NEARLY A HUNDRED

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 2, 3 January 1934, Page 3

NEARLY A HUNDRED

DEATH AT 99 YEARS. Born in Devonshire, England, in 1834, at which time colonisation in New Zealand had not yet been definitely started, Mrs. Clara Sabina Garrard, of Bastia Hill, Wanganui, passed peacefully away recently. It was on December 13 last that she attained her 09th birthday, and every hope was held that she would live to see 100 candles on her birthday cake next year, hut it was not to be. The late Mrs. Garrard came to New Zealand 74 years ago as the wife of the late Mr. Joseph Garrard, who predeceased her some 46 years ago. Together they came out in the year 1859 on board the sailing ship Airedale, on which Mr. Garrard occupied the position of chief officer. For 54 years Mrs. Garrard remained in the South Island, and there were many incidents of early Nelson, the colonisation of which always occupies a separate chapter in any New Zealand history book, which the old lady could recall to interest her listeners. She could remember quite vividly the Maori wars and the subsequent arrivals of refugees from Taranaki. For the past 11 years Mrs. Garrard lived with her daughter, Mrs. J. R. Sutherland, of Wanganui, keeping in comparatively good health during that period. She always took a great interest in the affairs of Wanganui and the outside world, and, like the majority of older people, was always busily occupied until her great age exerted its natural demands upon her.