Obituary

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 44, 21 January 1949, Page 4

Obituary

MR R. H. CLELAND

By the death on Saturday of Mr Robert Henry Cleland, aged 74 years, the Whakatane .district has lost a well-known personality who • had been dairying on the Rangitaiki Plains for the past 30 years. Mr Cleland was born in Northern Ireland and spent his early years in Newcastle on Tyne before coming to New Zealand as a young man. He settled near Christchurch and was in business as a "carrier and agricultural contractor. There he married Miss Butterworth, a member of a well-known family of Belfast, Christchurch. Later Mr and Mrs Cleland removed to Panmure, near Auckland, where Mr Cleland was employed in a wool-scouring business. From Panmure they came to the Whakatane district at the close of World War I when there was a great boom in land settlement in the newer parts of the Auckland province. Coming to the Rangitaiki in 1919 when it was still largely undrained swamp in its natural state, Mr Cleland took up a section fronting the Thornton road and began milking a small herd of cows at a time when dairy farmres on the Plains could be numbered by ones and twos rather than by hundreds, Mr Cleland being the fifteenth supplier Cream was collected by a twohorse waggon and taken to the little butter factory at Awakeri out of which has grown the present large factory at Edgecumbe. Most cows were then milked by hand. Floods in the early 1900’s spelt the ruin of many hopes, and Mr Cleland was one of numerous settlers who walked off their sections, but like so many others he had great faith in the district. After dairying at other farms he took up the property at Paroa which he farmed with success for more than 20 years. As a practical dairyman with considerable experience of general farming, Mr Cleland was a valuable addition to the farming community on the Rangitaiki Plains, where settlers were busy starting dairy herds to take advantage of the high prices rilling for butterfat as a result of war conditions. Unfortunate-, ly the post-war boom was shortlived, but the hard work of the pioneer dairymen led to the establishment of milking sheds where previously there had only been ranches running beef cattle or raw swamp, the home of water fowl. . ! Mr Cleland was an active supporter of all movements for the [benefit of farmers and the improvement of the lot of dairymen. His advice on farming matters was eagearly sought after and readily given to those making a start in dairying. Mr Cleland was actively interested in the athletic pastimes as a young man, and in recent years he was a valued supporter of cricket and football in the Whakatane district, particularly of the teams in which his son was a keen player. It was through his initiative that | the Rangitaiki Cricket Association (since changed to the Whakatane Cricket Association) was formed, he being its first president and selector and until his death patron of the new association. He also was a first-class chess player of the Thornton Club in the early days. All his life Mr Cleland was a supporter of the Presbyterian Church. The funeral on Monday was largely attended, the service at Knox Presbyterian Church being, conducted by the Rev. J., H. Starnes, of Edgecumbe. Mr Cleland is survived by his wife and one son, Mr Russell Cle- v land, of Paroa, and two daughters. Mrs J. C. Howat, of the Manse, Ohakune, and Mrs J. D. Dennis of Paroa, and four grandchildren.