Mr. John Cowan, sometime of Southbridge, was one of the pioneers of the district. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1834, and came to New Zealand in 1862. Mr. Cowan owned a coach service between Christchurch and Leeston. The business was subject to many risks, and even dangers, of which, unfortunately, Mr. Cowan had too much practical proof. On one occasion his coach was capsized in the Selwyn river, and he himself was saved only through the personal exertions of another man, named Smith, who risked his own life in the endeavour. Though thus saved from drowning, the wetting and exposure which Mr. Cowan then underwent led to an affection of the lungs, which ere long caused his death, which occurred in 1871. He was survived by Mrs Cowan, who died two years and a half later, and by three sons and two daughters. In 1891 the eldest daughter died, and in 1892 the youngest son also died, thus leaving two sons and one daughter, who became Mrs W. Lochhead.

Mr. William Gabbie, sometime of “Mount Pleasant,” Little Rakaia, Southbridge, was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1837. After his arrival in Canterbury he was for a short time engaged in farming at Kaiapoi, and later on settled at Little Rakaia, where he bought about 120 acres, to which he afterwards added, and had one of the finest farms in the district. During his lfietime Mr. Gabbie was a successful breeder of a splendid strain of pedigree Shorthorns, and also of blood, draught and hack horses, for which he obtained numerous silver cups and other prizes at the agricultural and pastoral shows. He was one of the original members of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and was for years a member of the Little Rakaia school committee, of which he was chairman for several years. Mr. Gabbie was twice married and had, by his first wife, one son and three daughters, and three children were born of the second union He died in 1901, after a long illness.

The late Mr. W. Gabbie.

Mr. James Inwood, sometime of “Waikewi,” Southbridge, was the son of Mr. D. Inwood, of Fendalton, and was born at Windlesham, Surrey. England, in 1840. In company with his father and brothers he came to New Zealand in 1850 by the ship “Sir George Seymour,” and was brought up to the business of flour milling. About 1864 he settled at Southbridge to assist in improving the large estate which his father had bought in that district. The property was then totally unimproved swamp, in tussock, without a house, without fences, and without roads. But with energy and perseverance, Mr. Inwood soon changed its appearance, and converted it into one of the finest blocks of land in the district. It became celebrated for its luxuriant crops, and for fattening sheep and cattle, and the land is now in the highest state of cultivation. Mr. Inwood took a keen interest in local affairs, and in the politics of the day. He was a churchwarden of the Southbridge Anglican church, with which he had been actively connected for many years. Mr. Inwood was a member of the Canterbury and Leeston Agricultural and Pastoral Associations, and took numerous prizes for sheep at the various shows. He was also a member of the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Association, and had in many ways helped on the prosperity of his district. Mr. Inwood was married, and had a family of three sons. He died at “Waikewi” on the 29th of January, 1903.