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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Gough's Bay

Gough's Bay.

Gough's Bay Estate, near Akaroa. This estate is the property of Mr. V. V. Masefield, and contains 1000 acres. The land was taken up from the Crown in 1865, when it was all in its native state. Mr. Masefield paid as much as £3 10s per acre for felling the bush, and for his first grass seed he had to pay as high as one shilling and twopence per pound. For his first two cows he paid £20 each, and as high as £1 10s for a 100lb. bag of flour, which he had some difficulty in getting to Gough's Bay. Now Mr. Masefield has good roads on and to his property, and all the land is clear except patches of bush left to temper summer's heat and winter's cold. The other improvements on Gough's Bay estate consist of a good dwellinghouse and the required outbuildings, with an excellent garden and orchard. The house is beautifully situated, and overlooks one of the prettiest bays in the peninsula—a bay whose neighbourhood at one time supported a large number of Maoris.

Mr. V. V. Masefield was born in Shropshire, in 1840, and was educated, first at the local grammar school, and afterwards at Birkenhead College. After leaving college he learned farming and land valuing under the agents of the Duke of Cleveland and Lord Forester. He came to New Zealand in 1862 in the barque “Kinnaird.” Soon afterwards he took a trip to the South Sea Islands, and subsequently settled on the Canterbury Plains for a short time. During a visit which he paid to the Peninsula he was much taken with the beauty of the place, and with the charm which the numerous birds gave to the scenery, and no doubt these things had not a little to do with his leaving the Plains for Gough's Bay. Mr. Masefield visited England in 1882, via Australia, whence he sailed by one of the Orient liners. After a stay of two months in England, he returned by the ship “Northumberland.” Mr. Masefield was married, in 1867, to Miss McKay, of Pigeon Bay, and has a family of three sons and four daughters. The eldest son joined the Army in 1892, and has since then been stationed chiefly in India. He is captain in the Shropshire Regiment.