Farmer & Sportsman

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14041, 17 December 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

Farmer & Sportsman

WIDE am: VARIED INTERESTS. OF MR. FEEIX BOLTON. Since Pahiatua is predominately a farming district, its farmers are the backbone of the population, and one of the sturdiest and strongest vertebrae of that backbone is Mr F. S. H. Bolton, who has spent so much of his life in the district and has lent his services to it to so great an extent that he is an integral part of Pahiatua. Mr Bolton is also well known in sporting circles, especially where horses and their accompanying diversions are concerned. Mr Felix Bolton was born near Napier in 1883, and in 1889 came to reside at Oete, his present residence, with his parents, who were engaged in farming. There was no school in the district in those days, and so he received all the advantages of a home education before proceeding to school in Palmerston North, and later to Wellington College. In 1901, after leaving school he was occupied in farming with his parents. As with so many others at this

time, the War broke into the even tenor of his life, and he served in France from 1916 to 191.9, where he was twice wounded. He held the rank of Captain in the Wellington Regiment, and since his return has been an active member of the Pahiatua branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association. With the exception of this interruption and a trip to England from 1904-5, he has been constantly farming at his present home.

Mr Bolton has been prominent on local bodies, and in other service to the community, having been a County Councillor since 1933, and in this capacity he has contributed towards many improvements in the Kohinui district, which riding he is a member. Since 1933 too, he has been one of the two County members on the Wairarapa Hospital Board, and here he did excellent work by- his untiring efforts, eventually crowned with success, to have central heating installed in the Pahiatua Public Hospital—one •of the greatest improvements made to the hospital for many years.

All’ Bolton’s business interests inlude an active interest in the

“Pahiatua Herald Company" since 1920, and ho has been chairman of the Company since the death of tlie late Mr JO. L. Darley kome three years ago. During that time he hag seen many changes in the editorship and staff and considerable progress in the paper. Various sporting interests have appealed to Mr Bolton, notably racing and hunting. He has been a member of the Paliia<#ia and Woodville Racing Clubs for a number of years, and can remember how all i lie Woodville members who went to the war were made li/e members. He has also lent his services as steward to both clubs. Once a keen hunting pian himself, he lias shown his interest in this sport in a very practical manner to the Dannevirke ■ Hunt Club, whose hunts are always held two or three times a year on his property. Possibly as a relic from his army days, Mr Bolton is keenly interested in rifle-shooting, and was selected for the New Zealand team which fired in the Empire match at Melbourne in 1920, where, incidentally, he was top scorer. He won the service chainpionsbip in 1933, and still goes to Trentham occasionally, frequently being amongst the 50 highest aggregate scorers. Besides being a member and vice-president of the Mastorton-Opaki Rifle Club, he* practises this sport in the field in rlie shape of deer-shooting, and, strange to relate, bagged a fine specimen from his verandah only three months

As one of the pioneers of the Kohinui district, he naturally associates himself with local affairs, being a member of the Domain Board, while he was also on the School Committee for five years. Farmers, by the nature of their occupation, are usually tied very much to their farms, to the exclusion of outside interests. But this lias in no way handicapped Mr Felix Bolton in liis success as a man who makes the most of life, a, true citizen of the world, and 'that much mis-used but still meritorious word, a, sportsman.