OLD ONEHUNGA RESIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 285, 1 December 1934, Page 16

OLD ONEHUNGA RESIDENT.

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES. To have travelled by stage coach from London to Lincolnshire, in England, before the opening of the Great Northern Railway which runs into that county, was the unique experience of Mrs. Elizabeth Mac Kinder, of Catherine Street, Onehunga. That was 87 years ago, when she was five years of age. Relating the incident to a friend, Mrs. Mac Kinder said that although she was turned 02 she had a clear recollection of the 130 miles journey. They stopped at several inns for refreshment and for fresh relays of horses. Her father, Mr. S. Robinson, was a solicitor in Gravesend, where she was born in 1842. He gave up his practice and bought a farm at Boston, in Lincolnshire, where his daughter lived until she was 19 years of age, when she was married to Mr. G. Mac Kinder in 1801. They arrived in New Zealand with two children in 1805 after a voyage of 10 weeks in the ship Armstrong, commanded by Captain Armstrong, who was part-owner of the vessel. Mrs. MacKinder's chief recollection of the voyage was the very primitive provision for doing the passengers' laundry. Her brother, the late Mr. Edwin Robinson camc in the same ship.

The late Mr. A. Robinson, of Ihumatao, Mangere, was a brother of Mrs. Mac Kinder. He arrived in New Zealand by the ship Pegasus in 18GG. Mr. Mac Kinder was first employed as a drainer by Mr. A. Buckland, auctioneer. After a short residence at Onehunga he bought a farm at Kikiljihi, near Te Awaruutu. There were only three other white settlers in the district at the time. They lived there for upwards of 50 years and had another 11 children born to them. Mrs. Mac Kinder remembers when the Maori chief Maniapoto died the white people attended a' big tangi. The Maoris got excited and the military men were called out to keep order.

After Mr. MacKiiuler's death in 1912 the farm was sold and his widow went to live at Onehunga. She had the misfortune to break her left arm twice, but made an excellent recovery. Otherwise she has enjoyed the best of health and now lives with her youngest son, Norman John. The old lady spends most of her time reading and doing crochet work. Summing up her experiences, she says she hardly realises that she has lived for over 92 years.