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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

[Ex-Councillors]

Mr. William Bamber, who was a member of the Wanganui County Council for six years, is a member of the Purua Road Board, and for over four years also held a seat on the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. He is a sheepfarmer residing on the No. 2 Line, Wanganui.

Mr. Lawrence Cowan, who held office for three years ending 1896 as a councillor of the Wanganui County Council, is a native of the Island of Coll, Argyllshire, Scotland, where he was born in 1862. Educated at the parish school, he came to New Zealand via Melbourne in 1877, and gained experience in country life in the Wairarapa, being overseer for Messrs. Handyside and Roberts, at Glencoe Station, Akitio, where he continued five years. In 1887 Mr. Cowan was appointed manager of the Hon. Dr. Grace's stations, “Lismore” and “Aruri,” at Upokongaro, where he still remains. For two years he was a member of the Wanganui Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. In sporting and agricultural and pastoral affairs Mr. Cowan takes a keen interest. He is a member of the committee of the Wanganui Agricultural and Pastoral Association, a member of the Wanganui Jockey Club, the Warrengate Polo Club, and secretary of the Wanganui Polo Club. In 1892 Mr. Cowan married a daughter of Mr. W. Patterson, of Gordon Park, No. 3 Line, and has two daughters.

Photo by A. Martin. Mr. L. Cowan.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. L. Cowan
.

Mr. William Craig, for many years a member of the Wanganui County Council, and at one time chairman of that body, is the owner of the well-known property named “Marybank,” situated near Wanganui, where he resides. He has a property further out on the same road consisting of 800 acres; and has also a sheep-run at Murimotu, of 7000 acres (native lease), which carries a flock of 5000 sheep. Mr Craig was born in 1833 near Glasgow, where he was educated. In 1857 he came to New Zealand in the ship “Burmah,” and started a dairy farm near Dunedin, which he carried on for five years. For the next fifteen years he was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Otago; he then left that district for Wanganui. Mr. Craig has made his name more particularly in the breeding of prize-stock, having been one of the largest prizewinners in the South Island for shorthorn cattle and draught horses and in the early days of his arrival in Wanganui he was equally successful. In draught stock he has bred the two stallions Sir William Wallace and Sir Robert Bruce, whose progeny are well known throughout the whole of the North Island. As a judge in these matters his services are eagerly sought after, and for many years he has occupied that position at Hawera, Patea, and also in Hawkes Bay. He is an active member of the Wanganui Agricultural and Pastoral Society. In public affairs Mr. Craig was a member of the Wanganui Harbour Board and the school committee, and together with the other positions named has served the public for twenty-five years. Whilst in Oamaru he was a member of the county council for several years. His present wife is a daughter of Mr. Cook, a wellknown ex-Civil Servant, of Dunedin; his children number fourteen.

Mr. Henry Charles Gower, the well-known sheepfarmer of Bonny Glen Estate, Turakina, was for some time a member of the Wanganui County Council. His father, Mr. John Gower, who landed in New Zealand in 1840, died in 1864, and his mother, twelve years later. The youngest of ten children, he was born on the 22nd of October, 1859, on the fine property of 840 acres he now owns, and was brought up to a country life. Originally page 1374 covered with fern, toi-toi, and scrub, the Bonny Glen Estate has been fully, cleared and brought into cultivation, and carries 1800 sheep—100 acres being devoted to cropping. Mr. Gower was married in 1887 to a daughter of Mr. Joseph Smith, settler, of Waitotara, and has two sons and two daughters.

Mr. Archibald McDonell, who for seven years was a member of the Wanganui County Council, is a wellknown farmer of Kauangaroa, Fordell. Born in 1846 at Glengarry, Scotland, Mr. McDonell landed with his parents at Melbourne in 1862. He tried his luck on the goldfields, but soon turned his attention to New Zealand, crossing over to Otago in 1863. For nearly two years he worked on the diggings. Coming to the North Island he engaged in various works, including road-contracting, for some years. Subsequently he took up his present run of 1300 acres, which now carries 3000 Lincoln sheep and a good herd of shorthorn cattle. Mr. McDonell re-visited his native country in 1893.

Mr. Edmund Richard Morgan, who held a seat on the Wanganui County Council for three years, is a son of Mr. John Morgan, of “Newton Lees,” No. 1 Line, Wanganui, and was born in New Plymouth in 1855. In 1890 and 1891 he filled the responsible position of Government Valuer for the Land and Income Tax Department. He was appointed valuer in 1895 to the Wanganui County Council, and now holds an appointment as valuer under the “Advances to Settlerd Act.” He is sergeant-major of the Alexandra Cavalry, of which corps he has been a member for twenty-three years; and in his youthful days he was an active member of the Wanganui Football Club and Union Beating Club. Mr. Morgan is a member of the United Ancient Order of Druids, in which he holds a high position, and is now D.P. for No. 4 District of the District-Grand Lodge of the North Island, New Zealand. Mrs. Morgan is a daughter of the late Mr. W. S. Bussell, formerly a sergeant in H.M. Artillery, and afterwards landlord of the Rutland Hotel in 1862. There is a family of two sons and two daughters.
page 1375

Mr. William Elvins Morgan was for five years ending August, 1896, a member of the Wanganui County Council. He was born in 1857 in Wanganui, and received his education at Kaitoke School, No. 1 Line. For about seventeen years he was farming in that district and at Waverley. He has cheerfully rendered public service as a member of the Kaitoke Road Board for four years, and during part of his term as a member of the County Council he represented that body on the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. Mr. Morgan has disposed of his farming interests, and is now the largest shareholder in the firm of M. Hogan and Co., Limited, he having acquired Mr. Hogan's interest in that business.

Photo by A. Martin. Mr. W. E. Morgan.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. W. E. Morgan
.