Coates, Samuel, Farmer, “Renton,” No. 3 Drain Road, Rangiora. Mr. Coates was born in December, 1856, at Durham, England, where he was brought up as a coalminer. He followed this occupation till 1877, when he came to Lyttelton by the ship “Waitangi.” For the first six years of his colonial life he was employed in the Amberley and Cust districts, and bought his farm, now 276 acres in extent, in 1883. As a volunteer, Mr. Coates served two years in the Rangiora Rifles, and is at present (1903) an honorary member of the band of that corps, in which he has served altogether fourteen years. He was married, in 1887, to a daughter of Mr. W. Keele, of Rangiora, and has four daughters and two sons.