Shirley, Charles, “Oakley Farm,” Hornby. Mr. Shirley took over this property in 1900. It comprises seventy-five acres of land of good quality; it has all been under page 654 cultivation, and yields an average return of about thirty-eight bushels of wheat, and sixty of oats to the acre. The original homestead, a sod whare, has given place to a substantial dwelling house, and the farmyward is surrounded with a number of well constructed out buildings. Mr. Edward Henry Shirley, father of the present proprietor, purchased the property about 1883, and worked it successfully until 1900, when he retired. He was born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1837, and arrived in New Zealand by the ship “Mermaid,” on her first trip. He now resides in Christchurch, and has a family of five sons and three daughters. Mr. Charles Shirley was born at Linwood, Christchurch, in 1874, educated at the Ricoarton school, and trained to agriculture on his father's farm. Prior to taking over the property he visited England, and studied farming in Yorkshire. Mr. Shirley married a daughter of Mr. Robert Boswell, of Christchurch.