Dawe, William Hill, Commission Agent and Collector, Springfield Road, St. Albans. Mr. Dawe is a native of Bath, England, where he was born in 1835, educated at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, and landed in Lyttelton in 1854 from the ship “Royal Stuart,” having been recommended to come to New Zealand by Mr. Brittan, secretary to the Superintendent of the Province. For a time Mr. Dawe was a cadet on Mr. Brittan's farm, and after a general Colonial experience went to Messrs. Brittan and Stace's station at Ashburton, where he remained for two years. He was subsequently for a year at Mount Thomas station, Lake Ellesmere, and for three years afterwards worked a dairy farm with his brother. Mr. Dawe afterwards settled in Christchurch, and became a partner in the firm of Messrs. A. Moore and Co., whose business premises were on the present site of Messrs. Hayward and Co.'s pickle factory. Four years later, Mr. Dawe established himself as a commission agent, which he has followed for fully thirty years. He was married in 1878 to a daughter of the late Mr. J. St. Quentin, of Christchurch, and has four sons and three daughters.

Mr. W. H. Dawe.

Pratt, W. B., Baker, Edgeware Road, St. Albans. Mr. Pratt started in business in 1894, and in June, 1895, he bought the trade of Mr. T. Summerton, who had a very fair connection. Since taking over the business Mr. Pratt has met with considerable success, and it is now one of the best in or around Christchurch, end is still growing. The premises in Edgeware Road are well adapted to carrying on an extensive trade, as the bakehouse is one of the largest and best in Canterbury, with its capacious well-built oven and otherwise complete and up-to-date plant. Mr. Pratt is a native of Christchurch, and a son of Mr. J Pratt a pioneer colonist. He served a five years' apprenticeship, after which he worked at his trade for nine years as a journeyman. As a Druid he is a Past Arch-Master of Pioneer Lodge No. 1 of Canterbury, and was inside guardian of the same lodge for over eleven years.

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Mr. W. B. Pratt.

Bull, Benjamin, Builder and Contractor, of Abberley Road, St. Albans. Mr Bull was born in London in 1844. At the age of twelve he went to sea, and after four years returned to London, where he learned his trade as a builder, and subsequently followed it until he left for New Zealand In 1873, arriving in Wellington by the ship “St. Leonards.” Mr. Bull came on to Christchurch and established himself in business as a builder and contractor. He has erected a large number of villas, cottages, and other residences in the city and suburbs, and built the Halswell church, the Wesleyan church at Shirley, and the public schools at Spreydon and Lyttelton, besides others. He also put up additions to the Post Office and Provincial Government Buildings and to the Burnham Industrial School. Mr. Bull, who is a Justice of the Peace, was for three years Mayor of St. Albans, and for eleven years a councillor of the borough; he has been a member of the St. Albans School Committee and for about twelve years held a seat on the licensing bench. He takes an active interest in general politics and has invariably espoused the Liberal cause. As an Oddfellow he is connected with the City of Christchurch Lodge, having been initiated in 1860. Mr. Bull was married in 1865 to a daughter of Mr. R. Sivells, of London, and has three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, who was educated at Canterbury College and graduated M.A., and B.Sc., is a Doctor of Physics in London, and was formerly Professor of Science at the University of Munich.

Bryant and Co. (George Frederick Bryant), Coachbuilders, Papanui Road, St. Albans, Christchurch. The business was established in 1872, and the present proprietor has been connected with the firm for over sixteen years. Mr. Bryant served his apprenticeship in Melbourne to the old-time firm of Messrs. Stevenson and Elliott, remaining with it for a period of seven years, and thoroughly mastering his trade in every detail. The premises now used for the coach-building and the repairing trade are very extensive, embracing no less than 7500 square feet, and are situated within a stone's throw of the North Belt. They consist of a spacious workshop with large showroom in front, while at the back is the commodious paint shop, and there is ample space for standing vehicles sent in for repairs, outside the buildings, Among the specialties of the firm are racing and road sulkies, which have attained considerable celebrity. These are constructed with a view to strength and durability, as well as lightness, patent pneumatic tyres being used to ensure the latter when required.

Burgess, Charles, Farmer, St. Albans. Mr. Burgess is a native of Montgomeryshire, Wales, and was educated at private schools in his native county, where he was brought up to the grocery and drapery page 392 trade. He was afterwards in business as a draper on his own account for six years in the North of England. Arriving in Lyttelton in 1880 per ship “Piako,” Mr. Burgess settled in Canterbury and since 1880 has been engaged in dairy farming in the Avon district. He was elected to the Avon Road Board in 1888, and a year later was elected chairman, which capacity he filled for three years, and was re-elected in 1895. For many years Mr. Burgess has been a member of the Christchurch Drainage Board. He unsuccessfully contested the Riccarton seat in 1893 and the Avon seat in 1896. He is a member of the Masonic Order, attached to Lodge Conyers. Mr. Burgess has been active in many public movements in Christchurch, and assisted the unemployed for several winters, He was one of the promoters of the Central Dairy Factory, of which he was one of the first directors and afterwards managing director. Mr. Burgess was married in 1868 to a daughter of the late Mr. John Cox, of Cornwall, and has one daughter.

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Mr. C. Burgess.

Churchill Farm (H. Forwood, proprietor), St, Albans. This property, which is termed the “St. Albans Model Farm,” is of fifty acres in extent, and consists of land of rich quality. Cropping, dairying, pig raising, and poultry farming, are carried on by the manager. About thirteen cows are kept, chiefly of the Jersey and Shorthorn breeds. The cow-sheds are models of cleanness and comfort. They are constructed of corrugated iron, lined with timber, and are open to the sun; the floors are laid with bricks, and the whole of the interior is whitewashed. There are two compact dairies, and in the centre of their concrete floors, artesian fountains play during the summer months. The stables. coach-houses, and the harness rooms are substantial buildings, well ventilated, and models of cleanliness and order. About 150 fowls of the best breeds are kept, and each breed is separately housed. The pigstyes are raised three or four feet from the ground level, and the pigs are fed solely on milk, potatoes, and sharps. Around the homestead or manager's residence, there are beautifu ornamental grounds, in which there are numerous aviaries of pigeons, doves, canaries and Australian birds of beautiful plumage. On the stream which flows through the property a black swan is swimming, in company with a flock of Muscovite ducks. A rustic bridge crosses an artificial pond stocked with trout and planted with water lilies. The gardens have many choice flowers, and two greenhouses are stocked with rare varieties A beautiful fernery near the house is constructed in the style of a Maori whare; many varieties of native fern are inside, and small cascades flow over broken surfaces. Alto gether, “Churchill” deserves its designation as a model farm.

Mr. Henry Forwood, the Proprietor is a son of the late Mr. T. W. J. Forwood solicitor, of Tiverton, Devonshire, England and was born in 1850, He was educated at the Forest School, Walthamstow, Essex, and afterwards served twelve years in the Dorking branch of the London County Bank. In 1879 he arrived at Lyttelton by the ship Red Gauntlet.” For some years he engaged in commercial pursuits. On returning from a trip to the Old Country he started his present farm. Mr. Forwood, who is a member of the High Church school, has been actively connected with ecclesiastical work. He was manager of the “Church News,” is a vestryman, and has been churchwarden of St. Matthew's Church, to which extensive additions are being made in consequence of his personal liberality and activity. Mr. Forwood is a member of the English Church Union, which was formed in the year 1859 for the purpose of uniting the clergy and laity of the English Church in defence of the doctrine and discipline of the church, and of the rights and liberties of her faithful children. He is also a life member of the St. Matthew's Young Men's Guild, a member of the Sons and Daughters of Temperance, advocate of Church of England Temperance Society, a member of the Hope of St. Albans Lodge of Druids, a patron of the Christchurch Poultry Society, and vice-president of the St. Albans Library, the Midland Cricket Club, and Albion Football Club. He was married at Merivale Church, Christchurch, to a daughter of the late Mr. E. Foot, of Wimborne, Dorsetshire, England, and has one daughter, who is also married. Mr. Forwood resides at Oak Hill Lodge, Murray street, St Albans.

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Mr. H. Forwood.

Philpott, Albert Miles, Farmer, Woodlands Farm, St. Albans. Mr. Philpott is a son of the late Mr. Isaac William Philpott. He was porn at Borton, Kent, England, in 1841, and came with his parents to New Zealand, by the ship “Randolph,” which arrived at Lyttelton on the 16th of December, 1850. After attending school for some time in Christchurch, he worked as a boundary shepherd for the late Mr. John McFarlane, of Loburn, for eighteen months, and at various [gap — reason: illegible] places in a similar capacity until he was twenty-five years of age. He then joined his father in carting timber from Christchurch to the Bealey and Craigieburn, and continued at that and general farm work until his marriage in 1868, when he started on his own account, and purchased his present fine property at St. Albans. It consisted of about eighty-seven acres, then a mere swamp covered with flax, “niggerheads,” and other wild growths, and he paid £1,300 for it. Mr. Philpott energetically went to work to drain the wamp, and to clear, plough, and otherwise improve the land, which soon began to yield luxuriant crops, and has since been used for genera: farming and dairying. During the early days of his farming life, Mr. Philpott engaged extensively in contracting, and made some of the main streets in Sumner, besides forming many roads in and around Christchurch. He also worked teams at the Gladstone pier and the dry dock in Lyttelton. In connection with his harvesting and ploughing contracts he generally employed about three or four teams of horses, and he purchased one of the first Deering twine binders used in Canterbury. Mr. Philpott was for several years a member of the Avon Road Board. He is still a member of the Papanui Domain Board, of which he has been chairman for fifteen years. Mr. Philpott is trustee of the Wesleyan Church of St. Albans, and he has served in the Volunteers. He married Miss Rhoda Rapley, daughter of the late Mr. William Rapley, of Papanui, who arrived by the ship “Minerva” in 1853. Of a Family of thirteen children, four sons and five daughters are alive, and the two eldest sons are married.

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Mr. A. M. Philpott.