DEATH AT 102

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29909, 24 August 1962, Page 13

DEATH AT 102

Mr J. H. Hayes A man who took part in the beginning and ending of the tram era in Christchurch died on Wednesday at the age of 102. He was James Hubert Hayes—coach driver of last century, tramways veteran, and notable sharpshooter. He first got his eye in with a gun when he was conductor on the first electric trams through Burwood to New Brighton. The tram driver was look-out man. and the sound of the tram bell would bring Mr Hayes's gun to his shoulder, aiming at rabbits to right and left of the tram, depending on the driver's signal. Mr Hayes was bom in Halswell in 1859, and he never left Canterbury. He used to drive a fourhorse coach between Christchurch and Tai Tapu, and he

drove the first horse-drawn and steam trams. When the electric trams began in 1905 he switched to the role of conductor so that he could shoot rabbits from the back platform. Mr Hayes continued an active shooter until last year, when his failing health forced him to stop. He held an award naming him the oldest active miniature-rifle shooter in the British Empire, and ne was probably the oldest rifle and clay-target shooter in the world.

During World War 11. when he was in his eighties, he served in the Home Guard and won a cup from the East Battalion Home Guard for the third grand aggregate in miniature rifle shooting. In the last 20 years or so he specialised in trap shooting, and was a keen member of the Waihora and Belfast clubs. He competed regularly, too. at shoots held by the Christchurch, North Canterbury, and Ellesmere clubs. Even blindness in his aiming eye eight or nine years ago did not dampen his enthusiasm. He simply changed the gun to the other shoulder, and within a few months he was shattering the clay pigeons again. Mr Hayes is survived by his wife and four children. A son was killed in World War I.