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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

[fernside]

Fernside is in the Mandeville riding of the county of Ashley, and had (with its neighbourhood) a population of 550 at the census of 1901. There is a flag railway station, which is twenty-four miles distant from Christchurch, and 140 feet above sea level, on the Rangiora-Oxford branch line. Fernside has a public school, and a post office is conducted at the local store. There are carriage-building works and a blacksmith's shop in the township. The district is devoted chiefly to sheep farming.

The Post And Telegraph Office, Fernside, is carried on at the store of Mr. Donald McIntyre, and mails are received and despatched daily.

Mr. Donald McIntyre, Postmaster at Fernside, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1834. After arriving at Lyttelton in 1862, by the ship “Victoria,” he took up land in the Fernside district, and farmed it for about thirty years. Mr. McIntyre has served on local boards and committees, and has conducted the Fernside store since 1892. He has been twice married; firstly, in 1856, to Miss Robertson, of Perthshire, who died in 1873, leaving two sons and five daughters; and, secondly, in 1882, to the widow of the late Mr. Alfred Fennell, who founded the Fernside store.

Fernside Public School. This school was founded in the early sixties under the Provincial Government. The original cob building was replaced by more commodious premises in 1879, and these in turn gave way to the comfortable building and schoolhouse of 1902. The three class rooms have accommadation for 100 pupils, and there are sixty on the roll, with an average attendance of fifty-three. There is a school glebe of twenty acres. A fine concrete swimming bath, 75 feet by 30 feet, and increasing from 3 feet to 9 feet in depth, has lately been completed at a cost of over £90, which was subscribed almost wholly by the people of the district, as a result of the energy of the headmaster and the co-operation of the settlers of Fernside.

Mr. Richard Hay Ferguson, Headmaster of the Fernside School, was born at Carrickfergus, Antrim, Ireland. He was brought up as a teacher and trained at the Training College in Dublin, and served as such for twenty years in his native land. Mr. Ferguson arrived at Port Chalmers in January, 1880, with a guarantee of employment from Sir Julius Vogel, the colony's Agent-General in London, and was appointed to Blueskin. When, five years and a half later, he had to leave the district owing to Mrs Ferguson's ill-health, Mr. Ferguson was presented by the residents with a gold watch and chain, and an illuminated address. He removed to Canterbury, and after being two years at Ashley, he was transferred to Belfast, where he continued for ten years and a half. In 1898 Mr. Ferguson took up his duties at Fernside, and, on leaving Belfast, owing to ill-health, he and Mrs Ferguson were presented with oil paintings of themselves, a suite of dining room furniture, a set of carvers, and a handsome illuminated address, and other tokens of the friendship and goodwill of the settlers. Mr. Ferguson was married, in 1862, to a daughter of the late Mr. M. Arlow, merchant, of Belfast, and has five sons and one daughter surviving.

Opening of Fernside School Swimming Bath.

Opening of Fernside School Swimming Bath.

Standish and Preece, photo. Mr. and Mrs R. H. Ferguson.

Standish and Preece, photo.
Mr. and Mrs R. H. Ferguson.

Cattermoor, William, Coachbuilder, Shoeing and General Smith. Fernside. Mr. Cattermoor established his business in 1883. He makes and repairs agricultural implements, and undertakes general coachbuilding. The premises stand on a section of four acres of freehold land, and comprise a wheelwright's shop, a smithy, a paint shop and an ironmongery store. Mr. Cattermoor was born at St. Albans, Christchurch, in 1857, and never attended school. He learned his trade at the trolly-way works, Papanui Road, Christchurch. Mr. Cattermoor was married, in 1878, to a daughter of the late Mr. R. Watkins, of Rangoria, and has two daughters and one son.

page 481
Tolputt and Clarke, photo. Mr. and Mrs W. Cattermoor.

Tolputt and Clarke, photo.
Mr. and Mrs W. Cattermoor.

Parrott, Ernest Joseph, Fernside. Mr. Parrott was born in England, and came to New Zealand in 1883 by the ship “British Queen.” He was educated at the old grammar school at Brandon, in Suffolk, and was apprenticed to the grocery trade. In 1887 he paid a visit to the Old Country, and returned to Christchurch in December of the same year. After being in the employment of Messrs Blackett and Son for a time, he purchased Mr. J. Smith's business in High Street, Rangiora, and erected premises which were amongst the finest in Canterbury. Mr. Parrott has since sold the business.