Linnhe, and within sixteen miles of Fort William. When only twelve or thirteen years of age, Donald McLean was taken to Kingairloch by his rov. uncle, with the view of giving him a liberal education, and thus preparing him for one of the learned professions. Young Donald did not, however, like the idea of being made a parson, a doctor, or a lawyer, and he stoutly set his mind against learning, and hated attending school. His uncle,' who was a bachelor, did all ho could to impress upon his nephew the impropriety of neglecting his education in his boyish days, and frequently told him that if he lived till he arrived at manhood ho would deeply regret his folly; and this prediction was fully verified in the assiduity with which McLean applied himself to the acquirement of knowledge after receiving his first appointment under the New Zealand Government. No doubt he often called his uncle’s advice to recollection, and as often upbraided himself for not complying with it. When about nineteen years old he left homo and took ship from Glasgow to Sydney, where he remained for some months, and then sailed for New Zca-

land. After the disruption in the Church o Scotland in 1843, the Bev. .Donald McCol 1 left Kingairloch, he having received a presentation to the parish of Glenorchy,' in the upper part of Lome, where he spent the remainder of his days, and where he kept up regular communication with his nephew, whom he greatly esteemed for the energy he had shown in improving his position after leaving home.' McColl died about eight years ago, at the age of seventy-nine. The only near! relative of the late Sir Donald now living at home is an aunt, the widow of the late Kev. Laehlan McKenzie, minister ot Jura, Argyleshire—-who ' is' bordering upon fourscore years. Sir Donald McLean was entirely a self-taught man, he being scarcely able to read or write when he arrived in this colony. Finding-that he could not succeed without greatly' improving his .education, he determined to redeem the time he had wasted whilst he was under his uncle’s roof In “ unimproving his mind,’’ as he himself was wont to say, and he.did so. For many years he read, wrote, and studied most industriously, frequently sitting up till two o’clock in the morning to overcome the many difficulties which the neglect of his early mental improvement necessarily threw in his way.