News was received in Adelaide on Wednesday morning of the death of the Rev. John Gardner, which had just occurred at Toorak, Victoria. The intelligence was received with profound regret by all who could look back to the time when the colony was much younger than it is, and especially by those connected with the Presbyterian Church in the colony. His upright figure, sturdy gait, and hale and hearty appearance made him conspicuous among the citizens of Adelaide in the fifties and sixties.

Mr. Gardner, who had reached the ripe age of ninety years spent a useful career as a minister of the Gospel, and he assisted materially in building up the Presbyterian Church in the colonies. Before coming to South Australia, in 1850, Mr. Gardner was a student in the University at Glasgow, after which he went to Edinburgh, where he studied under the care of the celebrated Dr. Thomas Chalmers. Subsequently he was given the oversight of a Church at Birkenhead, England, which position he left to come to Australia.

At the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in May, 1889, the Moderator, the Rev. R. Mitchell, in reviewing the history of the Church - a history then extending over fifty years - stated: - "In 1849 several gentlemen holding Free-Church principles sent a memorial to the Colonial Committee of the Free Church of Scotland asking that a minister might be sent out. The position was offered to and accepted by the Rev. John Gardner, of Birkenhead, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Glasgow. He arrived in Adelaide in the month of March, 1850. For the first three Sabbaths his services were conducted by the consent of the Trustees of the building in the schoolroom adjoining St. Paul's Church, Pulteney Street. A room at the rear of the Freemasons Tavern was then obtained, and occupied until about July, when the Exchange Room in King William Street was rented from the late Mr. J. B. Neales, and the congregation met there until Chalmers Church was erected, and opened on the first Sabbath in 1851."

After preaching for the congregation of Chalmers Church for about eighteen years, he accepted a call to Launceston, Tasmania; thence he proceeded to Victoria, and laboured with the Church at Queenscliffe. He continued his ministerial career until about ten or twelve years ago, when, owing to his increasing years, he practically retired from the pulpit.

Having been trained in the early part of the century, Mr. Gardner may be described as having been a disciple of the old school of theology, and was not particularly attracted by the more recent development of thought. He always had the courage of his opinions, and did not mince matters in dealing with controversial opponents. However, although often severe in his critisms he was not a man to cherish malice.

While in Adelaide he took great interest in educational matters, and he was intimately connected with the movement for the establishment of "Competitive Examinations," which may be regarded as the forerunner of the University tests of the efficiency of pupils in the principal Sunday Schools of the province. He was one of the examiners, and afterwards published a pamphlet entitled "Glimpses into the Unseen and Unknown," which took the form of a satirical commentary upon the numerous papers which had passed through his hands, which, of course contained a good many mistakes of a humourous character.

He had a good voice with a strong Scotch "burr," was no mean elocutionist, and at times when aroused his speech was characterized by burning eloquence. An incident is related by his friend, the Rev. J. Lyall, who states that on one occasion, when a party was becalmed on Lake Alexandrina, the time was made to pass most pleasantly by a recital by Mr. Gardner of Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake."

The late Dr. Gardner, of Adelaide, was a son of the deceased clergyman, and Messrs. Gavin Gardner, of Adelaide, and George Gardner, of Melbourne, are also sons. The deceased also has a daughter living in Victoria.