DEATH OF AN EARLY PIONEER

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 53

DEATH OF AN EARLY PIONEER

Mr Robert Mair, who died at Deveron, Whangarei, on February 9, in his 90th year, was one of the earliest pioneer settlers of the district, and at :the time of his death was probably the oldest born European in the Dominion. His father, Gilbert Mair, was born at Peterhead; Scotland, in 1799, and came first to. New Zealand in 1820 aboard the whaler "New Zealander," and finally settled at Pahia, Bay of Islands, in 1824, and later established a trading station at Wahapu. In the year .1827, he married Elizabeth Puchey at Sydney and brought her to the Bay of ; Islands. Thus was the Mair family first established in New Zealand. Their eldest son, Robert —the subject of this notice —was born at Pahia in June, 1830. The family migrated to Whangarei in 1842, where Gilbert JMair died in 1857. Upon Robert devolved the responsibility of providing for the maintenance of a family of twelve, mostly his juniors, in a country at that time sparsely populated by a handful of Europeans amidst tho turmoil of Native tribes whose chief occupation was war. After the vicissitudes which usually fall to the lot of pioneer settlers under such conditions, Robert Mair finally established the home firmly and enduringjy in Whangarei. Here he married M. E. Boult in 1861 and is survived by his wife, four sons, two daughters, and thirteen grandchildren. The deceased at various times acted in a clerical capacity on several local bodies, such as the Town Board, tho Magistrate's Court, the Hospital Board, County Council, and others. Of a retiring temperament by nature, he never engaged in the turmoil of local politics, but was nevertheless intensely interested in public questions affecting the progress of "Whangarei. In the early days he acted as chairman of the Road Boajrd before the formation of the Town Board, and later was chairman of the Kensington Road Board. Familiar from his boyhood with the Native language and customs, he was appointed, by the Government as a Native interpreter. Always keenly loyal to hie, native land and everything appertaining to it, he was specially interested in its natural history, particularly in native trees. Of these, several of half a century's growth survive on the "Deveron" Estate. When he presented Mair Park unconditionally to the borough on January, 1914, he gave up the most cherished part of his estate in the hope that this beautiful property would be kept as far as possible a sanctuary for native trees and that the public of future generations might learn to appreciate the native flora as he himself appreciated and understood it. As time goes on, we think that the park which bears hi« name will probably remain his most enduring monument in the hearts of Whangarei citizens. The surviving members of the family are: Mrs T. *H. Steadman, of Whangarei; .Mrs R C. M. Harrington, Whangarei j Ernest W. Mair, Whangarei; L. E. Mair, Vancouver; S. A. R. Mair, Hunterville; and G H. Mair, Auckland. Only three mem-

bers survive of his father's family:—Captain Mair, Rotoi-ua; Mrs Sissons, Whangarei ; and Mrs Howard Jackson, Dunedin. The funeral, which waa a very large one, took place on hte 11th. His brother and three sons were pall-bearers. Numerous beautiful wreaths of flowers were eent^ —one from the Mairtown Croquet and Tennis Club, another from the Mair Park Swimming dub.' The burial wns in the Church of England cemetery, where only members of the Mair family can now be buried..