Lost Overboard.

In war and peace William Jackson was the best kind of nation-builder. He was a skilful farmer; he gave a helping hand to many a comrade; many of his old Rangers were settled near him, and he was always regarded as their chief and leader.

He was elected to represent the Waipa electorate in Parliament, and he held the seat until his greatly lamented and mysterious death towards the end of the ‘Eighties.

He was on his way to Wellington, by the sea route from Onehunga to New Plymouth, when he disappeared from all human ken. He had taken passage in the steamer “Wanaka,” but when the vessel reached New Plymouth he was not to be found. It was surmised that he had become seasick and had gone to the side of the steamer. The sea was rough, and a sudden roll of the ship probably sent him overboard in the darkness with none to see or rescue.

So vanished from life a good and sturdy Englishman who had done more than most to open the way for British settlement in the new land and to defend and develop the Waikato lands won in the immemorial warrior way, as the Maoris themselves had won it in the ancient times.