MOTUEKA.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11287, 22 March 1905, Page 2

MOTUEKA.

DEATH OF AN OLD SETTLER. [By Telegraph.— From Our Own Correspondent. ] Motueka, March 21. Another of Nelson's old and wellknown settlers passed away last evening in the person of Mr Charles Thorp, which took place at his residence, "Burton Farm," after a long and painful illness, at the ripe old age of 84. Deceased came to the Colony in 1842, in the ship Olympia, when he settled for a short time in Stoke, but sold out the following year, and came to Motueka, where he purchased property, and has resided here ever since. The greater part of the property was then in a rough state, but by his energy and perseverance most of it has been brought into a high state of cultivation. Mr Thorp, with the late Dr, Greenwood and Captain Fearon, were amongst • the first settlers in Motueka, and endured all the hardships suffered by the early pioneers. Deceased was intended to be one of the party which met such an untimely fate at the Wairau Massacre, but owing to the difficulty of travelling in2.tb.ose days, he, with others, arrived in Nelson just after the party had left the port. He was then living at Stoke. Hi 3 early experiences at Motueka were full of anxiety owing to the disaffection of the Natives, caused chiefly by the Wairau massacre, and which necessitated the occupation and defence by all the settlers of a bullet-proof block-house, which had been erected by Dr. Greenwood as a homestead. ; Deceased was a very active, hard 1 working, and industrious settler, and in the earlier days was a prominent worker for the Anglican Church, and acted for many years as lay reader. He took a great interest in public affairs ; was Chairman of the Road Board for a number of years, and a Justice of the Peace, while he also held a commission in. the New Zealand Militia as lieutenant. On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Nelson Province the late Mr Thorp was one of three riders (one of the others being the late Hon. Dillon Bell) who rode in the first steeplechase in Nelson. After Mr Thorp had resided in the Colony 12 years he married a sister of the late Mrs Fearon, and they had a family of three children, two sons and one daughter, of which one son, bis Worship the Mayor, Mr F. W. Thorp, is still living. Mrs Thorp p redeceased her husband by many • years.