Mr. Archibald Anderson , Old Colonist, now living in retirement at the Hermitage, Stirling, Otago, arrived at Port Nicholson in 1840, and his name appears on the burgess roll of the city of Wellington for the year 1843. He was born in the city of Stirling, Scotland, in October, 1818, and he is the second son of the late Mr. John Anderson, proprietor of the Fisheries, Stirling. After completing his education, he assisted his father, and before leaving for New Zealand, purchased from the New Zealand Colonization Company, promoted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, one town acre and a rural selection of 100 acres, at the upset price of £1 per acre. This purchase entitled the buyer to a free first-class passage to Port Nicholson, and the privilege of taking as many servants as he desired to the new Colony. In 1839, Mr. Anderson, accompanied by a married couple and several other emigrants, embarked at Glasgow, in the ship “Bengal Merchant,” which reached its destination in January, 1840. In consequence of the dense bush which surrounded Port Nicholson, and the delays caused by the non-survey of the surrounding country, Mr. Anderson and the other settlers were unable to obtain their sections. He therefore gave his servants permission to engage with other employers, and he built a store of page 374 raupo, at Pipitea Point, where he carried on business until 1842, when he took Mr. Andrew Rowan into partnership. The firm then built another store in Willis Street, and carried on the two stores, until it was discovered that the speculation was not sufficiently profitable. The partners thereupon purchased twenty milch cows and 500 Southdown sheep, and leased 600 acres of grazing land at Cape Terawhiti, from Dr. Evans, at a nominal rental, until it was seen how the Maoris would behave. The Maoris proved so hostile that the lessees abandoned the run in 1845. Mr. Anderson then proceeded to Otago, where he took up grazing country, and two vessels were chartered to move the firm's stock from Wellington to Otago. After a while the partnership was dissolved, and the vessel in which Mr. Rowan was returning to Wellington was lost, with all on board. As a pioneer pastoral settler in Otago, Mr. Anderson under went many hardships, and had to contend with numerous difficulties, and had grazing country successively at Otago Heads, Blue-skin, and Lake Tuakatoto. Eventually he gave up runholding and bought 2,000 acres, which he rented out to small farmers, while he himself farmed 200 acres of freehold on Inchclutha, where he carried on farming from 1858 to 1880. Since then he has lived in retirement at the Hermitage, near Stirling, where he still enjoys excellent health, notwithstanding his great age and eventful career as an early colonist. Mr. Anderson has all along taken an active part in public affairs. He represented Molyneux in the first Provincial Council, and in conjunction with the late Mr. Shaw, of Finnigand, used to walk to Dunedin to attend the meetings of the Council. In 1845 he was married to Anna, daughter of the late Mr. Joseph Miller, of Wellington, and their family consists of three sons and six daughters. The eldest son, Mr. Crawford Anderson, sat in Parliament for Bruce from 1887 to 1890.