The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Gummies Bush
Gummies Bush.
Gummies Bush is in the electoral district of Wallace, and is a part of the Aparima riding of Wallace county. Its population at the census of 1901 was twenty-four. The settlers are occupied in farming; and the settlement is four miles from Riverton and thirty from Invercargill. Gummies Bush district lies between the Aparima and Pourakino rivers, and gives evidence of being a well-established settlement. It has a co-operative dairy factory, a post office, public library, public school, and a small Presbyterian church.
Aparima Dairy Factory Company, Limited , Gummies Bush; offices at Riverton. This factory was established in 1901 in its present form, as a farmers' co-operative dairy factory company. The capital is £1,000, and the shares are held by the milk suppliers. Mr G. O. Cassels, of Riverton, is secretary and treasurer. There are seven directors, and a chairman of directors. The factory is about three miles from Riverton, and stands on ten acres of land. Its buildings are of the latest design, with every convenience for the making of cheese, of which nearly 100 tons were made in 1903. The plant includes a nine horse-power boiler and a small pumping engine. There is a piggery connected with the factory.
Mr. And Mus J. H. R. Taylor.
Allison, James And Son (James Allison and John McDonald Allison), Farmers, Gummies Bush. The Messrs Allison own a farm of 460 acres, on which they conduct mixed farming.
Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. J. Allison.
Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. J. M. Allison.
Merrifield, James , Farmer, Gummies Bush. Mr Merrifield has a freehold farm of 322 acres, which he devotes chiefly to dairying. He was born in Luxulyn, Cornwall, England, in 1868, and was brought up to farming, though for some time after leaving school, he worked in a tin mine. In 1888, Mr Merrifield came to New Zealand, and landed at the Bluff. From the time of landing in the colony, until he took up his farm, in 1898, he engaged in various occupations—road-making, flax-milling, and farm work. In 1888, he married a daughter of the late Mr James Cock, engineer, Cornwall, and has three sons and one daughter. For two years Mr Merrifield was a member of Gummies Bush school committee, and he is at present (1905), and has been for three years, a director of the Aparima Dairy Factory Company, Limited. He is a member of Lodge Wallace, Independent Order of Oddfellows, American Constitution, at Riverton.
Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. J. Merrifield.
McKay, John , Farmer, Gummies Bush. Mr McKay has a compact farm of 120 acres, and carries on mixed farming. He has at various times exhibited thoroughbred horses at Invercargill and Riverton. Mr McKay was born at Ardnarff, Ross-shire, Scotland, in 1864, and came to New Zealand with his mother in 1872. He was educated at Gummies Bush, where his mother had settled, and worked on his mother's farm until about 1894, when he bought a small farm of ninety acres. This he sold, in order to settle on his present farm, which he had bought just previously. Mr McKay takes a great interest in horse racing, and has bred several horses of some note, and still breeds. He has ridden his own horses on many occasions. He is now a steward, and also time-keeper, for the Riverton Racing Club, and has, as a committeeman, been connected with the club for fifteen or sixteen years. Mr McKay was for seventeen or eighteen years a member of the Riverton Rifles, of which he was sergeant, and is now a member of the Rifle Club. As a rifleman, he has attended the New Zealand Association meetings on two occasions, and several meetings of the local association. He was winner one year of the medal as best shot of the Southland district, and was four times holder of the Riverton Rifles Belt. In 1896, he married a daughter of the late Mr James Morley, of Kidderminister, England, and has two sons and two daughters.
Gerstenkorn, photo
Mr. And Mrs J. McKay.
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Mr. F. McKay.