Mr. John Edward Hanson has been settled in the Riccarton district since 1865. He was born at Leeds, Yorkshire. England, in 1840, and came to New Zealand by the ship “Brother's Pride,” which arrived at Lyttelton in December, 1863. On the voyage Mr. Hanson had been employed as a butcher, and soon after his arrival he leased ten acres of land at Riccarton from Mr. C. C. Bowen, and started a store and butchery, the foundation of his present business. Success attended his efforts, the premises were afterwards enlarged, a bakery was added, and Mr. Hanson developed a large was added, and Mr. Hanson developed a large export business in shipping bacon to Sydney. He also owned page 651 the Upper Riccarton flour mill. Mr. Hanson has been a member of the Riccarton Road Board for several years; and he was chairman, and for over twenty consecutive years a member of the Riccarton school committee. He was one of the first members of the choir of the Riccarton church in the days when they sang from the New Zealand Hymnal, and he also became synodsman, vestryman, and parishioners' and clergyman's churchwarden. Mr. Hanson was present at the consecration of Halswell church, with Bishop Harper and Mr C. C. Bowen. He was married in New Zealand to Miss Mary Hare, who came out in the ship “Canterbury.” Mrs Hanson died in 1902, leaving a family of three sons and two daughters. Two of the sons served with the New Zealand forces in South Africa; one as a sergeant in the Fifth Contingent, and the other as a farrier-sergeant in the Ninth Contingent.

Mr. James Jackson was born in Cheshire, England, in 1834. He arrived at Lyttelton by the ship “Bangalore,” in 1851, and soon afterwards took up his present property, Four Ash Farm, Harewood Road, Riccarton. Later on he went to Wellington, and, on returning from that town, he left for the Collingwood goldfields, where he spent seven months. He had not long returned to Canterbury, when he heard that goldfields had started at Buller, and he, with twenty others, chartered a boat to take them to that place, with six months' provision. While there they met Mr. James Mackay, Government surveyor, who was buying land from the Maoris for the Nelson Government, and as the party had no luck at the digginges, Mr. Mackay advised them to return with him, as he said, that, after their provisions were finished, they would not be able to obtain more. The party, therefore, returned with Mr. Mackay, but five of the number took the sea coast, with their swags and provisions. It took the others fifteen days to reach Collingwood, while the five who went by the coast were twenty-five days on the road, and were almost exhausted when the search party, who had been sent to look for them, discovered them. Mr. Jackson also went to the Otago goldfields, but returned to Canterbury. In 1866 he opened the Seven Oaks butchery, at Papanui, which he carried on most profitably until 1895, when he retired to his farm. Mr. Jackson has been a member of both the Avon and Riccarton Road Boards, and he served twelve years on the Riccarton Licensing Committee. He was married in New Zealand, and has a surviving family of five sons and four daughters, and a great number of grandchildren.

A Pioneer's Carriage (Mr. J. Stanley, Riccarton), taken in Cathedral, Square Nearly Forty Years ago.

Mr. Henry Nunweek, Harewood Road, Riccarton, was for thirty-two years a member of the Riccarton Road Board, and for twenty-six of these he never missed a meeting. He also served on the Riccarton Licensing Committee for ten years, and was a member of the Harewood Road school committee for eighteen years. Mr. Nunweek, who was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1830, arrived at Lyttelton by the ship “Joseph Fletcher, in 1856. He worked at road-making for the Government, and, in 1861, went to the Otago goldfields, where he and his party took up a claim, which, for the first day's work, yielded the five partners about £40 per man. The leader, an old Australian digger, attempted to frighten Mr. Nunweek and his mate away, so that the rich claim might be shared by the others. Thereupon Mr. Nunweek offered to settle the matter by physical force, and then the others wisely decided to let “Ginger” alone, lest he should “hammer the lot of them.” Thereafter the claim was amicably worked until it “petered out.” On returning to Canterbury Mr. Nunweek invested his capital in his present fruit farm, twenty acres of which he bought from the Government; afterwards he increased the area to 105 acres. This farm has prospered wonderfully. With the assistance of his three sons and a number of labourers, Mr. Nunweek harvests some large crops, for which he finds a ready market, although there was a time when he had to wheel his peaches by the ton to the pig-troughs, because there was no demand for them. In 1902 Mr. Nunweek visited the Old Country; and, while there, he journeyed into Kent to see what improvements on the colony's fruit-growing methods were there in vogue. After much consideration he came to the conclusion that the New Zealander has not much to learn from the English fruit-grower, and he states that he can grow more fruit on one acre of his land, than they were growing on three acres in Kent. Mr. Nunweek was married at Macclesfield, Cheshrie, before leaving England the first time, and has a family of three sons and two daughters.

Mr. John Stanley was born in Malvern, Worcestershire, England, in 1827, and arrived in New Zealand in 1850, by the ship “Radolph.” For five years he obtained employment in Lyttelton, and then took up a small holding on the Harewood Road, where he established himself in a cob-whare, and carried on dairy farming and nursery gardening. He soon laid the foundation of a fine orchard of about thirty-three acres, and Mr. Stanley did much for the establishment of a church at Harewood Road, as a branch of the Papanui church, and he was connected with the management throughout. He also interested himself in the building of the Harewood Road public school, which was erected on his property, and he served on the committee. As long as his health permitted he was a member of the Riccarton Road Board. Mr. Stanley died in June, 1891, leaving a widow, and a family of five sons and five daughters. Mrs Stanley died in December, 1901.