Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

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

Wendonside

Wendonside.

Wendonside is about eight miles south-west of Waikaia, on the Waikaia Plains. It is a farming district, and the land is of fair quality. At the census of 1901, the population was 308. The district is situated in the Waikaia riding of the county of Southland, and in the electoral district of Wakatipu. There is a public school with an average attendance of thirty. The local post office, to which a telephone bureau was added in 1902, is conducted at the schoolhouse. Mails are received, and despatched, twice a week.

Maher, John , J. P., Farmer, Pram Farm, Wendonside. Mr Maher's property consists of 914 acres, 274 of which are freehold, 320 educational leasehold, and 320 held under perpetual lease. It was originally part of the Waikaia Plains station. In 1884, when Mr Maher took possession, the land was in tussocks, but it has since been ploughed; a considerable number of trees, now well-grown, have been planted, and a homestead building erected. About 600 crossbred Leicesters are depastured on the farm, and, otherwise, general farming is carried on. Mr Maher took a prominent part in securing the establishment of the Wendonside public school. which was privately erected, and subsequently taken over by the Southland Education Board. Mr Maher has been a member of the school committee almost from the first, and was chairman up till 1903. He is secretary of the Waikaia Railway League, with which he has all along closely identified himself. Mr Maher is a staunch supporter of the Seddon Government. He married, in 1882, a daughter of the late Mr Cornelius Burke, who was the first chemist in Rangiora, Canterbury, and has seven sons and three daughters. The eldest son is employed in the Survey Department, Invercargill, and the fourth is in the Farmers' Co-operative store at Gore.

Wood, J. Nugent , Junior, Farmer, “Newton,” Wendonside. This property consists of 400 acres of an Educational Reserve. Mr Wood, the lessee, was born in Kingston, in December, 1863, and was brought up to country pursuits. He is the son of Mr I. Nugent Wood, the well-known Warden, and commenced farming on his own account, at “Newton” in 1886. Mr Wood was married, in 1889, to a daughter of Mr Henry Hirst, of Orepuki, and has one daughter.

Mr. I. Nugent Wood has been well known as a Goldfields Warden in Otago for over forty years. He was born in Middlewick, Cheshire, England, in 1826, and attended school at his native place. As a lad he went to sea for a number of years, and landed in Australia in 1849. For some years he followed pastoral pursuits at Mount Gambier, South Australia. In the early days of the Victorian gold fields, Mr Wood became clerk to “Bendigo Mac,” Warden of the Bendigo goldfield. In 1861, Mr Wood came to Otago with Major Croker, to assist in organising the official staff, on the discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully. In the following year he was appointed Warden, and was stationed at Fox's (Arrowtown). From that time onward Mr Wood acted as Warden on most of the Otago and Southland goldfields, and Queenstown was his last station. Owing to a severe buggy accident, he was compelled to retire at Easter, 1891. Mr Wood was married, on the 9th of February, 1854, to Miss Susan Lapham, the daughter of the late Mr Samuel Lapham, of Tasmania. Mrs Wood, who was known as a pleasing and versatile writer of prose and verse, died in 1880, leaving two sons. She was a highly valued and very popular contributor to the Otago Witness in the early sixties, and published a small book of poems, which attracted favourable notice throughout New Zealand, and is still treasured in many a bookcase.

Mr. I. N. Wood.

Mr. I. N. Wood.

The Late Mrs Nugent Wood.

The Late Mrs Nugent Wood.

The Nugent Wood Dredge is owned by the Nugent Wood Gold Dredging Company, Limited, of Lawrence, and Mr R. Pilling, junior, is the company's secretary. The dredge is working 100 acres of land at Wendonside, and commenced operations in October, 1903. Several dividends have already been paid to the shareholders, and the returns have been as high as 43 ounces for a week. The plant is driven by a twelve horsepower engine, and a sixteen horsepower boiler, and the buckets will lift three and three-quarters cubic feet of washdirt.

page 1045

Mr. Samuel Ernest Hubbard , who has acted as engineer of the Nugent Wood Dredge since June, 1904, was born in Essex, England, in 1854, He was brought to Lyttelton by his parents during the same year, by the ship “Royal Stuart;' attended school in Christchurch, and was brought up to outdoor pursuits. He commenced his experience as an engineer, at the the age of sixteen, under Messrs Reid and Gray, at Oamaru. On removing to Christchurch, he was employed as a fitter and turner in the shop of the late Mr John Anderson, and was with Messrs Jack, Steel and Hendry, of Oamaru, and other firms for over twenty years. Having taken his certificate as an engineer, he was appointed to the Success Dredge, and was afterwards a dredge engineer on the Upper Waipori, for twelve months, before his appointment to the Nugent Wood Dredge.