Sockburn lies midway between Upper Riccarton and Hornby, and is five miles south-west from Christchurch, on the main south line. There is a small flag station, at which trains, other than the express, stop if necessary. Sockburn is a farming suburb but is rapidly becoming, also, a residential one. The Midland Saleyards Co-operative Company has large saleyards there, and has built suitable pens, and erected offices, etc. Abattoirs, constructed in terms of the Public Health Act, and belonging to the City Council of Christchurch, have lately been built at Sockburn. The Plumpton Park racecourse is also close by, and there are several well-known training stables in the immediate neighbourhood.

Barr, John, Stock Dealer, Sockburn. Mr. Barr was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1858. Two years later he was brought out to Lyttelton by his father, the late Mr. Porteus Barr, in the ship “William Miles.” Soon after their arrival the family settled at Courtenay, where Mr. Barr, senior, took up land, and remained there for ten years. Mr. Barr farmed in the Annat district for about twenty years, after which he went to Gisborne, where he resided up to the time of his death. He was chairman and member of the Sheffield Road Board for several years, and he also served on the local school committee. Mr. John Barr was brought up on the farms at Courtenay and Sheffield, and afterwards went to Ashburton, where he was for four years farming on his own account. On returning to Sheffield he farmed there for three years, but was compelled to leave on account of ill-health. He then removed to Sockburn, where he took up twenty acres for grazing purposes, and has since been successfully engaged in stock dealing. Mr. Barr has been a member of the Order of Oddfellows, and passed through the chairs of the Malvern Lodge. He married a daughter of Mr. Andrew Dawson, an old resident of Waterton, and has a family of six sons and three daughters. The eldest son is engaged with his father in his business.

Mr. John Maddison, of “Barnwell,” Sockburn, was born in Northamptonshire, England. He arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1852, but left for New Zealand at the end of the following year. In the beginning of 1854 he settled in Canterbury and took up a section of thirty acres at Riccarton, where he farmed his land and also worked throughout the district. On the discovery of gold in Otago Mr. Maddison sold his farm and hastened to the goldfields. After a short time spent without successful results on the fields, he returned to Canterbury and resumed farming. He was one of the first to begin farming at Templeton, where he bought land, which he cultivated successfully for years. He then leased his Templeton property, and bought at Southbrook 160 acres of swamp land, which is now managed by his son. Having sold his Templeton property, Mr. Maddison bought Strange's run on the banks of the river Selwyn. This estate contains 2714 acres, and is now under the management of his son. About 1898 Mr. Maddison retired from the active management of his properties, and leads a life of ease at his villa in Sockburn. Mr. Maddison was one of the first members of the Templeton Road Board, and is a member of the school committee, and a vestryman. He has been twice married, and has a family of nine now alive; nine children were born by his first, and three by his second wife.

Mr. J. Maddison.