OBITUARY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 144, 15 December 1925, Page 6

OBITUARY

MR. W. H. BEETHAM. Mr. William Henry Beetham, whose death at. Masterton was announced in "The Post" last evening, was a member of a family whose name has been asso- , ciated with the Wellington and Wai- ' rarapa districts for nearly 70 years. The family arrived in Wellington in 1855 in the barque William and Jane. The late Mr. William Henry Beetham, who was the second son of the late Mr. William Beetham of the Upper Hutt, was born in Yorkshire. In his earlier years with his elder brother (Mr. Richmond Beetham) he carried out contracts in the formation of the road over the Rimutakas. Subsequently he, with others took up the Brancepeth station, in the Wairarapa, and for many years was a member of the firm of Messrs. Williams and Beetham, his partners l being his brother (Mr. H. H. Beetham) ! and Mr. T. C. Williams. On the division of the firm's properties, Mr. W. H. Beetham took over the Kourarau portion. For a considerable period, Mr. Beetham was a member of various local bodies in the AVairarapa, and was president of the Masterton A. and P. Association. He was also a director of the Wellington Meat Export Company. In addition to his prominence in local body and agricultural matters, Mr. Beetham founded the Wairarapa Acclimatisation Society, and assisted in the establishment'of the lisli hatchery at Masterton, in which, he always took a keen personal interest. In his earlier years a captain in the local militia, he continued his interest in defence matters, and gave much assistance to the North Wairarapa Rifle Club, of which he was president. Mr. Beetham was married to a daughter of Mr. W. Frere, of Picardie, France, in 1880. Of the, ten members of the family only two now remain—Mr. Charles Beetham, of Masterton, and Mrs. Fitzroy, of Havelock North.