Australian and a resident of Cat-far act Hill, Launceston, Tasmania, died on September "25," at the age of 95 years. The death of this gentleman would not have caused very much comment except for the fact that, when he was forty years of age, his wife died and from that day to the date of his death he never ventured past his front He was known locally as Hermit of Cataract Hill" and though his relatives visited him attempted to get him to take n interest in business once again he would not do so. In his will left his interest in a will made by his grandfather, the money of which has long since gone into Chancery, to various relatives. The large fortune which he had ace cumulated out of land investments and a paint and hardware business is also divided amongst relatives Daily Mr. French paid a visit to his wife's room, which has bee kept in the same condition as it was before her death. Mr. French possessed a bound volume cental ing every issue of the "Van Die-men's Land Gazette," which eon tained the names and offences of every convict sent from Great Britain to Van Dicmen's Land. He suffered no ill-health from his self imposed seclusion until a few days before his death.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.