Ellesmere, one of the best known farming districts in Canterbury, is twenty-one miles from Christchurch on the Christchurch-Southbridge railway. It is bounded by the Springston and Burnham districts, and the river Selwyn. The land towards the south-east is rich, heavy, reclaimed swamp land, but becomes lighter towards Burnham. On the deeper soils very large returns are obtained from wheat, oats, and root crops. The holdings are comparatively large, and the prosperity of the district is parent to the traveller or visitor. Ellesmere is much frequented by anglers and sportsmen. The settled population exceeds one hundred persons. There is a telegraph office in the district, which stands at a level of seventy feet above that of the sea.

The Ellesmere Road Board was formed in 1864. It was first called the South Rakaia Board, but subsequently the name was changed to the one it now bears. The road district is bounded by the great South Road, the north and south banks respectively of the Rakaia and Selwyn rivers, and the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of about 170,000 acres, of which originally more than 10,000 acres were covered with water, and with the exception of a few tracks, the district was, when formed, absolutely roadless. In 1864 its capital value was £70,000, but in 1902, it was estimated at £1,323,910. Well kept farms with handsome villa residences, and about 320 miles of the finest roads in New Zealand have replaced the sod whares and the wild tractless swamp of the early days. The members of the first board were: Mr. Edward J. Lee, chairman; Mr R. J. S. Harman, treasurer; and Messrs Thomas Overton, C. F. Kynvett, and C. J. Bridge. The first meetings were held in Mr Kynvett's woolshed. Every road in the district is fit for wheeled traffic, and every creek has its permanent bridge or culvert. The present members of the Board are: Mr. William McMillan, J.P. (chairman), and Messrs Robert Lochhead, William Nixon, John Golbert, and James Storry; with Mr. W. G. Lunn as clerk and surveyor.

Mr. William Green Lunn, Clerk and Surveyor of the Ellesmere Road Board, was born in 1840, in England, and was educated at the Middlemore House Academy, Grantham, Lincolnshire. He came to New Zealand, in 1855, by the ship “New Era,” joined the survey staff of the New Zealand Government at Wellington, and remained in that department two years. Mr. Lunn came to Canterbury in 1864, and was appointed to his present position in 1868, under a public competition. He has laid out the roads, drains, and bridges of the district, and has been a moving spirit in all matters leading to its advancement. Mr. Lunn has been a member of the Ellesmere Agricultural and Pastoral Association since its foundation in 1871, and has held office as president. He was also first clerk page 683 of the Court of Petty Sessions held in the Ellesmere district, and presided over by Justice of the Peace, and occupied the position for eleven years. Owing to its increasing population, the district was added to Christchurch in 1869, and monthly visits were made by Mr. C. C. Bowen, who was at the time Resident Magistrate at Christchurch. Mr. Lunn has been a churchwarden of St. John's church, Leeston, since its erection. As a Freemason he is a member of Lodge Ionic, 1719. Mr. Lunn married Miss Reynolds, and has one daughter and three sons.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Mr. W. G. Lunn.

Ellesmere Mounted Rifles. This corps was formed in 1897, with Mr. J. Boag as its first captain, and Mr R. P. Hill as lieutenant. It now has seventy members. Mr. J. Boag is captain, Mr. R. P. Hill 1st lieutenant, Mr. H. E. Fincham 2nd lieutenant, and Mr. H. H. Cock 3rd lieutenant. The corp's uniform is khaki, with green facings.

Captain J. Boag, of the Ellesmere Mounted Rifles, is second son of Mr. John Boag, of Brookside. He was born in 1869, and was educated at Christchurch. On the formation of the Ellesmere Mounted Rifles he joined the corps as its first captain. In his school days Mr. Boag was well known as a cricketer and athlete. Since 1895 he has been largely engaged in the grain and produce business, and in partnership with Mr. H. H. Cook. Mr. Boag is a member of the Canterbury and Ellesmere Agricultural and Pastoral Associations; he is well known as an exhibitor, and as a prize-taker with horses. sheep and cattle. He is married, and has a family of three children. Mr. Boag is further referred to in the Military Section of this volume.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Captain J. Boag.

Lieutenant Herbert Henry Cook, of the Ellesmere Mounted Rifles, is a son of Mr. William Anderson Cook, of Christchurch, and was born in 1875. Mr. Cook was one of the active originators of the Ellesmere Mounted Rifles, and was appointed the corp's first quarter-master sergeant; two years later he was promoted sergeant-major, and was appointed lieutenant in 1902. He is also a well known athlete and footballer, and won the 100 yards race at the Ellesmere sports in 1901 and 1902. Mr. Cook was a member of the old Irwell football team, which so long held a record in Canterbury. He is a member of the firm of Messrs Boag and Cook, grain and produce merchants and threshing machine owners, at Doyleston.

Lieutenant H. H. Cook.

Boyle, Henry, Farmer, “Broadland,” Ellesmere. Mr. Boyle was born at Newtownards, in County Down, Ireland, in 1839, and came to New Zealand in 1863, by the ship “Chariot of Fame.” For about sixteen years after his arrival he worked for the Springs Road Board. He first started farming at Springston on about seventy-nine acres, which he worked with good results for several years. Later on the bought his present property of 500 acres of freehold on the banks of the Selwyn. He has also 140 acres at page 684 Methven, which he has let to a tenant. Mr. Boyle carries on a system of general mixed farming, including the raising of sheep, pigs, cattle, and good draught and light horses. He is a member of the Burnham school committee, of which he has been chairman for several years, and he is also a member of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, and of the Farmers' Co-operative Association. Mr. Boyle married Miss Kerr, of Leeston, and has a family of three sons and one daughter.

Mr. and Mrs H. Boyle and Family. Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Wrigglesworth & Binns, photo.

Chamberlian, William, Farmer, Had stock Estate, Ellesmere. Mr. Chamberlain was born in 1849 in Devonshire, England. He followed farming in his early years, and came to New Zealand, in the ship “Loch Fleet,” in 1877. Within a month of his arrival he purchased the first portion of his present estate, and gradually increased it to 700 acres. His property contains some of the best land in the Ellesmere district, and Mr Chamberlain has threshed as much as fifty-four bushels of wheat to the acre, even in the fifth crop in succession from reclaimed swamp land. The estate is devoted to crop raising and the fattening of stock for the export trade. As far back as 1883 Mr. Chamberlain shipped a line of sheep on his own account. They were two-year-olds, and yet the carcases averaged ninety-two pounds, and his returns on the shipment exceeded an average of 30s. per head. Mr. Chamberlain founded his Shorthorn herd in 1878, when he bought a cow bred by Mr. John Deans. She proved to be a prolific dam, and one of her daughters is still in the herd. The sires formerly used by Mr. Chamberlain included “Red John,” “Westburn,” “Lord Nelson,” and “Revensworth,” and for about five or six years he has employed “Ophir” and “Coolgardie, bred by himself, but both afterwards sold. Mr. Chamberlain does not approve of getting up stock for exhibition purposes, and he has only once exhibited at the Metropolitan show, namely, in 1895, when he won the second place with “Coolgardie.” He has been a regular importer of modern labour-saving machinery, and improved farm implements. In 1881 he was the first to drill and horsehoe turnips in the district, and on the 27th of October, 1884, the first public trial of the manure drill for mangolds, turnips and manure was herd on his farm. This drill was his own invention and has not yet been improved upon. He was also the first to use a cart mangold-cutter, and in 1883 he introduced the first traction engine used in the district. Mr Chamberlain has always taken an active interest in educational and volunteer matters. He helped to form the Ellesmere Mounted Rifles, and granted the Education Board an acre and a half of land whereon to build the local school, of the committee of which he has from the first been chairman. He was the first to move in the adoption of the present system of protecting the land from the inroads of the river Selwyn. Mr. Chamberlain was married, in 1881, to Miss Withell, and has six sons and four daughters.

Mr. W. Chamberlain.

Wright, Walter, Farmer, Willowbank Estate, Ellesmere. Mr. Wright was born at Springston, in 1873. His father, Mr Frederick Wright, was a well known farmer at Dunsandel. He was educated at Dunsandel, and at the Boys' High School, Christehurch, and brought up to farming by his father. In conjunction with his eldest brother, he took up land at Annat and Springfield, but the partnership was dissolved after five years, when Mr. W. Wright began on his own account at Kimberley. In 1902 he succeeded his uncle, Mr. Walter Wright, in the ownership of his present estate. The farm consists of about 600 acres, on which he conducts general farming. Mr. Wright keeps a fine flock of English Leicesters for breeding purposes, and annually supplies about 600 fat lambs to the freezing works. He is a member of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Mr. Wright was formerly well known as a runner and footballer, and was a member of the Malvern Mounted Rifles for three years. He married Miss Cogan, of Kimberley.