OBITUARY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 48, 27 February 1911, Page 3

OBITUARY.

MB. C. W. HURSTHOUSE. 'AN: INTERESTING CAREER. Mr. C. W. Hursthouse, ex-chief engineer of roads, died at his residence, Lower Hutt, late on Saturday night, after a lengthy illness. Mr. Hursthouse retired from the Public Service on 31st March, 1909, after being connected with it for nearly fifty years. Born in England in 1841, Chas. Win. Hursthouse was only eighteen months old when he landed with his patents in Wellington. Thence they went to Taranaki, and in 1555 he became a cadet in the Provincial Government Survey From the time of the Taranaki war down to the trouble with Te Whiti, Mr. Hursthouse —owing to his force of character and influence with the natives — wais invariably selected by the natives to carry on tho difficult and dangerous work ot pioneer surveying and road-making in the face of native opposition. Three years after entering the Survey Department he was promoted to the position of assistant surveyor, and in J. 860 he was chosen to carry out the survey of a block of land at Wa-itara — th© land about which tho Maori war ostensibly began. On the 20th of February of that year he v/ent to start surveys with Mr. Robert Parris, Chief Commissioner of Nativ-e xlffairs, and Mr. Octavius Harrington, Chief Surveyor, but_ they were stopped before they got anything done. Subsequently he completed the survey under the protection of a military covering party. Owing to the Maori war, which began in 1860, he was unable to go on with the survey, and was, therefore, available for volunteering for the protection of the settlers' homes. BATTLE OF WAIREKA. He was at the battle of Warceka on tho 28th March, 1860, and had the honour of firing, in company with Sergeant Free, the first two shots. He- was also at Mahoetahi, and at many minor engagements and skirmishes, finishing with the fight at Gilbert's farm, otherwise known as Allen's Hill, in October, 1864. .In 1866 he received a commission as ensign in No. 9 Company Military Settlers. In 1868 was specially asked by the commanding officer to take second in command of a company of Volunteer Militia Scouts for the prevention of surprises of settlers by discontended natives. For this work hs was promoted liautenant. EARLY RAILWAY SURVEYS. In March, 1871, he was appointed to make a preliminary survey for a railway line from Wbenuakura northwards, passing Patea and Hawera to Waiugongoro. That was to be a coast railway, running round by Cape Egmont. When that survey work was done, he extended tho laying out of the lino southwards from Whenuakura to Nukumaru, towards Wanganui. He afterwards laid out tho Waitara and New Plymouth line, and superintended the latter part of its construction. In 1873-4, with a large party of Maoris, constructed the road from near Sentry Hill through the untouched forest to near where btratford now is, where work from the southern end was met. Also surveyed for purchase the boundaries of the various blocks around tho present districts and towns of Inglewood and Stratford. In 1875 he was appointed resident engineer in the Public Works Department, and constructed the railway line from | Sentry Hill to Stratford, having pre- I viously laid "the line out. In the early part of 4880 was appointed road surveyor in the Public Works Department for the purpose of laying out and constructing the road from Stony rivei' to Opunakc, passing Parihaka on the way, the Armed Constabulary doing most of the navvying work. TROUBLE WITH TE WHITI. 16 was on thie road that tlhe struggle occurred as to the Crown rights — tho trouble culminating in the taking of Te Whiti ajid Tohu as prisoners. During this difficulty several hundred Maoris were arrested and imprisoned in vaiiuuß parts 1 of the colony. Mr. Hursthou&e — who had known. To Whiti for several yeaTS previous to the outbreak of the Maori War of IB6o— had considerable influence with that subsequently famous native chief, and also with his people. During the period that Mr. 1-toHeston was Native Minister, Mr. Hurstlipußo attended every monthly meeting held at. Parihaka, and he sent full teleerapll.ii! reports of thfc proceedings of the Govftmmenfc. A FAMOUS INCIDENT: "THR POTATO IS COOKED." Mr. Hursthouse wa» specially selected to go with Captain Knowles, A..D.C. to Governor Gordon, to present a letter from His Excellency to Te Whiti. In that letter Te Whiti was nrfoxmed that His Excellency was anxious to see the trouble of the native people juatlj j settled ; and that ihc had heard that Te Whiti was anxious to -see him on tie subjed.. Also, that the Governor would be glad to see Te Whiti, and hear what ho had to fcay., at Wellington; or. if Te Whiti thought Wellingt~,a too far, the Governor would be soon visiting New Plymouth, and he would then, go on by inlaaid road to Hawera, and To Whiti could see him at either place, ot at some place between. It was ""when th© A.D,C. was endeavouring to discuss the letter with To Whiti, through Mr. Hursthouse as interpreter, that Te Whiti used the celebrated metaphor " the potato is cooked " — meaning that the case had gone too far to lv," remedied. At 'the request of tho A.D.C., Te Whitt elucidated itio parable by saying: "If the Governor will plant a cooked potato a.nd make it {ji'ow, then can he settle' our difficulties !" Mr. Hursthouse was present ai> all the subsequent provecdings at Parihaka — not being able to attend to the roadmaking — and was the only interpreter that Te Whiti wouK reply to on tho day of ills arrest. For Hits services on this occasion he was promoted to be a captain to the New Zealand Militia — an honourable position, but carrying with it no emoluments. MADE PRISONER BY THE MAORIS. At the end of 1882 he went with a paTty to explore tho country between Te Awaonutu and Waiiara for a railway line, and foe and his cue European companion, Mr. Newsham, were assaulted and robbed by the Maoris, bound hand iind foot, a-nd insolently treated. Thej weve subsequently liberated by their irk'ndsi, and tho natives weie punished. RAILWAY AND ROADWORK. From thie on Mr. Hursthouse spent arduous years in railway and road-ex-ploration. In conjunction with Mi 1 . R. W. Holmes, now engineer-in-chief, and Mr. J. Rochfort, he laid out the line for the construction of the railway between Te Awamutu and Otorohanga — the first j fifteen miles of the Main Trunk Railway and he was resident engineer until the ' line was completed as far as the Mokan railway station. Occasionally there was some trouble with the Maoris, but owing to Mi 1 . Hursthouse's personal in- ■ fluenee with the natives the difficulties were always amicably settled. Thore was then a pause in railway construction for several years after the line reached Mdkau. The Poro-o-tarao tunnel was completed under Mr. Hursthouse's supervision. In 1891 he wee transferred to the Lands and Survey Department, to tako charge of road conef«ruction, in which petition ha lffiid out

a great deal of road work in the King Country, and also constructed many miles. Mr. Hursthouse ateo had charge of th« Rotor ua-road district. CHIEF ENGINEER OF ROADS. In 1893 he was transferred to Wellington to take a moie general charge of tho road work under the Lands and Survey Department.^ In 1901 it was found that this class of work had so much increased that it was con&idered best to make a separate department for the execution of road works only. This department was established In April of that year, and Mr. Hui-Bthouee was appointed chief engineer in charge of the department. It may be here stated thathis services were considered so vaJua-ble in connection with native affairs, that he lest many opportunities of promotion in his profession as a civil engineer. Ho always responded to the call ot' duty, even though it involved risk, danger, and loes of promotion. The late Mr. Hursthouse was widely known and universally respected and esteemed. He leaves a widow and a grown up family of four sons and three daughters. LORD WOLVERHAMPTON. By Telegraph.— Press Assoclation.—Copyrighb LONDON, 25th February. The death is announced oi Lord Wolverhampton. Henry Hartley Fowler, G. C.5.1., first Lord Wolv&rhampton, \yss born as long ago as 1830. His Parliamentary career was not so extensive as that of many of his late colleagues, though for eightand twenty years he sat continuously for Wolverhampton, or for a division thereof, in the House of Commons. He was a Sunderfand man by birth, and the son of a Wesleyan minister, was educated at St. Saviour's Grammar School, Southwark, and early in life was admitted a solicitor at Wolverhampton, where he founded a large and lucrative practice. The firm of which he was s&nior partner is that of Fowler, Perks, Hopkinson, and Co., and the name of his colleague, Mr. Perks, is associated with that of Sir Henry not oniy in many spheres of business, snch as telephones and underground railways, but in religious and political connections. At the time when the late Liberal Party wasi demoralised and shattered by the successive resignations of tho leadership by Lord Rosebery, Sir William Harcourt, and Mr. John Morley, the name of Sir Henry Fowler, as he then was, \vs\s frequently mentioned as a suitable heir to the mantlo of Elijah- His uncompromising Imperialism, however, stood in his way at that period, and Sir Hem-y CampbellBannerman was preferred as tho leader who would least divide the party. During the "campaign of taberna.cles" and the short-lived but lively "war to the knife and fork," Sir Henry Fowler 1 associated himself with Mr. Asquith, Sir Edward Grey, and Mr. Haldane, and was one of tho 'distinguished company of Imperial Liberals who entertained Mr. Asquith at a memorable'dinner at the Hotel Cecil. For a time secession or ostracism threatened still further to disintegrate the attenuated ranks of Radicalism, but when Mr. Chamberlain raised tho question of Fiscal Reform, the "Cobden umbrella" was found capacious onough to shelter all sections of the party. Old feuds were forgotten, and cross-currents ceased to check the flowing tide ; so, with the rest of his former colleagues — except his sometime chief, Lord Eosebery — Sir Henry Fowler rode back into office on the crest of 'the wave which swept away the "Unionist majority in 1906. At 76 he found that the strain of office entailing much administrative labour would betoo great for his strength, and so he contented himself with ease and dignity in the comparative sinecure of the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster. His ■aarli&r experiences had boen of a more exacting and responsible character. In 1884 he became Under-Secre-tary to the Home Department, in succession to Mr. (later Viscount) Peel, who bad found Sir William Harcourt somewhat of an arbitrary chief, and was glad to accept the duties and dignity of the Speakership. In the first Home Rule Administration Mr. Fowler (not yet Sir Henry) was Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and when Mr. Gladstone was again Prime Minister he was made President of th& Local Government Board, and on Lord Rosebery's succession to Mr. Gladstone he received the offic© of Secretary of State for India, in which capacity he astonished and rather dismayed tho Radicals by the vigour and Imperialism of his firm and judicious administration. He proved himself a vei - y capable debater, and won much respect. He married a daughter of Mr. G. B. Thorneycroft, of Chapel House, by whom he has, among other children, two daughters, both of whom write- novels, and the elder has won much distinction as Miss Thorn-ey-croft, a name she borrowed for literary purposes from her maternal grandfather. Lady Wolverhampton died a few weeks ago. Sir Henry Fowler was raised to the Peerage in 1908, and for two years was Lord President of th© Council, a position he resigned owing to growings infirmities. "~