Mr. William Daniel Lawrence. J.P., was born in South Wales, in 1843. He was educated at Kensington Grammar School, and afterwards had a private tutor, the Rev. Piercy Frost, under whom he studied for the Army. In 1864 he came to New Zealand in the ship “Derwentwater,” and went as a cadet on the Hon. Robert Daly's run, Dunsandel, where he remained for four years, when he made a start for himself by purchasing a good-sized block of swamp land near Leeston, which he named “Ravensworth. after his old home in Wales. His property after large sums of money had been spent in draining and other important improvements, became known as the best grazing land in the Ellesmere distriot. Mr. Lawrence was a large breeder of sheep and shorthorn cattle, and he was instrumental in raising a stud flock of Romney Marsh sheep, so favourably known throughout New Zealand. He retired from farming in 1892, and purchased and settled on a small property near Christchurch. Mr. Lawrence has taken a very prominent part in public affairs, especially in connection with the district where he so long resided. He was created a Justice of the Peace in 1873, and was sworn in under the Hon. C. C. Bowen, when that gentleman was Resident Magistrate of Christchurch. For many years he was a member of the Ellesmere Road Board, and chairman of the local school committee. He has also been president of the Ellesmere Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and chairman of the Ellesmere Licensing page 367 Committee. Mr. Lawrence is an enthusiastic angler, and anglers have to thank him for stocking the Rakaia and Selwyn rivers with fish in 1867. He will long be remembered as the popular president of the Ellesmere football and cricket clubs. Mr. Lawrence married a daughter of the late Mr. Charles K. Vigers, of Governor's Bay, who came out in the ship “Canterbury” in 1851 and has a family of five sons.