MEMORIES OF THE SIXTIES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20036, 18 September 1930, Page 13

MEMORIES OF THE SIXTIES.

PIONEER'S BIRTHDAY, MR GEORGE JAMESON IS 80 YEARS OLD TO-DAY. The eightieth birthday of Mr George Jameson, one of the pioneers of Canterbury, who has seen the province grow from wilderness to civilisation, will be celebrated to-day, when,he will be the guest of .honour at a luncheon party given by a large number of his friends. Mr Jameson has been 67 years., in Christchurch, and is now one of the few who have watched Christchurch grow" from a small town to a'city. He has at all times been prominent, both in the City's ■ business enterprises: and in its sports movements, having- at- one time been a leading oarsman in the province, and the first member of the Union Bowing Club. Mr Jameson was one of a crew of four in 1868 which rowed with great success in a celebrated boat in those days, the -Lurline, which won more races than any other boat at that time. When, with his ' father, Mr J. P.. Jameson, who was Mayor of Christchurch in 1871, Mr George Jameson arrived in Lyttelton in the' Sebastopol on May 22nd, 1863, the population of Christchurch was less than 5000. Great difficulty was experienced" in .obtaining a house, and it was a fortnight after landing before the family went to reside where the Canterbury College buildings now stand, then open country. Those were the days of large, stations, said Mr Jameson in conversation with a Press representative yesterday, and teams were freely used for a time before horses displaced them. Mr Jameson was present at such historic events ;in Canterbury as the opening of the fyyttelton tunnel, the running of the first railway train in. New Zealand—from Christchurch to Heathcote—and the laying of the.foundation stone of. the Cathedral. In his business career Mr Jameson, has filled many, prominent.positions in Christchurch and. in Ashburton. He was a : promoter and chairman of the -Ashburton County Stock and Saleyards Co.y the Ash.burton Woollen the dairy:factory. ■ at. ;Plemingtpn;, -and

secretary of the Ashburton A. and P. Association. Until December of last year Mr Jameson had been chairman of directors of Mason, Struthers and Co. In 1900 he was. president of the Canterbury A.» and P. Association, and at one firae was", a •"■member of the Board of Governors of Canterbury Agricultural College.