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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

[Fairlie]

Fairlie, in the county of Mackenzie, is the terminus of the branch railway from Timaru. It taps the rich pastoral districts of the Mackenzie Country, and is on the direct route to Mount Cook, and its famous glaciers. Fairlie is thirty-nine miles from Timaru, with which it has daily mail communication and it is also a telegraph station. The surrounding scenery is of a very interesting character. Coaches start from Fairlie for the great snowy ranges. The township has three churches, a public school, four general stores, two hotels, and three blacksmiths' shops. Fairlie is also the name of the most populous riding of the Mackenzie county. At the census of March, 1901, it had a population of 968, of whom 597 souls were returned as being in Fairlie township and its neighbourhood. The riding includes Ashwick Flat, Burke's Pass, and Silverstream.

The Mackenzie County Council has jurisdiction over an area of 2537 square miles of country, which is chiefly pastoral, and of a mountainous character. The district was formerly known as the Mount Cook road district, and was constituted as a county in 1879. It has a population of 1697, and its capital value is £753,733. Property carries a rate of three-fourths of a penny, and the annual revenue is about £4635; expenditure, about £4826. The Council meets once a month at its offices in Fairlie. Members for 1903: Messrs F. R. Gillingham (chairman), W. Wreford, J. S. Rutherford, R. Irving, R. Guthrie, and J. A. Pringle, Mr. R. L. Banks is clerk and engineer.

Councillor Richard Irving was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1837. He was brought up to farming, and in 1867 came to New Zealand, under engagement to the Levels Land Company, for whom he brought out a valuable stallion, “Iveno.” After a time Mr. Irving was appointed manager of the farming department, and held the position for fifteen years, when he bought 300 acres of the Levels estate at Albury. He has since increased his holding to 1775 acres, known as “Brown Hill.” In 1899 he took a pleasure trip of seven months to England, and brought to New Zealand a number of very valuable draught stallions, two of which, “Sandy Erskine” and “Agitator,” have been champions ever since coming to the colony. Mr. Irving also owns the stud draught horses “Reformer' and “Brown Hill,” and he has acted as a judge of draught horses at nearly all the agricultural shows throughout Canterbury. He has been a member of the Timaru Agricultural Show Committee for twenty years, a director of the Albury Saleyards Company since its foundation, has served for twelve years on the local school committee, and has been a member of the Mackenzie County Council since 1902. Mr. Irving was married, in 1867, to a daughter of the late Mr. Samuel Young, of Lanarkshire, Scotland, and has seven sons and four daughters.

Councillor William Wreford, Member of Mackenzie County Council, is a farmer residing at Coal Creek, Cave, and was born in Devonshire, England, in 1851. Having been brought up to farming pursuits, he resolved to seek fortune in New Zealand, and in 1874 sailed in the ship “Clarence” for Hawke's Bay. In 1875 he was employed on Captain Russell's station in that province, and remained there for some time prior to coming to Canterbury, where he worked on the Hon. E. Richardson's station at Albury. He then started in business as a butcher and dealer; subsequently, he took up land, and now occupies some 400 acres. Mr. Wreford was elected a member of the County Council in 1896, and was chairman of the Cave School Committee for some years. He was married in New Zealand to a daughter of Mr. John Bussell, farmer, of Makihihi, and has four children.

Mr. W. Wreford.

Mr. W. Wreford.

Fairlie Railway Station And Post Office dates from 1881, when the line was opened to Fairlie. The building is of wood and iron, and contains three rooms where railway, postal, and other official business for the district is transacted. There are goods and engine sheds at the railway station, and trains depart and arrive for and from Timaru, with a double service on Mondays. The goods sent from the station consist principally of wool, sheep, and grain.

Mr. Andrew John Robertson, Stationmaster and Postmaster at Fairlie, was born in 1865, in Dunedin. He joined the railway service as a youth, and was appointed to his present position in 1900. Mr. Robertson was married, in 1886, to a daughter of Mr. Charles Russell, of Seacliff, and has two sons.

The Fairlie Public School, which dates from 1863, has accommodation for 160 children. There are 130 on the roll, and the average attendance is 115. The master's residence is situated near the school, which has a glebe of ten acres. The teacher in charge has two assistants.

page 955

Mr. John Robert Wallace, B.A., Headmaster of Fairlie Public School, was born in Dunedin in 1872. He was trained in his native city, and graduated at the University of Otago. Mr. Wallace was appointed to his present position in 1897. He was married, in 1895, to a daughter of the late Mr. J. Connor, of Dunedin.

The Church Of St. Stephen, at Fairlie, is built of wood and iron, and was erected in 1896. It is a good and well appointed church, and has accommodation for 100 adults. The site consists of half an acre, and is centrally situated in the township. Services are held, morning and evening, every Sunday. There is a Sunday school attended by twenty-five children, in charge of three teachers. The vicar-in-charge resides at Pleasant Point.

Black, Walter, Government Stock Inspector, Fairlie. Mr. Black was born at Caroline, Southland, in 1869, and was trained at a butcher and farmer. After being in Invercargill and Lumsden for fifteen years he worked on several sheep stations about Southland, until receiving an appointment as Government rabbiter at Thornbury, in 1888. Mr. Black was afterwards agent at Lumsden for three years, and was also at Clinton, Ophir, and Tapanui, before receiving his present appointment at Fairlie in 1893. His boundaries include all Mackenzie county, and part of Geraldine and Mount Peel road district. Mr. Black is specially interested in the Mackenzie county agricultural show, at which he is the largest exhibitor, and he has been successful as a prize taker with horses, cows and garden produce. He is honorary secretary and treasurer of the local racing club. Mr. Black was married, in 1892, to Miss Jaggers, daughter of one of the oldest settlers in Southland, and has three sons and three daughters.

Ashwick Flat School, near Fairlie. This school was opened in December, 1892. It consists of one room capable of accommodating sixty children. There are thirty-nine names on the roll, with an average attendance of thirty. The school stands on the corner of a fifty-acre section, the whole of which, with the exception of about two acres, is reserved for the sole use of the master. The chief credit for establishing the school is due to Mr. Robert Allan of Ashwick Flat. Mr. S. N. Ormandy is at present (1903) in charge.

Mr. William Melville Yates, formerly Master of the Ashwick Flat school, South Canterbury, was educated at the Bury Grammar school, England. He was English master in the Denbigh Grammar school, North Wales; and mathematical master in the High school, Sale, Manchester. Mr. Yates is an English certificated teacher, and holds certificates in eight subjects, from the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London. He is the author of a work on “Latin Prose Composition” (Macmillan) and of “Short Methods in Arithmetic” (Whitcombe and Tombs). Mr. Yates studied vocal music in Manchester, under Henry Coy, Mus. Doc. (Oxon.) and R. H. Wilson, Mus. Bac. (Oxon.), and was for a short time a member of Sir Charles Halle's choir. He came to New Zealand in 1887 in the s s. “Tainui,” and landed at Lyttelton. Mr. Yates was for five years headmaster of the Lakeside school, North Canterbury. He is well known in musical circles, and was for two years paid choirmaster of the St. Andrews and Beaconsfield churches. Mr. Yates was married, in 1883, to the third daughter of Mr. James Robertson, a noted Edinburgh paper-maker and patentee, and author of “Hints on Papermaking.”

Dopping, Antony John, Accountant and Commission Agent, Fairlie. Mr. Dopping was born in Hampshire, England, in 1855, and received his education at Blackheath. After leaving college he went to Ceylon, where he engaged in coffee planting for eight years, but owing to ill health returned to England in 1880, and a year later came to New Zealand. He landed at Auckland, and going thence to Lyttelton, became a cadet on Sir John Cracroft Wilson's station at Rangitata for two years. Mr. Dopping afterwards established his present business at Fairlie, where he holds agencies for the Manchester Fire and the National Mutual Life Insurance Companies. He takes a general interest in local affairs, and is secretary for various clubs.

Burford photoGladstone Grand Hotel, Fairlie. See page 956.

Burford photo
Gladstone Grand Hotel, Fairlie. See page 956.

Foden, Thomas, Builder and Contractor, Fairlie. Mr. Foden was born in 1850, in Staffordshire, England, and came to Lyttelton by the ship “Mermaid” in 1866. He went to Timaru the same year, and served an apprenticeship as a builder with Mr. Samuel Harding. Mr. Foden carried on his trade in the district for thirty years. He held the contract for the council chambers at Burke's Pass in 1877, the Hermitage, at Mount Cook, in 1888, and Mr. E. Brown's residence at Temuka in 1892, besides several churches and the Catholic Boys' School at Timaru. In 1880 Mr. Foden acquired a farm of 100 acres at Silverstream, and in 1894 settled at Fairlie, where he has a two-acre section, upon which his residence and workshop stand. He is a member of the local school committee, and was the first chairman of the Silverstream school committee. Mr. Foden has been connected page 956 with the Foresters' Court since 1877, and founded the lodge of Mackenzie Freemasons, for which he acted as secretary for five years. He was married, in 1870, to a daughter of the late Mr. Edward Foden, of Staffordshire, England, and has three sons and four daughters.

The Gladstone Grand Hotel, at Fairlie, was established in 1884 It is a modern brick building, and stands on a two-acre section, with a lawn and garden, surrounded by a plantation of trees. The hotel has thirty rooms, including a fine billiard room, three sitting rooms, and two dining rooms. It is a favourite resort for tourists on their way to Mount Cook, and visitors always receive every consideration from the proprietor and his wife. His Excellency the Governor and Lady Ranfurly patronised this hotel on their way to and from Mount Cook.

Mr. Nicholas O'Toole, Proprietor of the Gladstone Grand Hotel, was born in County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1849. He was educated at St. Patrick's Seminary, Tullow. County Carlow, and worked on his father's farm. At his father's death Mr. O'Toole took over the management of the property and managed it until he sailed for New Zealand in 1879 by the ship “Hawarden Castle.” He engaged in farm work and contract cropping at Waimate, and in 1886 took up 370 acres, 170 of which he purchased from the Government. Mr. O'Toole worked the property as an agricultural farm until he sold out, and took over the Gladstone Grand Hotel, in 1901. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1895, and was for some years a member of the Glenavy school committee, and also served on the Domain Board. Mr. O'Toole was married, in 1888, to a daughter of the late Mr. John Nolan, of Marshallstown, County Kildare, Ireland.

Burford, photo.Mr. and Mrs N. O'Toole.

Burford, photo.
Mr. and Mrs N. O'Toole.

Kerr And Frayne (Hugh Kerr and Frank Frayne), Coach and Livery and Bait Stable Proprietors, Fairlie. This business was originally established by Mr. Thomas Shaw, and has greatly increased since it was taken over by the present proprietors in 1894. There are now two large stables with the sheds necessary for accommodating the numerous vehicles, which include four covered-in coaches, a drag, four waggonettes, single and double buggies, as well as gigs. The proprietors keep thirty horses, exclusive of two valuable stallions, which are set aside for stud purposes. Two years after acquiring the business the proprietors took over the contract for carrying the mails between Fairlie and Mount Cook. During the tourist season, from the 1st of November to the end of April, coaches are run to and from the Hermitage, at Mount Cook, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Messrs Kerr and Frayne's Coach Leaving the Hermitage for Fairlie.

Messrs Kerr and Frayne's Coach Leaving the Hermitage for Fairlie.

Mr. Frank Frayne, Senior Partner in the Fairlie Livery and Bait Stables, was born in 1885 in Lancaster, England, where he received his education. He was brought up to stable work, and on coming to Lyttelton in 1882, went to Rangiora, where he spent most page 957 of his time before taking over his present business in conjunction with Mr. Kerr, in 1894. Mr. Frayne was married, in 1899, to a daughter of Mr. Charles Evans, of Kaiapoi.

Messrs Kerr and Frayne's Coaches Leaving Fairlie for Mount Cook.

Messrs Kerr and Frayne's Coaches Leaving Fairlie for Mount Cook.