VETERAN BUSINESSMAN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19827, 3 January 1939, Page 4

VETERAN BUSINESSMAN

MR. TONEYCLIFFE DEAD BOYHOOD IN IRELAND CAREER OE ADVANCEMENT Widespread regret will be felt in connection with the death of Mr. Thomas Edward Toneyeliffe, who passed away this morning after a short illness. Mr. Toneyeliffe entered a private hospital on Saturday, and his" condition rapidly became worse, the illness culminating in a peaceful death at an early hour to-day. He was 84 years of age. For nearly 30 years Mr. Toneyeliffe had been one of Gisßorne's most respected residents, taking a leading part in business and in the affairs of the Baptist Church. Latterly he had relinquished some of his general activities, but he .-etained a close interest in the business of Messrs. Petties', Limited, and in the church associations which he had formed in his earliest manhood.

Atmosphere of Politics

His birthplace was Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leith, Ireland, and his boyhood was spent among the stirring events of the third quarter of the nineteenth century, when Irish affair." were the chief preoccupation of British Parliamentarians. He was an infant at the time the "Molly McGuires," a secret society devoted to the promotion of landlord-shooting, throve iu the South of Ireland, and as he gained years and education, he witnessed many faction fights in the streets of his town, a whole regiment of infantry being called out to suppress one of these demonstrations. Grasping his opportunities of education, the young Irishman soon learned much of politics,' for when he was still'of tender years his elders encouraged him to read aloud the lengthy news-paper reports of Parliamentary debates and of the various activities of political groups. He lived in an atmosphere of politics for several years, and throughout his apprenticeship to the drapery business in Inniskillen, and later while employed at Dublin, he did not lose touch with this vital aspect of Irish life.

Arrival in New Zealand

It was while in Dublin that he was persuaded by a veteran of the early Maori wars to make New Zealand his objective, instead" of the United States. He journeyed, out to the young colony in 1875, in the sailer Hydaspes, and landed at Auckland after a voyage made dreadful by the deaths of many (of her passengers from an epidemic (Of scarlet fever. The ship's company were the first occupants of the Government quarantine station at Auckland.

For 18 months, Mr. Toneyeliffe was .employed in Auckland by Mr. Oosigrove, a Queen street merchant, and the then went to Sydney, working for ia time there with the Hordern concern before going on to MelbourneClimatic conditions in New Zealand isuited him better, nowever, ana fie .returned to spend 14 years with ■Messrs. Robert Black. Limited, Christchurch

A partnership with Mr. A. F. Carey kept him in Christchurch for another 15 years, and he sold out his interests there to come to Gisborne in 1909. Mr. Toneyeliffe became the partner of the late Mr. William Pettie, founder of the well-known business which still bears his name, and eventually gained a controlling interest in the, business. He married in 1883 at "the Baptist Church in Oxford street, Christchurch, a d:»ughter of a pioneering family, Mrs. Toneyeliffe having come to New Zealand with her parents 11 years before. Mrs. Toneyeliffe was born in Kent, England, and accompanied her parents to the colony in 1872. She survives her husband, and will receive the deepest sympathy of many friends.

The funeral of the late Mr. Toneyc'liffe will take place on Thursday, leaving the Baptist Church, Palmerston road, after a service at 10.45 a.m.