In Memoriam.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3139, 11 March 1879, Page 2

In Memoriam.

JAMBS HOPCRAFT.

It is our painful duty to speak of one, gone to join the gi'eat majority; one of our most esteemed citizens, and oue who has written in our columns for the instruction and advancement of all classes in this community fpr years —James Hopcbatt, the lute editor of this journal. .The overpowering sense of our loss and our grief prevents us from writing this in memoriam with that fluency we would wish, but at the same time the necessity of fulfilling our duty to departed worth, com pells us to essay the task. The loss of a good man is subject for regret at all times, no matter how consoling may be the reflections, that out of the paint and penalties »f this weary world, a , brother has gone, and that all who mourn him must follow at the appointed time. The,loss to this community of a devoted advocate, of an earnest worker for the common good, of a writer who, while advocating a cause for the good of all, still wrote of men and measures in' round, well set terras, ib a calamity that d oes not fortunately befall us every day, and *.hen it does is felt keenly. In all the years that the Stab has been under:the control of Mb Hopcbait, as proprietor and editor, few lines were written in it, and none by his hand, that ever brought a' blush to the cheeks of the virtuous, or gave cause to the readers to regret that the same had been penned To an unusual amount of common sense, our late editor possessed that fine feeling of sen* sibility which precluded his ever being led by earnestness in the subject under consideration, to transgress the laws of propriety, and which prevented him' from writing » word that, in the instance of men against whose views he was compelled to write, might give offence, or to the advocates of party measures an inrvease of' animosity. Mb Hopcbatt came of an old English family tor centuries resident in Oxfordshire, and was early apprenticed to the printing business. He came to If ew Zealand fovcr 25 years ago, toDunedin, with Mr Oalcott, a gentleman well known in the South Island, and completed his term of apprenticeship in the office of Mr Lambert, proprietor of the Colonist, in the early days of Dunedin. After the death ot Mr Lambert, whom some old 'Auckland men may remember, Mr Hopcbaft, in partnership with Mr Mills, started the Evening News, the first evening paper in Dunedin, and carried on the business of general printers and publishers. At the outbreak of the Maori war, Mr Ho?cratt, being offered a commission in the Ist Waikato Regiment, he being an efficient Volunteer in Dunedin, sold out and came to Auckland with the first contigent of men from the South. He proceeded immediately to headquarters at Drury, and woe posted with his men to Captain Brewin's Company, of the Ist Waikato Regiment, and stationed at Tuakau, in the Waikato. From there he went to Tauranga, and took part in an engagement with the natives at Te Kings, serving under Colonel Greer, with detachments of the 68th and 43rd Regiments. In 1865, when the left wing of his Regiment was ordered to the Waikato, Mb Hopcbait, then Lieutenant, returned with it, and was posted at Harapipi and other stations in the Waikato. After twelve months' service he was ordered back to Tauranga (then the headquarters of tre Regiment), and continued upon duty till 1867, about which time he selected his land at Opotiki, and his company was disbanded.

Mb Hopceaft came to the Thames in 1863, and tor gome time speculated in mining ventures, sharing the luck which befell the too-confiding and inexperienced, even in those days which we look back to now with regret, aa the good old times when gold was plentiful. He subsequently held an interest in the John Butt claim, Tararu, working his share in company will, his future partner, Mr McCullough, who also held a share in that mine. After spending some time at mining work, an opening as editor of the Evbnins Stab, then just established by Mr Shaw occurred, which office Mb Eopobaft accepted, and thh connection has only by death been severed. The Stab after the failure of Mr Shaw, fell into the hands of himself, Mr McCullough and some other gentiemen, all of whom sold their interests to the two friends. Since that time to the present Mb Hopcbam has never been absent a month from his duties, and how well he fulfilled the office of editor the numerous readers of the Stab . can testify. He was a most enthusiastic Mason, being one of the founders of the Lodge of Light, subsequently occupying the chair, and of which he remained a member till hit death. He waß also 2nd Principal o{ the Abboteford Boyal Arch Chapter. Tha illness of which ho died first appeared as a severe attack of rheumatism, afterward accompanied by fever, and finally settled into congestion of the brain. He had every attention that could be paid, and all that medical skill could devise was used to alleviate his sufferings. Until yesterday the symptc»ns were not thought to be so rery serious, and the deep sleep which he had during Sunday night was thought to ba ibe turning point, and he would wake up refreshed. Such anticipations were not realised, and at 3.15, without any apparent suffering, he passed quietly away to that " borne from whence no traveller returns." He was a most &ff otionate husband and father, and sterling in his friendships ; a man that never did another a wrong, and leaves, we believe, not an enemy behind.