OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15899, 10 April 1912, Page 9

OBITUARY.

EMI GY. SOLDENp. • ! United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, • April 9. Tlie death is-announced - of ,Einilj Soldene, vocalist, actress and novelist MR ISAAC WliiSON. '/. Mr Isaac Wilson, an old resident-of Canterbury, died at Brahtholme, Sumner, oil Sunday. He arrived in New Zealand, from Wray, Westmoreland, England, about 1854. flis family resided for several years in a slab nut at St Albans, his brothers. Thomas and Edward, witn himself, finding employment in the Papanui bush. Wh£n work failed there, they moved on to Kaiapoi over an Unbeaten track, and the brothqrj for several years cut with hand saws many thousands of feet of scantling ifid boards in the Maori bush.. Mr, Isaac Wilson next turned his attention to providing for the passenger traffic, first with an Australian car with a horse in the shafts and an. outrigger, and next by a three-horse coach. Leaving the road, Mr W ilson turned his attention to grain threshing and flour milling, and became a considerable purchaser of wheat for the English market. He al?o took part in the fiux industry, but found that it was not a financial success, _ He was the first chairman of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company, a position which he occupied for several years, until his health broke down and he was compelled to retirS. He beoanie connected with local Road Boards in 1868,' H« was for a time 1 a councillor of the - Kaiapoi borough, and .mainly instrumental in completing the acquisition for that town and the Eyretoti district of tho present public cemetery. In 1874. he defeated the member of the Provincial Council for MandeviHe, and hold the position for some time. Ifi 1877 he was one of the original members elected for the Ashley County, which never accepted its functions, as the majority of tne Council resisted the introduction of a second,local taxing power. In 1881. on the resignation of sir Charles Bowen, he was elected member of the House of Representatives fpr Kaiapoi district. Through ill-health, contracted while the. House was in session in Wellington, he was brought home jn a precarious condition, and the dbetew gave up hope of saving his life. Though his health returned, he relinquished business, and in 1898 he visited England. He was a staunch supporter of tho Methodist Church, having d6na much to assist it financially at Kaiapoi and Woodend. He took a great interest in temperance matters, and had some experience of licensing committee work.