MR. WILLIAM PERCY

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 18, 20 July 1935, Page 11

MR. WILLIAM PERCY

The- death has occurred in a private hospital of Mr.' William Alfred 'Percy, a member of orie of the pioneer families of Petone, in his-82nd year.

The father of Mr. William Percy, Mr. Joseph Percy, in the early days of the district, leased a mill on the Korokoro Stream, where the Woollen Mills now stand, and his son, who has just died,, used to help him. There was another mill, run by Mr. Henry Percy, off the Hutt Road, and when the owner, removed to Masterton it was unoccupied for a number of years. Eventually, when the mill at the Korokoro Stream was leased, Mr. Joseph Percy took over, his relative's mill, which still stands in Old Mill Road. ■ The family lived in a house near the end of the Petone side of the Hutt Road ramp, but when the railway was put through the house was taken to pieces. . Some of the timber in this house was taken from the first Hutt Bridge. The house was never re-erected, although the timber is still there, the family living in what is known as Percy's -Gully, in really beautiful grounds.. In the early days of Petone's development' ■ many of the houses in the Hutt Valley were built by the late Mr. Percy's brothers. The family also owned a considerable amount of land, which they subdivided. When Mr. Joseph Percy came : out to New Zealand in 1840 he brought an acorn with him and planted it. The oak was the oldest in the Wellington Province, and the only other one in New Zealand believed to be older is in the North Auckland district. When the railway was put . through Mr. Percy's tree was cut down 2ft from the ground by employees of the Public Works Department. The butt was then uprooted, with very little of the roots remaining, and was left lying about for four months. Then, at the instigation of Mr. William Percy, it was replanted near the old mill, carefully watered every day, took root, and now is about 15ft high.

The late Mr. William Percy was an expert horticulturist. He was an extremely retiring man.. Of; the original family, which consisted of. Joseph, Frederick, John, James, \William, and Arthur (sons) and IXicy and Adelaide (daughters), Arthur is the only one now alive. •. .:.,'■, .