OBITUARY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25083, 15 January 1947, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR S. SMITH The death occurred on Monday at his residence, “Bankhead,” Cust, of Mr Samuel Smith, aged 76, for many years one of the most successful farmers of the district. The second son of Mr and Mrs William Smith, he was born in 1870 and educated at the West Eyreton School. Before his marriage Mr Smith and his brother leased parts of Chapman’s run, in the Cust district, for cropping purposes. He was married in 1898 to Miss Annie Peebles, a daughter of Mr and Mrs Andrew Peebles, Cust valley, and took up farming in the Cust district. For many years he was a successful breeder of Milking Shorthorn cattle, and was well known at b.oth North and South Island agricultural and pastoral shows as a judge and exhibitor. He also bred Southdown and Border Leicester sheep, and his wide knowledge of stock and their ailments was always available to farmers in the district. Mr Smith was keenly interested in drainage, and he built several underground drainage systems on his farm. Although some were built nearly 50 years ago they are still in good order to-day. Mr Smith served on the local school committee, the domain and cemetery boards, the Metropolitan, Oxford, and Rangiora show committees, and the Cust War Memorial Committee. He was also a past president of the district branch of the Farmers’ Union, a foundation member of the New Zealand Milking Shorthorn Association,

and a past president of the Canterbury branch of the association. He was a staunch supporter of the Presbyterian Church at Cust. In 1910 Mr Smith purchased “Bankhead” and built up a picturesque homestead with a fine garden. Mrs Annie Smith died in 1920, anci I Mr Smith married Miss Magdalene Trustrum in 1935. He is survived by his widow, three sons, Andrew, William, and Ronald, a daughter, Mrs Allan Gartery, and seven grandchildren.