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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Councillor Charles Palmer Sleeman

Councillor Charles Palmer Sleeman has been a member of the Mataura Borough Council since 1896, except during one year, when he declined to stand for election. He was born in Cornwall, England, in 1856, was brought up to outdoor pursuits, and was coachman to a gentleman for seven years before deciding to emigrate to New Zealand. Mr Sleeman landed at Lyttelton from the ship “Piako,” in 1879, and spent his first
Councillor C. P. Sleeman.

Councillor C. P. Sleeman.

page 1086 three years in the colony at Wairere Valley, Glentunnel, Canterbury. In 1882, he removed to Mataura to manage an estate for Messrs McIllwraith Brothers. Four years later, he started farming, and in 1890, added coalmining, having opened an extensive seam on a block of 200 acres adjoining the township. The seam averages fourteen feet in thickness and the mine—known as Waimumu Coalpit—is connected by tram with a loading bank on the road, as well as by a siding on the railway. Seventeen persons are employed, in addition to the members of Mr Sleeman's family; seven horses are used, and the total output for 1903 was 10,390 tons. Mr Sleeman was married, in 1879, to a daughter of the late Mr Joseph Blades, of County Durham, England, and has eight sons and six daughters.