OBITUARY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 December 1924, Page 10

OBITUARY.

MR. RICHARD SMITH. Hie death occurred at the WeliingI n^°spi Uii on November (j, at the age jot 75 of Mr Richard Smith, at one ,time a nurseryman at Manaia. Mr W. jitorte, now living at ;i\ew Plymouui, | sends us the loflciwing interesting notes j concerning the late Mr , Smith :—it is ! nursery wa s .on what 1 think was called i the ‘ w inks Road.'’ He was well known Iby early settlers of Manaia, Okaiawa, and Npnnanby. He came to me from ' Wanganui (i. think in 1882;, and stayed with me lor two years. When the native 1 leases were offered by the Government jat Manaia Mr Smith took up a. small , section and started business as a nurjscyman, and he worked night and day like a slave, lly and bv tne tenure ol , the .leases was altered by surrendering jti.eir present to a new valuation, the particulars of which I forget. Mr Smith objected, and all the tea in China, could not convince or convert him to the new conditions. He was awfully stubborn, yet straight in all his dealings, and liberal. The climax was that tue trustee for Native affairs had to sell him up. This seemed to have knocked all the life out of him for a time. After a time he went to Christchurch and did well in doing up and looking after the gardens of some of the well-to-do residents, and after a time he came back to Wellington and followed the. same calling till his death. I | remember quite well the day of his sale j at- the nursery at Manaia! Mr Jas. j Livingston and I went up to his place ito see him before the hour of sale to | get him to consent to the conditions of the new leases, and to tell him that Mr Livingston and 1 would pay ud the deficiency then owing and stop tiie*sale. Not a bit of it; we almost insulted him. He is gone now where the Government j will, cease- f.rom troubling him. and his ibody will he at rest. Poor Dick.”