A CENTENARIAN.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12266, 13 October 1902, Page 3

A CENTENARIAN.

[PBHSS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, Saturday,

Mr C. J. Pharazyn, of Thorndon, to-day celebrates bis hundredth birthday. He came to Wellington in May, 1811, and he was tor some years a member of the Legislative Council. He still has good health, and his mental faculties are remarkable tor his years.

Mr Pharazyn was born in England on the 11th October, 1802, and (says the New Zealand Times) he still treasures recollections of the holiday with which he and hia schoolmates celebrated the victory of Waterloo. At 39 years of age he decided to emigrate to New Zealand, and, together with his wife and three children, went abeatd the barque Jane, 356 tons, Captain Btobs, and set sail for the antipodes. After an adventurous voyage he reached Port Nicholson on 2-tlh May, 1841. At first he engaged in commercial permits, but eventually he decided to ge upon the land, and, in conjunction with the late Sir W. Fitzherbert, acquired a large acreage of country at Palliser Bay, residing there for a considerable time with his wife and family. The exigencies of the sheepfarmer in those far-back days were many, there being no boundary fences or facilities of any kind, and it was not an unc;mmon thing for the pioneer to have to walk twenty miles before breakfast in search of his erring sheep. A capacity for hard work and a shrewd business instinct brought Mr Pharazyn out of the farming business on the right side of the lodger, and he took a trip to England, made a Battlement et his affairs there, and, returning, entered into a partnership with Mr (afterwards the Hon.) John Johnston, as a merchant, and subsequently joined Mr Levin, sonr.; in fact, the centenarian assisted materially in building up some of the finest businesses which exist in Wellington today. In 1869 Mr Pharazyn was called to the Legi-lative Council by Sir Edward Stafford, and he held the position of a councillor from 17th June in that year till 17th March, 1885, when he retired, and his son, the late Hon. Robert Pharazyn, was appointed in his stead. Mr Pharazyn was married three times; on the last occasion to a lady at that period eminent in London literary oioles—Miss Jessica Kankin whose poetic compositions were adapted by the song-writors Balfe, Hatton, and Henry Smart, and very highly thooght of. This lady came out to New Zealand in 18C7, and was for many years a prominent and charming figure in Wellington social circles. Mr Pharazyn had tour sons—Robert, Edward, Charles, and William—of whom Charles is the only survivor, and is at present resident in England. He has nine grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren.