Farm and station In another bay on Peninsula

Press, 7 April 1978, Page 8

Farm and station In another bay on Peninsula

Ihe person who attends the annual field i days of the Banks Peninsula branch of Feder- | ated Farmers over the .years has a chance of seeing and learning something about the bays and the many interesting places that make up this part of the country.

However branch secretary, Mr T. E. Armstrong, says, perhaps a little bit tongue in cneek, that they are almost running out of places to go. This year’s field day, nonetheless, brought mem’ bers and visitors to another interesting spot — the Lavericks Bay property of the estate J. T. L. Knight. Although the peninsula has been more favoured than most areas this summer in missing out on the worst effects of the drought, it was still pretty dry looking but a great view of a very tidy and well kept homestead and surrounding buildings opened up to the field day visitors, even if it was a little impaired by fog, as they descended the typical narrow and steepish road into the bay.

During the day Mr G. P. A.de Latour, who came to Lavericks in 194", and whose wife was .Josephine Knight before her marriage, had something to say about the property and its history. The name of the bay, he said, was derived from the name of a French seaman who was said to have

been stranded there for some weeks. His name was not in fact Laverick or Lavericks — that Mr de Latour said was the anglicized version of his name.

The family association with the property goes back to 1856. Then William Henry Webb applied for a Crown grant of some 16 ha (40 acres). Government departments did not move very fast in those days either and it was not until May 3, 1861, that he was granted rural section 751. This included the land on which the homestead now stands and in the grounds Of which the field day visitors sat and stood to listen to Mr de Latour and other speakers. Todav the property of 906 ha or 2239 acres comprises some 48 or 49 rural sections.

Webb was the stepfather of Joseph Thomas Knight and his brother, Robert John Knight, and in 1866 they bought out their stepfather. Joseph or Jo was actually New Zea-land-born having been born at Akaroa and was 24 when the brothers took over the property. In the next four years it appears that the brothers acquired most of the land that is Lavericks Bay today. Initially the country was ail in bush and at that stage Mr de Latour said that the brothers were not really farmers but sawyers.

However, he added that they appeared to have been young men in a hurry and there might be a lesson here for people who wanted to go too far too fast, as in 1870 they got into financial difficulties and the property was "sold from under them” to a person named Allen.

But Jo Knight was still in a hurry. He went to the West Coast seeking gold

and obviously found It In quick time, for he came back to the peninsula and in 1871 repurchased the whole property. And during the next 43 years he felled the bush and created the farm at Lavericks.

Jo remained a batchelor and on his death in 1914 the property passed to his brother John’s son, Joseph Thomas L. Knight. Young Jo was just 14 years old then. When he was old enough he was one of the early young men to pass through the Canterbury Aviation Company's flying school at Wigram. He joined the Royal Flying Corps and proceeded to England. After World War I he returned home to farm at Lavericks.

He married Mollie Herdman, daughter of Sir Alexander Herdman, a Judge of the Supreme Court and Minister of Justice and Maori Affairs. But unhappily just three months after the birth of their first child he died at the age of 25 years in 1925. Their child is now Mr de Latour’s wife. The property has been a trust estate since, with managers including men like McPhail, Truman and Lewis Morrison.

The property has a long coastline extending from Le Bons in the south to Pa Bay in the north. The soil is loess and volcanic. The property is subdivided into 25 main blocks and numerous holding paddocks. It is well watered bv the main Lavericks stream, natural springs and water that is pumped up about 215 m (700 ft) and then gravity fed out on to the Le Bons Bay headlands.

At present Lavericks is carrying 3000 ewes, including 120 studs, 1500 ewe hoggets, 150 breeding cows, 200 yearling and 200 two-year-old cattle and some rams and wethers. The sheep are all Coopworths. Up until about 1950 all livestock for ( sale were driven out to' the rail at Little River. Until it. stopped running ail wool wen L out and all stores came in by the coastal steamer, the John Ander-

son. Mrs de Latour recalls hearing how her mother first came in by sea with the supplies at a time when the bay, with its pleasant sandy beach, was under cloud and fog and not looking at its best. The family cemetery overlooks the bay and from the right angle the shape of a sea horse can

be seen in the rock formation at the entrance to the bay. The spacious well-kept homestead was built in 1908. Rather ironically, after all the timber that had come off the surrounding country, all the timber for the house including Oregon, kauri and Australian hardwood had

to be brought in. Mr de Latour said he thought that it was the third house at Lavericks, which still does not have public access — the road in is a private one. In recent years Mr de Latour has had the help of his sons, Paul and Guy, on the property.