OBITUARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21165, 23 April 1932, Page 14

OBITUARY.

MR. C. H. OLIVE. ADVENTUROUS EARLY LIFE. A very old and much-respected resident of Auckland, Mr. C. 11. Olive, died at Onehunga. yesterday, in his 93rd year. Mr. Olive was born at Exeter in 1840, and well remembered a three days' journey to London in a stage-coach owned by his father. Another of his memories was witnessing the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851. At 13 years of age lie went to sea as a ship's carpenter's apprentice, and ran the blockade four times in the American Civil War as carpenter on board the Queen of the South, a sister-ship to the famous Alabama. His vessel, a very fast steamer, was employed to carry cotton to British ports in the West Indies, and had more than one brush with Federal men-of-war. Jn 1864 Mr. Olive heard rumours of the discovery of gold in Now Zealand, and sailed for Auckland in the ship Lizzie H. Jackson, lie worked as a carpenter, and when war broke out in the Waikato ho served for a period in the commissariat department. On tho opening of the Thames goldfield ho helped to erect the first frame building there, and also tried his luck as a digger. In 1869 he went to England to visit his parents, and on the return voyage he had as a fellow-passenger an Irish lad of 14 named William Massey, destined to become an Empire statesman and Prime Minister of New Zealand. Mr. Olive married in 1870, at All Saints' Church, Ponsonby, Miss Charlotte Fox. Ho spent five more years at Thames, and a year on harbour works at Lyttelton, and then settled in Auckland as a builder, an occupation which he followed for the rest of his working life.

Mrs. Olive died in 1920, shortly after she and her husband had celebrated thengolden wedding. Mr. 01iv c continued for more than 10 years to live alone in his cottage in Suffolk Street, Newton, enjoying excellent health. It was only after reaching the age of 90 that he made his abode with a nephew, Mr. >W. Olive, at Onehunga.

A devout member of the Anglican Church, Mr. Olive was for long a pillar of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and was one of the founders of the Anglican City Mission, now controlled by the Rev. Jasper Calder. Until about six months ago he was a regular attendant at the services and social gatherings held by the mission. He is survived by one son, Mr. J. C. Olive, builder, of Nelson Street.

CAPTAIN F. M. DICKER. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] WELLINGTON, Friday.

Tho death has occurred of Captain Frederick Melhuish Dicker, a veteran master mariner, at the age of 84 years. He was a son of Dr. W. J. Dicker, of Plymouth, England. Captain Dicker went to sea as a boy in the small barque Witch of tho Wave, and a few years later he joined the ship Ida Zeigler, in which he made a voyage from London to Auckland. In 1868 he gained his second mate's certificate in London, and rejoined the Ida Zeigler for another voyage to New Zealand. During the next five years he made two voyages from London to Wellington in tho ship Electra. He then decided to stay in New Zealand, and in 1873 obtained his master's certificate. Captain Dicker served for several years as master of the small steamer Kiwi in the coastal trade between Wellington nnd Napier. After her loss he served on a number of other steamers. Later for some years he was engaged as a tally clerk for the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company. In spite of his great age he had kept remarkably good health. However, on March 24 he was knocked down by a motor-car and did not recover from the shock. He leaves a widow, two sons and a daughter.