Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Old Colonists, Etc

Old Colonists, Etc.

Ayles, Adam, Naval Pensioner, Carterton. The son of a Dorsetshire farmer, Mr. Ayles was born in 1848 at Marnhill, Dorset, England, where he went to school till twelve years of age. After four years on his father's farm, he ran away to sea, joining H.M.S. “St. Vincent” at Portsmouth. Subsequently he served on Her Majesty's ships “Rodney,” “Satellite,” “Himalaya,” and “Danæ,” and had some years instruction in gunnery on the “Excellent.” Having been selected for service in the Polar Seas, on Adam Ayles the 9th of May, 1875, he sailed in H.M.S. “Alert,” which with H.M.S. “Discovery,” Captain Stevenson, formed an expedition under Captain Sir George Nares to attempt to discover the North Pole. The “Discovery” was left at Lady Franklyn's Sound, the “Alert” passing up the Polar basin till latitude 82 deg. 20 min. 26 sec. north was reached, when she became icebound. Mr. Ayles had many trying sledging experiences in which he accompanied Lieutenant Aldridge, with whom he ascended Mt. Juliet—2580 feet—and had the honour of being one of the small party that beat Parry's record in 1827 by gaining latitude 83 deg. 7 sec., a point several miles further north than the former expedition. Mr. Ayles—a life-long total abstainer and an enthusiastic Oddfellow—erected a cairn, in which he placed the Grand Lodge seal of the Good Templar Order of England, and placed over it a flag bearing the emblems of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows. In these days, when the use of ardent spirits is often claimed to be the best antidote to cold, Mr. Ayles disputes it, challenging those who say so to plant their proof nearer the North Pole than his Good Templar medal. During the keen privations endured on the return journey Lieutenant Aldridge and Mr. Ayles—the only total abstainers—escaped both scurvy and frostbites, and were able to pull the sledges, endurng cold 73 degrees below zero, when all the rest, who used intoxicants, were unable to walk. After the expedition reached Portsmouth in November, 1876, the crews were paid off, and Mr. Ayles went on leave. He was presented with a gold medal by the National Temperance League of England, and by the District Lodge of Good Templars, South Hants. Mr. Ayles also received Miss Weston's Royal Navy Temperance League medal, and the Arctic and Royal Navy long service and good conduct medal. He has also decorations for and ranks as a first-class seaman in gunnery. He was afterwards on duty on the warships “Excellent,” “Osprey,” “Triumph,” and “Dart,” and took his discharge in Sydney in 1885. Remaining in Australia till 1892, with the exception of a few months, during which he visited England, Mr. Ayles came to New Zealand, settling in Carterton, where he is much respected. As a vestryman in St. Mark's Church and Past Chief Ruler of the local Tent of Rechabites, he takes interest in local institutions. He has passed through all the chairs and taken the highest Grand Lodge degree in the Good Templar Order, and is still an active Oddfellow. Mr. Ayles has never married, though he says he “has had many narrow escapes.”

Mason, William, Senr. Mr. Mason was born on the 1st of November, 1800, at Warwick, England, but his parents afterwards removed to Nottingham, where he served his time as a
Mr. William Mason.

Mr. William Mason.

page 919 blacksmith and lace machinist. In the year 1840 he emigrated to New Zealand in the ship “London” under the auspices of the New Zealand Company, and arrived in the Colony after a long and tedious voyage of four months. On arrival the emigrants were landed at Pipitea Point, where the depot was just being erected, the materials for erection having been sent out in the ship “Cuba.” Mr. Mason remained at Pipitea Point until he was able to build a house (which, by the way, consisted of mud and battens) for himself. After this he was employed for some time by Mr. K. Mathieson, a ship-builder from the Clyde, who brought the whole of his plant in a barque of his own named the “Clydeside,” and commenced business at Kaiwarawara, where he repaired and built several vessels. Mr. Mathieson not being very successful, left for Sydney, and Mr. Mason commenced business for himself as a blacksmith on Lambton Quay. This he carried on successfully for a number of years, when he retired from active business life. Mr. Mason, assisted by Messrs. George Haigh and Sydney Hirst, all being past officers from Home, was the founder of the first lodge in New Zealand of the Independent Order of Oddfellows. Manchester Unity, viz., the Britannia Lodge. Mr. Mason, together with the same gentlemen, was afterwards instrumental in founding the Antipodean Lodge, of which he was an active member until the time of his death, which occurred when sixty years of age.

Rayner, John, Sheep Breeder and Farmer, Grange Farm, Taratahi, near Masterton. Mr. Rayner—who is a noted breeder of Lincoln sheep, and has a fine stud stock, the result of twenty-seven years experience—hails from Lincolnshire, England, where he was born in 1838. He came to New Zealand with his father by the ship “Lady Cornwall” in 1853, and worked at the Hutt for some time, principally in the butchery business. In 1861 he came to the Wairarapa and took up the property on which he now resides, embarking in the dairying business. Mr. Rayner is now a large property holder, his sons being engaged in managing the John Rayner various farms he owns. In his early days at the Hutt Mr. Rayner was for four years a volunteer, and was afterwards in the militia in the Wairarapa district for several years. In local politics he has taken little part, preferring to devote his energies to the development of his properties, and he now enjoys the result of his exertions. In 1891 Mr. Rayner took an eight months trip to the Old Country, five months being spent in England. Mr. Rayner is a member of the Taratahi-Carterton Road Board. His family consists of five sons and four daughters.

Smith, Thomas Henry, Stock Dealer, Carterton. Born in 1833 in Rochester, Kent, England, and educated at a private school, Mr. Smith left England when nineteen years of age with his father, a sea captain, and five others in the cutter “Lelia,” forty-eight tons, owned by Mr. Thomas Law Rogers, of Kent. In this little craft these adventurous spirits reached the Cape of Good Hope, where they took in fresh supplies and resumed their journey for Melbourne, which they ultimately reached after a long and stormy passage. Of the seven on board, Mr. Smith is now the only survivor. Arrived at Melbourne, the cutter was sold to the Victorian Government to do service as a survey cutter, and Mr. Smith went with his father to Ballarat, where they worked for a time in the old gravel pits. After a time Mr. Smith, senr, started business as a brewer, naming his establishment the Kent Brewery, which, though originally only a calico structure, has since become a stone building of immense proportions. The subject of this notice worked at the brewery with his father until it was sold, and the latter returned to England. After his father's departure, Mr. Smith, who had been in the famous Ballarat riot and had gained some considerable experience of gold-diggers and their rough ways, decided to throw in his lot with them. For many years he followed goldmining, visiting Bendigo, Castlemaine. Back Creek, Day's Hill, Barker's Creek, and other notable diggings. Going to Port Curtis rush, his mates all succumbed to the hardships experienced, and Mr. Smith returned to Melbourne, his condition, in the parlance of the diggers, being “stone broke.” The Ovens district then attracted his attention and he was soon there, but very shortly moved on into New South Wales, where he worked at Burrongong until the celebrated Gabriel's Gully rush in Otago found him amongst the number rushing there. He was fortunate in striking gold, and, amassing a small fortune in a short time, he returned to Melbourne. The Dunstan rush brought him again to New Zealand, and from it he followed up Bell Fox to Arrowtown, Skippers, Upper Shotover, and other Otago diggings, and crossed over the mountain ranges of north-west Otago to Martin's Bay on the West Coast. After months spent in prospecting, during which he suffered great hardships, and was at one time reduced to maintaining life on rats and sou' thistles, he returned to the Upper Shotover, arriving in a greatly exhausted state. His mate died on the way. After departing from the Shotover he went to Dunedin, where he married Miss McGee, of that city. Mr. Smith then went to Havelock, from whence he accompanied the pioneers into Westland in 1864. Landing at Hokitika, Mr. Smith joined the rush to Waimea, where his son—Waimea Smith, the first boy born on the West Coast—saw the light of this world. Mr. Smith accompanied the first party of white men up the Grey River, where gold had been discovered. The journey up the river with wife and child was made in a canoe, which proved at times a rather risky means of transport for a household. After staying on the Grey for two years, Mr. Smith went from one rush to another until he had visited almost all the fields on the West Coast. Leaving the South Island Mr. Smith went to the Thames goldfields—then recently opened—and subsequently, when the Duke of Edinburgh page 920 visited that field, he was deputed to pilot H.R.H. through the various mines. A piece of exceedingly rich stone which was cut up in commemoration of the Prince's visit was secured by Mr. Smith, who still wears a pendant made from it. Leaving the Thames, Mr. Smith went trading to the South Sea Islands until his vessel the “Kate Grant,” was wrecked, he being cast away on an island, where he had to stay for six months. Being taken off at last, he was brought to Auckland, all his money being lost in the wrecked vessel and her cargo, and Mr. Smith had to make a fresh start in the world. Commencing business as a provision dealer, he became for some considerable time one of the lessees of the well-known Supreme Court site in Auckland. He sold out subsequently and went to Wellington, where he opened a provision shop in Lambton Quay in the premises now occupied by Mr. Bedford, umbrella manufacturer. After a few years experience in business in the Empire City, during which time he speculated heavily in West Coast goldmines, Mr. Smith removed to Manners Street, where he was burnt out in the big fire that almost demolished that street. He then started the Workman's Advocate and Anti-Chinaman newspaper, which was published for nine months. During his residence in Wellington he published reproductions of the London Times containing the accounts of the Battles of the Nile, Trafalgar, and Waterloo. The printing was beautifully executed by Messrs. Edwards and Green, now Edwards, Russell and Co. (Limited), and copies printed on satin in gold characters were presented to and accepted by Her Majesty the Queen, Admiral Tryon, the Governor of New Zealand, and others. In 1892 he came with his family to Carterton, where he has resided up to the time of writing. Mr. Smith was married a second time, the lady being Miss Maria Welch, daughter of Mr. Henry Welch, whose name appears on the first burgess roll of the City of Wellington. Mr. Smith is now a widower, his family numbering eight, all of whom survive—three sons and five daughters. The eldest son, Mr. Waimea Smith, is in the Mines Department in Victoria; Mr. Henry Smith is chief steward on the s.s. “Wainui,” and Mr. Thomas Hodgman Smith is employed in a store in Napier. As a young man Mr. Smith was a distinguished athlete, and holds a gold and two silver cups besides other prizes for Cumberland wrestling, jumping, and long distance running in Australian sports gatherings. He was a member of the first naval brigade formed in Wellington, and is a member of the Orders of Foresters, Oddfellows, and Druids. Some years ago he imported sugar beet seed from France and Germany, thus introducing the sugar beet industry to the Wairarapa. Mr. Smith had the satisfaction of demonstrating that the highest percentage of sugar was to be found in the Wairarapa grown beet. He is still pushing the industry. Recently he has acquired a promising mining property in the Wairarapa district, and having secured the Government analyst's favourable report on specimens from it submitted for test, Mr. Smith is floating a company, which is to be called the Empire Goldmining Co., to secure the necessary capital to work his rich find. Though now somewhat advanced in years, Mr. Smith seems as full of energy and enterprise as ever, and, owing to the numerous claims on his attention, has had to decline a flattering request to contest the Wairarapa electorate at the 1896 general election.

Strang, James, one of Wairarapa's early settlers, was born in Scotland in 1813, and came to New Zealand in 1851. After spending a short time in Christchurch, Mr. Strang returned to the North Island. He immediately made his way to the Wairarapa, walking from Wellington with his wife and two children to Mr. McMaster's farm in the Lower Valley. The last half sovereign he possessed was given to some Maoris to convey him and his family across the river, which was in a flooded state. Mr. Strang was employed by Mr. McMaster for many years, part of the time as shepherd and afterwards as manager of his station at Tepurapura, near Gladstone. He subsequently took up a farm of 2700 acres at Glenside, where he resided till 1882. Mr. Strang then built his residence in Richmond Road, Carterton, and lived there till his death, which occurred in December, 1895. Of his children five survive him, and of these his two sons, Messrs. John and William Strang, have succeeded to the property, and work the estate at Glenside. Mr. John Strang takes an interest in local affairs, and is a member of the Carterton Borough Council. Mr. William Strang is engaged in horse and sheep breeding, and is the owner of several first-class racehorses.

The Late Mr. Jas. Strang.

The Late Mr. Jas. Strang.