OBITUARY MR H. S. WARDELL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10630, 8 May 1912, Page 5

OBITUARY

MR H. S. WARDELL.

A brief. message in ouir columns of yesterday, whdcili was received at' a very late hour, contained the announcement of the death cf Mr Henry S. Wandelili, an , announcement which wo wild readily come as a shock to old identities of the ''district. Mr WardeU had been m ■ Mlastcrton only a few days previous to . hiis death, and had mingled with old friends and shaken hands with some- of-the' younger generation who knew nam, by repu'be alone'. Few thought that lie was then so near the divide. And yet the diepenisation has come. The life of tllie departed gentleman: wil live long in- the history ofthe Walirarapa. Born in London in 1830,, he ca.me to New Zealand in tihe year 1855, landing iiii Auckland "in the chip "Merchantmid i." Soon, rlftor his arrival he was appointed to the responsible- position of Magistrate in charge of the East Coast district. Those were troublous times, when' determination and acumen were necessary to the pregerva-. tion of human life". Associated with h,'m were Colonel Porter, Colonel Roberts and others wlho saw duty. In the yeair 1860 the late Mr Wardel'was ( appointed Magistrate to the Wairarapa,, and here, as on the 'East Cbai&t, he rendered aclimiraWe sea-vfce. For twenty-five years he.presided over the • local Magistrate's But it was not alone in the admiinistration of justice that he was an. important figure. He did itiucib to preserve law. and order when the Government found itself weak in teii-itoribl forces. Hevwafe associated with, the Wairarapa • Militia, and directed the movements . of miXtary bodies to cencferve the livelihood of the few inhaftritants who then patronised tihe district. In his moveir.2ir,iti lie was ably a&sisted by the late Mr J. "J. 'Frefeth, for many years Cleric of the Court at iMastert'on. He was the founder of the Wairarapa' Ktadng Cub, of which he remained Patron, to his death. After a long and feitih'M l service in. the Waiirarapa, Mr Wardell was appointed to the Magistracy of WelHiigiicn, a position wihidh he filled with ciredcit until the! year 1888, wiien he a-et'Jred on pension. Slince then, he has occupied the position, of relievihg Magistrate in various parts'of the (Dominion. v •In 1873, he acquired Te WShiti station, near Masterton, on lease, subsequently securing the (freehold. Mrs' Wardell died in 1887, and three'years] later e married the widow of the late J Mr' John, Sheeban. His family consists of three sons and four daughters by his first wife,.and one son and, one daughter tby his second wife.

Mr Wardel'l' was one of the founlers amid the first president of the Home for tihe 'Aged Needy, Wellington, ajyi was a member for very mainy years of the' Academy of i!ine Arts, being President up till *a short time ago. In ibis youing days at Home he 'took up the" study of art, obtaining a Sqmerset Bouse isdhdarsSbip. He was an exhibiitor in souflptiuire a't.t'he great exhibition held in 1851, and in that and subsequent years exhibited -at the Roy a? Academy.

During his long official! carreer in New Zealand, ; Mr Ward'ell held many offices. He was made Ooiromiissi'on.er of Native -Reserves in 1861, and district judge in the same year. In 1898 ■he was appointed chairman of the Po- ; lice Commission, member of the Stoke Industrial CfonrmisEiion in 1890, Native. Schools Trust 'Commission, 1905, and" sat on many other commissions., He wa's a memlbeir of the South Island'Reipreisentaticn Cbmmis.sion., and president of the New Zealand Academy of (Fine 'Arts. Deceased is survived by four sons and four 3aughteir£'. They are Messrs W. W'ardeM of Te Whitii, V. Wardeli o" Bay of Islands, and H. Wardell of 9tronvr.>r; Miss Teresa Wardell, of Wellington!; Mirs George Pearce, of Lower Hutit; Mrs Norman Beethiam, of Masterton, and two young children, a, boy and girl, both offspring of the second marriage. One daughter, the laite Mais 'John M'aterae, predeceased liimi a few years ago. The funeral will' ileave St. Patrick's Church, Mastertom, on Thursday afternoon,, at 2 o'clock.