Page:History of Knox Church Dunedin.djvu/176

Mr Blair's official duties necessitated his removal from Dunedin to Wellington in 1884, where he resided with his family until his death. Within a comparatively short period after his promotion to the post of Engineer-in-Chief he was laid prostrate by serious illness—disease of the kidneys—to which he succumbed at the end of about eight months. His remains were brought to Dunedin for interment in the Northern Cemetery. The funeral service was held in Knox Church (to which place the body had been removed), and was attended by a large number of friends and the general public. The following address, delivered on the occasion by Dr Stuart, his former pastor and much attached friend, will be read with interest:—"Mr Blair, whose mortal remains we are to accompany to their last resting-place, arrived in the colony 27 years ago, and shortly afterwards attached himself to Knox Church. He showed his interest in religion by his unfailing attendance on its services. After some years of quiet work and testimony he was called to the deaconship. In that office his voice and vote were ever on the side of progress. He was a warm supporter of the Sustentation Fund as an efficient plan for taking the glorious Gospel to the sparsely-peopled districts. I often heard him remark on the pulse of joy which the sight of school or kirk in the remote settlements excited in his bosom. In the final arrangements for the building of this church he was appointed chairman of the Building Committee. The undertaking was great, but in due time it was completed. Great as was the joy of the congregation and the Building Committee, that of its chairman was far greater when this beautiful and convenient church was opened for public worship. Some of us will never forget Mr Blair's short speech at the soiree in commemoration of the opening. When I was spending a few days with him last month, the story of the church, with its incidents, was rehearsed, and he said, 'If God spare me, I mean to be with you to join in your joy at the cancellation of the debt; but, with the record of the last seven months behind me, I dare not count on to-morrow. But, whether I am with you or not, there will be—some eight months hence at the longest—great joy when you announce that our beautiful church is now a free offering to the preaching of the Gospel. I am sure you will not forget that many have a stone in our cairn who do not statedly worship with us.' It is my prayer that God may give the churches friends and workers after the type of Mr Blair in head and