Obituaries Australia

Mr Henry Kesterton, J.P., a very old inhabitant of the Manaro district, died at his residence, The Falls, Bombala, on the 7th instant, at the advanced age of 78 years. Deceased leaves in bereavement two sons and a daughter, the latter being the wife of Mr. E. F. Druitt, of Cooma. In the old days, Mr. Kesterton figured on the hustings in Cooma as a prominent supporter of candidates for Parliamentary honors, and on one occasion he was chaired by enthusiastic adherents in Cooma. He was well known and respected by many settlers in the early days, when the Manaro Mercury was the only paper, and Cooma the centre of all political movements between Twofold Bay and Goulburn. The funeral on Sunday afternoon was the largest ever seen in Bombala, there being upwards of 500 persons of all denominations present; even Chinamen attended. At the grave the funeral service was read by the Rev. Canon Betts, the incumbent of the Church of England, at Bombala, where the remains of an old connecting link between the past and present of Manaro are laid to rest. He died in comfortable circumstances, and his family will reap what has been gleaned by a gentleman whose commercial speculations were governed by a well-balanced head. Although deemed close in monetary matters, he was never deaf to any genuine call of charity, and one old man in Bombala is mourning the loss of a benefactor who helped him in his declining years.