NORTH MOLYNEUX DISTRICT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19066, 11 January 1924, Page 11

NORTH MOLYNEUX DISTRICT.

On the north bank of the Molyneux in the early “fifties" were a Mr Boswell or Buswcll, who afterwards disposed ot his property to Messrs Smith Bros, and Mr Joseph Maitland, who owned the Crescent Estate. In 1855 the only .European settler at Kaitangata was Mr John Lovell, who for a while previous had his sheep grazing at Lovell’s T lat, which was named after him. Mr Lovell’s house was the only one between Tokomairiro and Balclutha, and this was a great inconvenience to him, as visitors frequently called on him and consumed his provisions.

The first wliite couple to settle at Lovell’s Flat were Mr and Mrs Twiss, whose house was a noted place of call on the way to the Clutha. In 1857 Mr William Aitchison took ur land close to Kaitangata, and about the same time the Frazers settled in the Tuakitoto district. In 1858 Mr W. H. S. Roberts lived close to Kaitangata, but in 1860 he removed to Tapanui, where he stocked the Ardmore station with sheep and cattle. He afterwards owned the Conical Hills station. Disaster befel Mr Roberts as the result of the action of the Provincial Government in 1871 in proclaiming the best portion of the Ardmore run into hundreds, for sale in alternate sections for cash or deferred payments. This decision involved Mr Roberts in an immediate loss of more than £30,000, and he' was compelled to sell out, being a ruined man. He then earned on farming at Waipahi until 1878, when he took up his residence in Oamaru. Other early land-owners about Tuakitoto and North Molyneux were Messrs James and John Ormiston (1856-SS), Andrew Chapman (1858), David Forsyth (1859), John Dunbar (1859), Trumble, Westland and Hutchinson, but whether any of them settled on their properties is not definitely known.