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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Farmers

Farmers.

Anstey, John, Farmer, Beaconsfield (Otipua). Mr. Anstey was born in Devonshire, England, in 1856, and brought up on his father's farm. He came out to Lyttelton in 1873, and for about three years found employment as a shearer and enginedriver. In 1881 he acquired a freehold of 182 acres at Pareora, and in November, 1889, leased an educational reserve of 417 acres in the Beaconsfield district, where he has since resided. Mr. Anstey also owns 156 acres of freehold at Coonoor, south-west of Timaru. He has taken an active interest in the Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative Association, of which he been a director for eight years. Mr. Anstey served for seven years on the Pareora school committee, and was chairman for three years of that time. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1897. Mr. Anstey was married in September, 1881, to a daughter of the late Mr. P. Chamberlain, of Devonshire, and has three sons and one daughter.

Ferrier, photo.Mr. and Mrs J. Anstey.

Ferrier, photo.
Mr. and Mrs J. Anstey.

Mr. George Gray Russell, of Otipua, was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1828. He was educated in Dunfermline and Edinburgh, and was for many years a successful merchant in London. On arriving in New Zealand, in 1864, he established himself in Dunedin as a general merchant, and two years latter opened a branch in Timaru. In both places he soon had a large and very successful business. The Timaru branch was first carried on by Mr. Russell himself, but in a few years he was joined by Mr. Ritchie, his partner in the Dunedin firm, of Russell, Ritchie and Co. In 1878 the business was taken over by the National Mortgage and Agency Company, who now carry it on. The two establishments were largely connected with the wool, grain, and produce export shipping business, and Mr. Russell himself was page 1029 an extensive landowner and runholder. He retired from active business in 1885, but he is still largely interested in colonial industries, and takes a lively interest in public affairs. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Dunedin High School and the Otago University Council. His residences are at Otipua, near Timaru, and at Glenfalloch, Dunedin. Otipua is an ideal estate and country residence, with its entrance lodge, its long winding drive through an avenue of choice trees, its well laid out gardens, and large homestead. The place was laid out by Mr. Russell himself when it was in its primitive state, covered with tussock. Although Mr. Russell has taken no public part in political matters, his services commercially and socially, and in connection with enterprises for the advancement and well being of the colony, will long be remembered.

Otipua House.

Otipua House.