CHEERY PIONEER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 688, 13 June 1929, Page 16

CHEERY PIONEER

NOW IN RETIREMENT IN ENGLAND NEWS OF MR. A. HEATHER Prominent in the commercial life of Auckland 50 years ago, Mr. Arthur Heather is still living in retirement in England, and a recent mail brought cheerful | letters from him to friends in the city. AT ft. HEATHER was. born in Auckland, the son of Mi-. D. H. j Heather, who arrived at Port Nicholson with the earliest Wellington set- j tiers, and later moved north. Because I of the trouble caused by Honge Heke ! in the 40’s, Mr. and Mrs. D. Heather set out for England again, travelling by way of Sydney, whence they sailed in the ship Mary, which was wrecked in Bass Strait. Mrs. Heather and three of her sons lost their lives, Mr. D. H. Heather and his son Arthur being the only members of the family to escape. They went on to the Old Country, Mr. Arthur Heather being educated there, while his father returned to New Zealand again and started farming in the Waikato. He was joined by Mr. Arthur Heather in 1858, but trouble with the natives set them back again. Mr. Arthur Heather then came to Auckland and took a position with Messrs. Owen and Graham, then one of the leading -wholesale importing houses. Later he became a partner in the firm. On the dissolution of the firm in 1579 he took over the wholesale grocery branch, eventually transferring it to his son, the late Mr. H. D. Heather, who, with Mr. A. B. Roberton, formed the firm of Heather, Roberton and Company, at present in this city.

Mr. Arthur Heather carried on business for some time as a kauri gum merchant, before he retired and left for England. While in Auckland, Mr. Heather was a member of the Harbour Board of 1872, the year after its formation, and again in 1577, president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1878, and an enthusiastic worker for several Anglican churches, being a synodsman, both diocesan and general. He was also a supporter and president of the Football Association, and president of the Eden and Epsom Tennis Club for many years after its foundation.