Mr. Thomas Morgan , Manager of the Vinegar Hill Hydraulic Sluicing Company, Limited, was born in Monmouthshire, England, in 1851, and was brought up as a coalminer in South Wales. After being engaged in that calling for seven years he came to Lyttelton by the “Edwin Fox,” in 1873. This vessel was wrecked in the Bay of Discay, and the ship's doctor killed. The passengers, however, were rescued by a Spanish steamer and taken into Brest, where the vessel underwent repairs which involved a delay of six weeks, when a second start was made for New Zealand. On rounding Cape Horn the vessel was partly wrecked, but was subsequently got off, and after a passage of 140 days the passengers landed at Lyttelton. Mr. Morgan passed a year in the Shag Point district, and settled in St. Bathans in 1874, and has since then been engaged in mining. He was appointed manager of the Vinegar Hill mine in 1898. He was one of the founders of the St. Bathans Brass Band, Mr. Morgan was married in 1880 to a daughter of Mr. C. M. Mills, of Dunedin.