HOBSON LINK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21457, 3 April 1933, Page 6

HOBSON LINK

iLADY IN CHEISTCHTJECH FATHER A GREAT-NEPHEW RECORDS PRESERVED To be a relative of Captain William Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand, is the proud claim of Mrs. G. W. Kent, of 294 Hereford Street, Christchurch. Her relationship is given special interest by the fact that the members of the Waitangi National Trust Board met last week on the actual site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and that Senator Massy Greene, of Australia, was an honoured guest there. because of his relationship to Captain Hobson. Although it has been claimed that Senator Greene is the only person in New Zealand to-day who is a descendant of Captain Hobson, this claim is set aside by the fact of Mrs. Kent's relationship. Her father, Lieutenant Alexander Grant, of the Boyal Psavy, was a great-nephew of Captain Hobson. Until recently she had given little thought tb her relationship with Captain Hobson, for there had been no occasion to recall it. The association of his distinguished relative with the early days of New Zealand was an influence m determining Lieutenant Grant s choice of t'lie Dominion as a place in which to eettle when he retired because of illhealth. In his early days he was associated with Captain Moresby in the Burv ey of New Guinea, and on coming to New Zealand he first settled at Auckland, where he held a post under the Defence Department. Later he was in charge of the permanent artillery at Lytielten. . Interesting records and historical documents have been preserved by Mrs. 'Kent's family, but these are at present locked in a sandalwood chest of which her eldest brother, who is in Singapore, has the key. Besides a phonograph of Captain Hobson and a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi, Mrs. Keiit believes the chest to contain documents which would be of considerable value to historians. Mxs. Kent's two younger brothers, of 'vhom one is an engineer employed by ;he Taku Tug and Lighter Company of Tientsin, while the other is at Brisbane, were both educated at Canterburp College. Her eldest brother, wlio works with the Anglo-Saxon Petrol Company of Singapore, is returning to New Zealand on leave shortly, atid it is likely that the chest will then be opened and the old papers carefully examined.