Boyle, Henry, Farmer, “Broadland,” Ellesmere. Mr. Boyle was born at Newtownards, in County Down, Ireland, in 1839, and came to New Zealand in 1863, by the ship “Chariot of Fame.” For about sixteen years after his arrival he worked for the Springs Road Board. He first started farming at Springston on about seventy-nine acres, which he worked with good results for several years. Later on the bought his present property of 500 acres of freehold on the banks of the Selwyn. He has also 140 acres at page 684 Methven, which he has let to a tenant. Mr. Boyle carries on a system of general mixed farming, including the raising of sheep, pigs, cattle, and good draught and light horses. He is a member of the Burnham school committee, of which he has been chairman for several years, and he is also a member of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, and of the Farmers' Co-operative Association. Mr. Boyle married Miss Kerr, of Leeston, and has a family of three sons and one daughter.

Mr. and Mrs H. Boyle and Family. Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo.
Wrigglesworth & Binns, photo.

Chamberlian, William, Farmer, Had stock Estate, Ellesmere. Mr. Chamberlain was born in 1849 in Devonshire, England. He followed farming in his early years, and came to New Zealand, in the ship “Loch Fleet,” in 1877. Within a month of his arrival he purchased the first portion of his present estate, and gradually increased it to 700 acres. His property contains some of the best land in the Ellesmere district, and Mr Chamberlain has threshed as much as fifty-four bushels of wheat to the acre, even in the fifth crop in succession from reclaimed swamp land. The estate is devoted to crop raising and the fattening of stock for the export trade. As far back as 1883 Mr. Chamberlain shipped a line of sheep on his own account. They were two-year-olds, and yet the carcases averaged ninety-two pounds, and his returns on the shipment exceeded an average of 30s. per head. Mr. Chamberlain founded his Shorthorn herd in 1878, when he bought a cow bred by Mr. John Deans. She proved to be a prolific dam, and one of her daughters is still in the herd. The sires formerly used by Mr. Chamberlain included “Red John,” “Westburn,” “Lord Nelson,” and “Revensworth,” and for about five or six years he has employed “Ophir” and “Coolgardie, bred by himself, but both afterwards sold. Mr. Chamberlain does not approve of getting up stock for exhibition purposes, and he has only once exhibited at the Metropolitan show, namely, in 1895, when he won the second place with “Coolgardie.” He has been a regular importer of modern labour-saving machinery, and improved farm implements. In 1881 he was the first to drill and horsehoe turnips in the district, and on the 27th of October, 1884, the first public trial of the manure drill for mangolds, turnips and manure was herd on his farm. This drill was his own invention and has not yet been improved upon. He was also the first to use a cart mangold-cutter, and in 1883 he introduced the first traction engine used in the district. Mr Chamberlain has always taken an active interest in educational and volunteer matters. He helped to form the Ellesmere Mounted Rifles, and granted the Education Board an acre and a half of land whereon to build the local school, of the committee of which he has from the first been chairman. He was the first to move in the adoption of the present system of protecting the land from the inroads of the river Selwyn. Mr. Chamberlain was married, in 1881, to Miss Withell, and has six sons and four daughters.

Mr. W. Chamberlain.

Wright, Walter, Farmer, Willowbank Estate, Ellesmere. Mr. Wright was born at Springston, in 1873. His father, Mr Frederick Wright, was a well known farmer at Dunsandel. He was educated at Dunsandel, and at the Boys' High School, Christehurch, and brought up to farming by his father. In conjunction with his eldest brother, he took up land at Annat and Springfield, but the partnership was dissolved after five years, when Mr. W. Wright began on his own account at Kimberley. In 1902 he succeeded his uncle, Mr. Walter Wright, in the ownership of his present estate. The farm consists of about 600 acres, on which he conducts general farming. Mr. Wright keeps a fine flock of English Leicesters for breeding purposes, and annually supplies about 600 fat lambs to the freezing works. He is a member of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Mr. Wright was formerly well known as a runner and footballer, and was a member of the Malvern Mounted Rifles for three years. He married Miss Cogan, of Kimberley.