NINETY-ONE, NOT OUT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 311, 30 December 1912, Page 9

NINETY-ONE, NOT OUT.

A TEHBEB TRADE PIOmBEB.

CELEBRATING AN ANNTVERSARY.

To have lived during the reigns of five English monarchs, to have been one of the earliest pioneers of the Dominion's timber industry, and to be surrounded in his old age by nearly 60 descendants, is the record established by Mr. William Foote, of Raniurly Road, Epsom, who yesterday celebrated his 91st birthday. Despite the weight of years, this old gentleman is still active, hale and hearty. The well-kept gardens and grounds which surround his pretty villa home at Epsom are tendered entirely by their owner, who spends hours daily in ministering to their care. Few men, indeed, past the age of four score and ten possess such full retention of their faculties. Needless to remark, a colonist with so long a record and so clear a mind makes an interesting subject tor an interview. Mr. Foote was born at St. John, Newfoundland, in IS2I, and spent his early manhood in that country, where his father was interested in timber milling and seal fishing Tb? loss of two of his father's vessels in a storm while on a sealing expedition north of Newfoundland provided Mr. roote with one of the most thrilling experiences in his life, and as a survivor from one of the wrecks, he recounts a terrible story of a 200-mile journey back to civilisation, over snow and ice. Even in those early days whispers reached America ot the wonderful potentialities ot the new Britain in the Southern Seas, and it was in 18G2—just 50 years ago— that he set sail with his wife and family of young children, in his own small sailing ship for New Zealand. The vessel only registered 160 tons, and it entailed a five months' passage, via the Cape and Melbourne, before the little ship sailed into Manukau Harbour. The timber milling business immediately engaged Mr. Foote's attention, and his first yen ture was a magnificent piece of bmsh on the West Coast, some six miles d'stant from the Manukau Heads. Many million feet of kauri were cut out "of the bush, and sent to Auckland, the price for best heart of kauri in those days being 8/ per 100 ft.—nearly £1 pe r lOOtt less than it ia worth to-day. Labour, of course, was much cheaper then than now. gcod men being available for £.i per month and their keep, as compared with from ±'10 to £12 per month now. Cut if labour was cheaper, the difSculticis of timber-getting were far greater. for the work, which is now made easy by mechanical devices, was in those days only to be accomplished by brain and muscle. The West Coast gold rush was participated in by Mr. Foote, as by so many other colonists who caught the "gold fever,'' but he did not long remain away from the milling industry, and be carried through many successful undertakings as a pioneer of the timber trade. Iv these he was joined by Mr. John '.'ibbons, whose name also figures prominently in the Dominion's early timber-miMmg records. Mr. Foote operated largely in the Whangarei district, where his sons still carry on an extensive connection in the timber business. For his age Mr. Foote is still remarkably active, and his state of health today but serves to illustrate the virility and physique of the men who came as pioneers to this country in the early righties. That his descendants are of the same type may perhaps be judged from the fact that a grandson, Dr. Percy Foote, now of Guy's Hospital, was run-ner-up in the recent amateur heavyweight boxing championships in London. It is interesting to note that Mr. Foote is also the oldest Mason in the Doiniuiun Mr. Foote w?.s yesterday visited by many relatives and friends, who desired to convey birthday felicitations, and the hope was confidently expressed that the old man would live to become a centenarian.