OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 22497, 6 December 1934, Page 6

OBITUARY

MR J. S. GRIEVE CAME TO INVERCARGILL IN 1856 LAST OF THE PIONEERS Mr John Sibbald Grieve, the last survivor, so far as is known, of the pioneers who settled in Southland before the town of Invercargill was surveyed, died at his home at Waianiwa yesterday at the advanced age of 83. Arriving as a boy, he saw Southland transformed from bush, tussock and swamp into a wide expanse of rich agricultural and pastoral land. It is to such stout-hearted, far-seeing men as Mr Grieve, whose faith was never shaken by the trials they encountered and the disappointments which were met with daily, that the amazing development of Southland is due. His name will live long after him, particularly in the district where the greater part of his life was spent. The late Mr Grieve was born in Moffat, Scotland, in 1851. When he was five he set out with his parents for New Zealand in the Strathmore which reached Port Chalmers on October 4, 1856. After a brief stay in Dunedin the Grieve family travelled south in the small ship Star which took three weeks to reach Invercargill, and which landed them on the banks of the Puni on the site occupied by the Bank of New Zealand. The father, Mr James Grieve, pitched his tent in the bush in what is now Tay Street. Invercargill had not then been surveyed, and Mr Grieve would vividly recall his first Sunday walk through the bush to a hillock on which he saw a heap of pegs which had been prepared by Mr J. T. Thomson for the survey he was about to make. Today this hillock is occupied by the water-tower. He attended the first school opened in Invercargill and was the only survivor of the original pupils, among whom was the late Mr W. Smith, printer. He also attended the first church service held in Invercargill- . . Property at Waianiwa. Mr James Grieve remained for some time in Invercargill in business as a merchant and served as a member of the organization which corresponded to to-day’s City Council. Later he purchased a store at Wallacetown as well as the Oaklands estate. On the death of his father Mr John Grieve carried on the store and then acquired his property, “Athol”, at Waianiwa. The farm was in its native state, with tussocks as the main form of vegetation and niggerheads and flax on the swampy land. To the task of bringing this into cultivation Mr Grieve set himself with the skill and perseverance which characterized all his activities. Not only did he make his farm a model holding, but he found time to interest himself in the welfare of his neighbours and various forms of community service. He soon won a high reputation as a breeder of Down sheep and high quality fat stock. In many. South Island agricultural and pastoral shows he figured prominently in the prize list, on at least one occasion annexing a cup for the finest lambs for export purposes. He was frequently called upon to act as judge of sheep and cattle at various shows. Mr Grieve was a life member of the Southland A and P Association and until last year he had not missed a single show since the far-off day when the first Southland fixture was held at One Tree Point. He had many interesting anecdotes of early shows and a wealth of information about all matters pertaining to farming. No show seemed complete without its “grand old man about whom there was always clustered a group of eager listeners to his kindly comment. He invariably looked for the good in everything, in everybody, and offered opinions with an innate modesty. Interest in Dairying.

In later years he confined his attention to dairying. He was a foundation director of the Dairy Farmers’ Federation Ltd., an organization of which he was an ardent supporter. He was also a director of the Waianiwa Dairy Factory. A director of the South Island Dairy Association and of the Bluff Cool Stores for nearly twenty years, he resigned those positions only two years’ ago when failing health compelled his retirement, resolutions recording his long and valued service being carried. In all dairying matters he was a staunch supporter of co-operation and in this respect did a great deal for Southland producers. The late Mr Grieve was a member of the Wallacetown Presbyterian Church for over 30 years. He was an elder and treasurer for some years and when he went to Waianiwa he joined the church there and was one of its managers. He took a prominent part in the social life of the district; was a Justice of the Peace, a member of the school committee for many years and a member of the Awarua Licensing Committee. In the early days he had a great love of horses and as a boy he worked in Cobb and Co.’s office in Invercargill. Later he was stockriding between Invercargill and the back country and was waggoning with provisions to the goldfields. He was an enthusiastic supporter of coursing when the open method was in vogue and his greyhounds won prizes all over the South Island. When coursing was revived by the Southland Coursing Club he nominated dogs for the Waterloo Cup, but the Plumpton method of coursing did not appeal to him as the old sport had. In the early days he raced horses, both trotters and gallopers, but in latter years he left his sons to carry on the sport. One of them, Mr William Grieve, is treasurer to both the Southland Racing Club and the Invercargill Trotting Club. The late Mr Grieve married Eliza Morton, daughter of John Morton, the original owner of Oaklands Estate. Mrs Grieve died in 1917. There were four daughters and five sons of the marriage, the surviving members being Miss Jane Grieve, (Waianiwa); Mrs J. K. Stevenson and Mrs J. Bennie (Waianiwa); Messrs J. M. Grieve, W. Grieve (Invercargill) and R. G. Grieve (Waianiwa). M. ALBERT BESNARD. FRENCH ARTIST. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) Paris, December 4. The death is announced of M. Albert Besnard. Albert Besnard, the French artist, was born in Paris in 1849. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Jean Bremond and Cabanel, and began to exhibit in the Paris Salon in 1868, In 1870 he showed his first notable picture, “La procession des bienfaiteurs et des pasteurs de ITJglise de Vauhallan,” a great composition which gave him a high place among decorative painters. In 1874 he won the Prix de Rome. Five years later he went to London. where he remained for two years, devoting himself chiefly to portraits, including those of Lord Wolseley, Admiral Commerwell and General Sir Henry Green. He. then returned to Paris where he allied himself with the Impressionists and painted very varied subjects in all of. which, however, the effects of light were the centre of interest. Among his works during this period were two large pictures for the School of Pharmacy in Paris, “Illness” and “Convalescence” (1884), the portraits of Mme. Georges’

Duruy and Mme. Roger Jourdain, the “Femme nue qui se chauffe” a study in lighting, the open air pictures “Vision de Femme,” “Port d’Alger au Crepuscule” (Luxembourg) and “Un Soir” (1908). His most finished work, however, is to be found in the symbolic decorative paintings which ornament a number of public buildings—“Le Matin” “Le Midi” and “Le Soir de la Vie” in the mairie of the Ist Arrondissement, “La Vie renaissant de la Mort” in the chemistry amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, “La Verite entrainant les sciences a sa suite repand sa lumiere sur les homines” in the Salon des Sciences at the Hotel de Ville Paris, La Pensee,” “La Matiere,” “L’Esthetique” and “La Mystique,” roof paintings in the Petit Palais of the Paris Exhibition of 1907 and those in the Comedie Francaise (1908). He was also responsible for some of the decorative work in the French room at the Venice art exhibition in 1905, as well as numerous etchings and studies in oils and pastel. Basnard was director of the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts, a member of the Institute de France and a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. LORD BUCKMASTER. LAWYER AND POLITICIAN. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 9 p.m.) London, December 4. The death is announced of Lord Buckmaster. Stanley Owen Buckmaster, the Liberal lawyer who became Lord Chancellor, was born in January, 1861, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Called to the Bar in 1884, he practised in the Chancery Courts, acquiring a reputation as a skilful advocate. In 1902 he became a K.C. and four years later entered Parliament as Liberal member for Cambridge. His ability as a speaker soon made an 'impression in the House of Commons and marked him for political progress. He was defeated at the 1910 election, but reentered the House next year as M.P. for Keighley. In 1913 he was made Solicitor-General in Mr Asquith’s Cabinet and soon afterwards was knighted. In Mr Asquith’s reconstructed Government of 1915 he was given the Lord Chancellorship and raised to the peerage. As Lord Chancellor he was marked by his power in debate, by his energy and by his readiness to take up new ideas. As a judge he proved to be sound. He went out of office when the Lloyd George Coalition was formed in 1916, but continued to sit in a judicial capacity in the House of Lords. For a few months during the war he was Director of the Press Bureau. In 1926 he accepted the chairmanship of an important commercial undertaking. Throughout his legal career Lord Buckmaster advocated reform of the law relating to divorce, taking the civil rather than the ecclesiastical view of marriage. In 1920 he introduced a Bill proposing as additional grounds for divorce wilful desertion for three years, cruelty, incurable lunacy of five years’ standing, habitual drunkenness and imprisonment under a commuted death sentence. The measure, however, failed to pass. In February, 1929, he took up the subject again, urging the carrying into law of the recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Divorce in 1912. SIR HORACE LAMB. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) London, December 4. The death is announced of Sir Horace Lamb. Sir Horace Lamb was born in 1849. He was professor of mathematics at Adelaide University from 1875-1885 and professor of mathematics at the University of Manchester from 1885 to 1920. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Society and vice-president from 1920 to 1922. He was president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and president of the London Mathematical Society.