Ellesmere County

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30947, 31 December 1965, Page 4

Ellesmere County

Ellesmere County: The Land, the Lake, and the People 1864-1964. By G. W. Graham and L. J- B. Chapple. Ellesmere County Council. 221 pp.

The Ellesmere County, before its amalgamation with Springs County, consisted of an area of approximately 230 square miles lying between the Selwyn and Rakaia rivers, and extending from Lake Ellesmere to the Main South road In the 1860’s and 1870’s it was a rich grain-growing district, with high yearly yields of wheat, oats and barley. In noting this, the present book also describes the farming practices of that early period. The main towns in the district are Southbridge and Leeston. To an American visitor in 1892, Southbridge appeared to be a sleepy hollow. Since then, its population which stood at 643 has decreased to 476. The decline is attributed, in this book, to “the impact of improved communications and means of transport, together with the centralisation of commerce.”

The book carefully lists those who have held office on the various local bodies of the district, and even supplies biographical notes on some of them. Although it mentions

the “healthy rivalry” that is shown between the Leeston and Southbridge fire brigades, it does not describe a single fire that has been attended by the brigades. It is almost certain that the “Ellesmere Guardian” reported the fire which destroyed plantations of trees and 300 acres of grass on the Oakleigh estate in January, 1907; but the contemporary files of the paper have been lost, as noted in chapter seven of this book, entitled "The Newspapers of Ellesmere.”

It is interesting to read, in the chapter dealing with schools in Ellesmere, that their aggregate roll number is just under 1000—only 300 less than that recorded “in the early nineties.” The authors note in passing the destruction by fire, in 1924, of all the records of the Southbridge District High School when the “Ellesmere Guardian” reported that the school had gone “up in smoke.” Appendix “D” of the book lists in chronological order “Head Teachers of Ellesmere Schools,” beginning from the year of establishment in each case, except with Leeston School founded in 1867, as the school records from then to 1871 (inclusive) are missing. Appendix “C” lists ministers of religion who have served in the district —among them. Parson Bluett, who by all accounts was something of a character. The authors quote Edward Wakefield’s account which relates how Bluett would sometimes drive to church on top of a cart-load of sheep-skins, and after conducting the service is a most impressive manner . . • would hold a sort of market outside at which he would “dispose of his skins, make a deal for a colt or a calf, hire a ploughman or some reapers, and in short do all the agricultural business of the week.” The Ellesmere district is well provided with recreation grounds. At early athletic meetings “quoits took a prominent place”—according to the section of this book dealing with “sports, pastimes and entertainments.”

The following errors in the text should be noted: —The name of the ship Matoaka is wrongly spelt Mataoka (page 50). “Thomas Joseph Withers” (page 144), should read “Thomas John Withers.” The name of the architect Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort is given as “William Mountfort” on page 151. Then, in the chapter on the churches (page 148), it is stated that when Bishop. Harper consecrated St. James’s Church, Ellesmere, on 20 August, 1865, he baptised “a child of Mr and Mrs D. Inwood,” whereas in fact the baptism took place on the following day when the child christened was Frances Elizabeth, daughter of William and Mary Inwood. (On the same day, and not on the 20th, as stated in the text a child of Mr and Mrs E. J. Lee was baptised.) The book is well illustrated.