.jpg)
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Mr. Alfred Hogarth Gill
Mr. Alfred Hogarth Gill , who held office as Mayor of Palmerston from the end of 1895 to the end of 1898, was the well-known proprietor of the “Palmerston and Waikouaiti Times.” Mr. Gill was born in 1830 at Cleveland, Yorkshire, England, and educated at Kirby, Grammar school, of which he was dux. After serving for three years as a law officer, Mr. Gill was seized with the gold fever and left Home in 1852 for Victoria, in company with Mr. L. S. Pratt and a Dr. Dush. He spent ten years on the goldfields, and in 1863 he came to Otago. After a tour of the diggings he settled in Waikouaiti, where he joined Mr. L. S. Pratt in the proprietorship of the “Waikouaiti and Shag Valley Herald” two years after his arrival. In 1876 Messrs Pratt and Gill sold the journal to a Palmerston company, which removed the plant to Palmerston and altered the name to the “Palmerston and Waikouaiti Times.” Mr. Gill, who was offered the editorship and managership of the old paper, but declined, afterwards became editor of the “Waikouaiti Herald,” a journal started to replace the old one but which lasted only a year. With the late Mr. F. J. Davies, he subsequently re-acquired the old journal, which he conducted as sole proprietor after his partner's death in 1879, when he purchased the interest of Mrs. Davies. Mr. Gill was during many years a prominent man in Waikouaiti. He was the first town clerk when Hawksbury became a municipality in 1866, and held the office for a quarter of a century. He was also appointed clerk to the bench in the same year and performed the duties for several years. Mr. Gill was one of the founders of Prince Alfred Lodge, and its first elective secretary. He was also honorary secretary to the local race club for many years, and was closely identified there with many public movements, notably the erection of the Mechanics' Hall, and played no unimportant part in conjunction with his partner in securing the splendid endowment reserves, from which the borough of Hawksbury now receives a substantial revenue. In 1869 Mr. Gill was married to a daughter of the late Mr. Joseph Beal, of Waikcuaiti, and had five sons and three daughters. He died in April, 1902.