OLDEST NEW ZEALANDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22071, 29 March 1935, Page 15

OLDEST NEW ZEALANDER

SOUTHERN MAN'S CLAIM

PIONEER AT PLEASANT POINT

Claiming to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, man in New Zealand, Mr. Patrick Hamilton, of Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, celebrated his 105 th birthday recently. Still strong and active, Mr. Hamilton belies his years in his appearance, in the interest he takes in current events and ill the clarity of his roemorv of events of long ago

A native of Ireland, Mr. Hamilton believes that he was bom in 1830, but in these days there was no system of .registration *of births in his native land, and the only record made at the time was i;n the parish register. He was alrendv a man i.i the prime of life when he landed at Lyttelton in 1869 at the age of' 39 years, and his first impressions were disappointing. Miles of arid, tussock-covered plains made no appeal! to an immigrant from a country that is perpetually clothed in green, but he decided to stay in New Zealand. His first taste of colonial life Avas at South bridge. There he helped to thresh grain, the old-fashioned flails being used. The threshers lived under primitive conditions, burrowing into the straw stacks at night for shelter and warmth. Maoris from Little Itiver were working there and Mr. Hamilton admits that he wan somewhat chary of these tattooed workers, recalling all the tajes he had heard of South Sea cannibals

The threshing over, Mr. Hamilton went on to Pleasant Point and bought the land on which he still lives. He built a house and sent to Ireland for his bride. »vho travelled south from L>tte!lton in a Cobb and Company coach.. One of Mr. Hamilton's most cherished possessions is a horse's collar which, was used 011 that trip. Pears of earthquakes and gales caused Mr. and Mrs Hamilton to abandon the original house, which was very high for its size, and Mr. Hamilton built the house in which he now lives, a quo mt old place of cob, stone and plaster, with a concrete verandahs In later years additions were made in wood. He transformed the bare farm into a tree-dotted block; with 'fences of sods and gurse. The first bluegnnis in South Canterbury were planted there, and stand to-day; majestically overtmvering the * whole of the vegetation of the district.