Mr. Frederick Taylor Redman, who for some time occupied a seat as councillor of the borough of Pahiatua, was born at Wimborne Minster, Dorsetshire, his father, the Rev. Thomas Taylor Redman, being the officiating Baptist page 1023 minister of his native town. When quite a child, his parents removed to Romsey. He left England for New Zealand in 1880, per ship “Caroline,” arriving in Wellington on the 1st of May. He went to Masterton immediately on landing, and was engaged as assistant to the town-clerk, Mr. R. Brown, occupying this position for a period of eight years. At the end of that time he establshed himself in business in Masterton as a tea merchant and storekeeper, but in three years time he sold out and removed to Pahiatua in the early stage of settlement in that district. This was in August, 1890, and Mr. Redman at once undertook the duties of clerk to the Town Board. In 1891 the Borough Council was formed, and Mr. Redman continuing his work, enjoyed the distinction of being the first town clerk to that body. In 1892, he resigned his office, and entered the employ of Mr. Harold G. Smith, Solicitor, etc., of Pahiatua, which position he still occupies. Mr. Redman has been a member of the Borough Council, and is a popular man throughout the district. He was for some time secretary of the Masterton Mangahao Special Settlement Association, and assisted it through all its stages. He represented the south ward when in the Borough Council, having been elected to the position in 1894. Mr. Redman is a member of the committee of the town library, and also acts as its secretary, and does a very great deal towards making the institution the popular affair it is.

Mr. Edward Sullivan, who held a seat in the Berough Council from September, 1893, to September, 1895, was born at Parsonstown, King's County, Ireland, and left there for New Zealand in 1880, arriving in Port Chalmers per ship “Loch Eck” during the same year. Immediately on arrival he went to Timaru, where he entered into the employment of his brother, Mr. J. Sullivan, the late proprietor of the Royal Hotel. After a few years Mr. Sullivan came to Christchurch, and was for four years with Mr. McNamara, of the City Hotel. Arriving subsequently in Wellington he had further business experience of some three years, and then removed to Wakatane on the East Coast, where he managed an hotel of that name. After this Mr. Sullivan returned to Timaru, and was for four years the proprietor of the Royal Hotel there, and for a further period of two years was proprietor of the Melville Hotel, Timaru. In 1891 he came to Pahiatua, and in conjunction with Mr. Corby purchased the Commercial Hotel, of which popular hostelry he is now sole proprietor. Mr. Sullivan is a steward of the Pahiatua Jockey Club. Further particulars of his career will be found further on in this section under “Commercial Hotel.”

Pahiatua Country Council. The County of Pahiatua was declared in 1888. On the formation of the Council Mr. Job Vile was chosen chairman, and occupied the position for two years. Mr. Samuel Bolton succeeded Mr. Vile, and held the chairmanship three years, when Mr. George Whitcombe was elected as Mr. Bolton's successor. Mr. Joses Griffiths is chairman at the time of writing (October, 1896). The area of the County is 280 square miles, and the population upwards of 1583. Nearly 400 miles of roads have been surveyed, of which about half have been formed. The County debt is £42,000, and the annual payments for interest amount to nearly £2000. The County rate of 1 1/2. in the £ of capital value produces an income for the Council of about £3000. The County reserves include an acre in the Borough of Pahiatua, nearly five acres at Mangahao, and a little more than an acre at Ballance township. The loans are all under the “Loans to Local Bodies Act,” and are allocated in about forty separate funds, each for some special road or bridge. The members of the Council for 1896 are: Messrs. J. Griffiths (chairman), S. Bolton, P. J. Murphy, G. Whitcombe, J. B. Tait, A. Ross, F. E. Perry, A. Yule, and J. McCarthy. The officers of the Council are: Clerk and treasurer, Mr. George Moore; engineer' Mr. De G. Fraser; assistant engineer and overseer, Mr. A. E. Barrowclough. Mr. A. Yule, one of the County Councillors, is referred to under “Hamua,” on pages 1007–8, where his picture will also be found.

Councillor Joses Griffiths, Chairman of the Pahiatua County Council, is a son of the late Mr. John Griffiths, one of the early settlers of the Colony, who arrived in 1843. The subject of this sketch was born in Nelson in 1845, and was educated there. Brought up to farming pursuits, he acquired a farm in Nelson in 1868. Here he remained until 1891, when he removed to his present property at Makakahi.

Councillor George Whitcombe, who for some time occupied the honourable position of chairman of the Pahiatua County Council, was born in Devonshire, England, a few months before his parents left there for India in 1854. His father, Mr. Henry Whitcombe, was a civil engineer, and had been a pupil of Brummell, of the Great Western Railway. He remained in India until 1857 in connection with the Great Indian Railway, but returned to England and then came to New Zealand per ship “Blue Jacket,” landing in Lyttelton towards the end of 1858. Settling in Canterbury, Mr Whitcombe, sen., was employed there under the Government, and in 1863 was sent on an exploring expedition to the West Coast. This expedition proved fatal to him. His only companion was a Swiss known as Jacob Louper. Mr. Whitcombe and his assistant attempted to cross the Teremakau River in a canoe, which was in a very bad condition, and when in mid-stream the position became so critical that Mr. Whitcombe, who was able to swim, struck out for the shore in order to relieve the canoe of his weight, as his assistant was a non-swimmer. Old Jacob, as he is now called, clung to the swamped canoe, and was saved, but Mr. Whitcomb's noble act cost him his life. The body was recovered and interred at Hokitika, where a monument erected by the Government now marks his resting place in common with that of Charlton Howitt, who was drowned in the river Brunner, and George Dobson, who was murdered by the Kelly gang. Thus the father was suddenly cut off from his family, but the latter were pretty comfortably provided for. The subject of this article was educated partly at Canterbury, and partly at the Brentwood Grammar School, England, returning to the Christchurch College, and finishing at the University of Dunedin. In 1872 Mr. Whitcombe joined the Government survey staff in Canterbury, and publicly and privately he was employed in surveying until 1883. He then came to Pahiatua, purchasing his present farm of 1200 acres, and settling down to the hard work of bush life. His land was at that time all dense bush, and now 1000 acres have been cleared, burned, grassed, and stocked with upwards of 2000 sheep and about fifty head of cattle, more than half the latter being dairy cows. The grasses which Mr. Whitcombe recommends as most suitable for this country are rye, timothy, cocksfoot, clover, crested dogstail, and sheep's fescue, with a mixture of turnips and mustard, to give the pasturage a good start. The first named of all these is, of course, the basis, the proportions being left to the good judgment of the sower. In 1888 Mr. Whitcombe was married to Miss Sedcole, daughter of Councillor Sedcole. Mr. Whitcombe has taken a very great interest in the building up of the district. For a short time he was engineer to the original Road Board, of which he was afterwards a member, and subsequently chairman, and he has been a member of the County Council from the inauguration of that body in 1888, representing throughout that time the Mangaone riding. Of that council he was for some time the respected chairman. For a considerable time he was chairman of the Kaitawa School Committee.

Councillor John McCarthy is a sheep and cattle farmer. Born in Bilboa, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1858, and educated there, Mr. McCarthy arrived in New Zealand in 1876, and proceeded to Wanganui, where he remained a few years. After carrying on business for some time as a contractor in the Hawkes Bay and Wellington districts, he took up a farm in Pahiatua, on which he raises sheep and cattle. Mr. McCarthy is a member of the Pahiatua County Council, and was one of the promoters of the Pahiatua Farmers' Co-operative Saleyards, of which latter corporation he still acts as a director. A lover of sport, he has been a steward of the Pahiatua Racing Club since its inception. Mr. McCarthy is married, and has three children.

Councillor J. McCarthy.

Mr. George Moore, Clerk and Treasurer to the Pahiatua County Council, was born in London, and was educated at one of the grammar schools of the Metropolis. His father, Mr. Charles John Moore, was for many years in the Tithes Commission office. For several previous generations the family had been connected with printing, and Mr. Moore was trained in London for journalism. Before leaving for the Colony he filled important positions, including the editorial chairs of the Marlborough Times and the Folkeston Free Press. As a reporter he was on the staff of the Birmingham Money; News, the Worcester Journal, the Wolverhampton Chronicle, and others.

Mr. De Gennes Fraser is Engineer to the Pahiatua County Council, and, like his brother officer, Mr. Moore, his appointment dates from the declaration of the county. Mr. Fraser is the son of the late Colonel Thomas Gamble Fraser, of the One Hundred and First late Bombay Fusiliers, and was born at Kurachee, in British India. He was educated at the Marlborough College, England, finishing at Sydney College, Bath. He studied for his profession under his cousin, Colonel Thomas Fraser, of the Royal Engineers. At the early age of eighteen Mr. Fraser passed his examinations as an engineer, and subsequent to his arrival in New Zealand gained his certificate as a surveyor. Arriving in Dunedin in the year 1870, he joined the Government Survey Department some two years later, and was for nine years under Mr. J. W. A. Marchant, then Chief Surveyor of the Wellington District. After this Mr. Fraser had large experience in the Taranaki district, surveying chiefly from the Waitotara northwards. At this time he had charge of a party that met some difficulty with the natives. It was the cook of Mr. Fraser's party, John McLean, who was murdered by the native Hiroki, who escaped to Parihaka, and was not captured until the taking of that Maori stronghold. From 1882 to 1886 Mr. Fraser was engaged in private contract work, and, in conjunction with Mr. Edward Tregear, surveyed and formed many of the roads of the Waitotara and Waverley districts. For three years Mr. Fraser was employed by the Government on the West Coast Commission service, surveying the native reserves, under Sir Wm. Fox, after which he was engaged in conjunction with Mr. Norman McDonald, in private contracts at Hunterville and Hawera, and then at the Tiraumea Special Settlement, the Woodville-Mangahao and the Woodville-Mangatainoka districts. In his present position Mr. Fraser has formed about 135 miles of road in the Pahiatua County; and has designed and constructed no less than fourteen large and important bridges. The Ngaturi bridge over the Tiraumea, which has just been completed, is 244 feet long, which is taken in two spans of 122 feet each. At the time of writing a bridge is being thrown across the Mangahao river, in three spans, two spans of forty-three feet, and a centre one of 120, and a similar one over the Tiraumea, about three miles north of Ngaturi bridge. During the time that Mr. Fraser has held office upwards of £60,000 has been spent in the construction of roads and bridges in this district. Mr. Fraser's certificates and testimonials are of a very high order indeed, and bear the signatures of Mr. G. W. Williams, Chief Surveyor of the Southland district, Mr. J. W. A. Marchant, Chief Surveyor of the Canterbury district, Mr. Thomas Humphries, Chief Surveyor of the Napier district, Mr. H. Lufkin Skeet, Chief Surveyor of the West Coast Royal Commission, etc. Mr. Fraser is also a member of the Institute of New Zealand Surveyors, is licensed under the Land Transfer Acts, and holds a certificate of authorisation from the Surveyor-General. The Pahiatua County Council is to be congratulated on retaining the services of a gentleman so well qualified by experience to watch over the interests of the district.