Mr. James Allison was born at Kirkcolm, Wigtonshire, Scotland, and learned ship carpentering in Glasgow. In 1859, he landed at Adelaide, South Australia, and went to the Bendigo and Gippsland diggings. He arrived in New Zealand in 1861, and was gold-mining at the Waikawa and Tuapeka diggings. In 1863 he settled in Riverton, and shortly afterwards bought a portion of his present farm, to which he added later on. Mr Allison is on the Gummies bush church committee, and is a deacon of the Riverton Presbyterian page 956 church. He married a daughter of Mr McDonald, of Mull, and has one son. Mrs Allison died some years ago.