Mr. Otto George William Hast
, sometime Chairman of the Southland County Council, was a fine specimen of the Teutonic race, and was born in Wallensen, Hanover, in 1834. He was the third son of Mr. Frederick Wilhelm Hast, sometime of the Hanoverian Government service, and was educated
and apprenticed to the upholstery trade in his native town. In 1854 Mr Hast went to America; in the ensuing year he landed in Melbourne, and followed the different “rushes” in Victoria, with varied success, until 1861, when he came over to New Zealand. At Tuapeka, Dunstan, Arrow, and Waikaia, he engaged in gold mining; and at Waikaia he and Mr. Skeen entered into partnership as storekeepers; this business they carried on, as well as being proprietors of the Argylc water race, Switzers, up to 1878, when Mr. Hast finally retired into private life. During his residence in Southland Mr. Hast took an active part in local government. He was elected a member of the Southland County Council in 1881, and held the position for fifteen years; he was elected chairman on three occasions. He was also a member of the Hospital Trust and Charitable Aid Board. In 1868 Mr. Hast married Kate, relict of Mr. P. McQueen, of Learmont, and daughter of Mr. Alexander Clark, of Learmont, Victoria, and had seven children. He died on the 6th of May, 1903.
Mr. Andrew Dunlop
was born at Airdrie, Lanarkshire, near Glasgow, in 1840. He received his primary education in his native town, and afterwards studied at Dick's College, Clyde Street, Edinburgh,
where he qualified and gained the diploma of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland. He also obtained the degree of M.R.C.V.S. at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London. Mr. Dunlop practised with his father for twelve months, and in 1863, sailed from London with his parents in the ship “Great Britain,” for New Zealand. His father died on the voyage, and was buried at the Bluff. Mr. Dunlop established himself in Invercargill, and practised his profession for nearly forty years. He was elected a member of the first Invercargill Road Board, was the first mayor-elect of the Borough of Avenal, and was twice returned to the position; was for some time a member of the Southland County Council, and also its chairman; he was also a member of the
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Invercargill Borough Council, Hospital Trust, and of the Charitable Aid Board for several years. Mr. Dunlop acted as veterinary surgeon and steward of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Society from its formation till the time of his death, which occurred on the 9th of September, 1900.
Mr. Arthur Gerrard
, J.P., who at one time represented Winton riding on the Southland County Council, is a typical specimen of the early pioneers, who settled in the Southland district years ago. He was born in the parish of Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the 24th of May, 1822, and is the eldest son of Mr. Arthur Gerrard, farmer, Monquhitter. After receiving a primary education at the village school he worked for his father, who died six years prior to his leaving Scotland, in 1857, by the ship “Robert Henderson,” for Port Chalmers, which was reached in February, 1858. On arrival in Otago Mr. Gerrard purchased a farm at Waihola Lake, where he remained for nearly ten years. In 1867, he Settled in Southland and took up land in the Oreti Hundred, which he still owns. Mr. Gerrard resides on his comfortable homestead “Lady Barkly,” near Winton, but he also possesses several other properties in Southland, and devotes most of his energies to the raising of fat stock for the home markets, in which he is highly successful. Mr. Gerrard was elected to the County Council in 1800, but did not seek re-election in consequence of pressure of private business. He has always taken an active and prominent part in the Southland Frozen Meat Company, of which he was elected a director in 1898. Mr. Gerrard has always endeavoured in various capacities to advance the welfare of the district; he has been a member of the Limehills school committee, was one of the original members of the Aparima Road Board, is an ex-deacon of the Waihola and Wintou Presbyterian churches, and was made a Justice of the Peace in 1878. He was married in 1857 to Jane, daughter of Mr. Thomas Philip, of Monquhitter, and has tour sons and four daughters.
Mr. Wilfred Francis Ward
, for sometime chairman of the Southland County Council, after being settled in Southland for a number of years, removed to South Canterbury. Mr. Ward's portrait and biography appear at page 1084 of the Canterbury volume of this work.
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