OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 20147, 6 April 1927, Page 6

OBITUARY

SOUTHLAND PIONEER LATE MR CUTHBERT COWAN PASSING OF EARLY SETTLER By the death of Mr Cuthbert Cowan at the great age of 92 years, Southland loses one of its earliest and most prominent pionneers, and the last of the band of squatters whose names are associated with the wellknown Southland stations of the early years. It is rather remarkable that though he lived far beyond man's allotted span, it should have been ill-health that brought Mr Cowan to New Zealand. Born in Ayr, Scotland, Mr Cowan completed his education at the University of Glasgow, and joined the service of the Union Bank of Scotland. Unsatisfactory health forced him to re-

linquish the profession he had chosen, and in 1857 he took passage for New Zealand by the ship “Burmah.” It was on April 11, 1858, that Mr Cowan first sighted New Zealand, the part seen being the high country near the Nuggets, and his diary shows that the first impression made upon the young immigrant was very favourable. But it was for Wellington that the ship was bound and there the Burmah landed her passengers on April 16 after a voyage of 102 days. In Wellington Mr Cowan made some purchases, including a horse for the long ride he contemplated in the South Island, and took ship by the Montmorency for Lyttelton. From May to August, 1858, Mr Cowan travelled a good deal about Canterbury, seeing a great deal of the country and meeting many of the squatters. In August 15 of that year he embarked on the s.s. Queen for Otago. This boat was the first steamer to make the passage up to Dunedin. There Mr Cowan made preparations for his trip south, but first of all traversed a considerable part of North Otago. On December 22, 1858, he left Dunedin, and on January 1, 1859, made Macandrew’s station at Otapiri Bush. Here Mr Cowan bought the Okaiterua station, in the district now known as Caroline, which he held for nearly twenty years. He then sold out to Mr Joseph Clark and took up 2,500 acres at Kauana, then known as Harringtons. On this tract of country Mr Cowan undertook a herculean task. It was

nearly all swamp, much of it almost impenetrable. He began clearing, ditching, and fencing, and spent the greater part of an arduous life in the task. The swamp which Mr Cowan tackled with characteristic courage has been reformed and some of the farms upon it are among the finest in Southland. The land is fertile and not only produces magnificent crops but carries famous stud sheep and other prize stock. Though much of the land passed out of his hands, Mr Cowan lived to see the accomplishment of the w’ork he initiated, and much of which he did with his own hands. In 1920 he retired from active farming and until his death lived in retirement in Invercargill. When the late Mr Cow n first saw Invercargill, it was nothing more than a collection of small houses and shacks set in the bush. On the site of the Albion Hotel, there was a single storied accommodation house made of ferntree trunks. Tay and Dee streets were unmade, and were terribly rough and broken. Tree stumps and the ends of logs protruded from the ground, and after rain both streets became quagmires. A journey from Caroline to Invercargill entailed a week’s absence. The trip had to be made through Gore, as no road had been cut through the bush which covered a large part of the country between Invercargill and Winton. Travellers spent jhe nights with settlers by the way, and in those days every door was open to the wayfarer. Mr Cowan, like other pioneers, made his own home—felled the trees, cut the timber, and built the house. That was how homes were made in those days, and there was always bed and board for those who asked accommodation. But travelling was arduous, and the settler only left home when business compelled him to. From his earliest years the late Mr Cowan was strongly attracted to public affairs and the entries in his diary show’s that during his short stay in Wellington after landing from the Burmah he found time to hear a debate in the Provincial Council. As far back as 1866, Mr Cowan was returned to Parliament as a member for Wallace. In 1884 he was elected member for Hokonui, an electorate which took in Riversdale and Waikaia and had Winton as its centre. In

1890 the electoral boundaries were readjusted. and Hokonui was wiped out, Mr Cowan losing his seat. He represented Oreti in the Southland Provincial Council for many years. When he took up land at Kauana Mr Cowan became associated with the Fernhill School Committee, the Benmore—Limehills River Board, and the Southland Road Board. When the latter body gave place to the Southland County Council, Mr Cowan was elected to the Council, a position which he held from 1877 to 1883 and in 1879 occupied the chair. There is mention in his papers of a Licensing Committee at Parawa in 1864, and in 1866 Mr Cowan received his commission as a Justice of the Peace. He must have been one of the first Justices of the Peace in Southland, and at the time of his death one of the oldest honorary members of the Bench. In 1890 Mr Cowan represented the New Zealand Government at a conference of sheep-owners held in Melbourne. He was for years a member of the Southland Land Board.

Whilst never a church officer-bearer, Mr Cowan was a devout man and liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church. He gave the site for the church at Fernhills, and also made a gift of land in* South Invercargill. He carried into his public work the wide knowledge and sound judgment as well as the courage and enterprise that marked his private life.

It was the spirit of enterprise that was so strong in him that led to the formation of the Southland Frozen Meat and Produce Export Company. At the start the late Mr Cowan was chairman, secretary and treasurer. For many years he laboured in the interests of the company, contributing materially to its progress. He was one of a type which is rapidly disappearing. He knew life in the raw and in the rough, and to the task of making a home in a new land in its natural state he brought in a marked degree the qualities W’hich enabled the pioneers to achieve success—steadfastness, industry, frugality and courage. In 1864 Mr Cowan married a daughter of the late Rev. George Wallace, of Durrisdeer, Dumfriesshire. Mrs Cowan died in 1913,’ and Mr Cowan st his death left five surviving children—Mrs A. Chalmers, Scotland; Mr C. Cowan, Kauana; Miss M. L. Cowan. Invercargill; Mrs J. P. Dunlop, Scotland and Mr G. W. Cowan, Drummond. The funeral will take place at Winton to-mor-row morning.