REPUTED 105 YEARS OLD

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1930, Page 9

REPUTED 105 YEARS OLD

INMATE OF. OLD PEOPLE’S HOME. .REMARKABLY ACUTE FACULTIES. Reputed to be 105 years of age, Thomas Mitton died at the Old People’s Home, New Plymouth, on Thursday. The burial service was held at Te Henui Cemetery yesterday. Three old friends from the institution were present at the graveside, besides the caretaker at the Home, who was very much attached to the old. man. Mr. Mitton himself had claimed to be 105, though there are no records of his age at hand. Mr. G. A. Adlam, however, who had known Mr. Mitton in the ’sixties, considers that he was probably ten years younger. "As a young man,” the caretaker (Mr. S. Adams) told a News reporter, “old Tom must have been six feet high. He was a wiry man, as tough as whipcord. A fin© old fellow who never hurt so much ..as a cat or a dog, and as straight as an arrow. "He had a passion for watches, blocks and greenstone ornaments,” said the caretaker, who brought out an old leather bag and tipped out the treasures. Four green-stone-ornaments with gold bands, all hung on a gold chain, a gold watch, three boxes of matches and a bandanna- handkerohief. “That’s about all he left,” said the caretaker. “The greenstone ornaments he always wore across his waistcoat,” said Mr. Adams. “You could hear him jingling down the passage before, you saw him. It would have been high treason for me to tak© ‘his leather bag away ! from him. He always kept it under his .pillow.” Old Tom had :kept his faculties very clearly and could write his name-without glasses right to the last. A little time ago, when he had to fill in a form at the institution, he had filled everything in without the/slightest hesitation—the full names ■of his father and mother, his father’© trade of hop-growing and his mother’s maiden name. He had been a born bushman, said the caretaker, and served in the military settlers’ corps in the ’sixties. After the wars he had been given a grant of land at Okato. For sime time he had been -friendly with the Maoris, until he was revolted by .the sight of one of their massacres. Mr. Mitton was born in Hertfordshire, England, and came to New Zealand 70 years ago. He had relatives in New Zealand, some, it is believed, in the-Nelson district and some ‘at Eltham. “He was liked by everyone at the Home,” eaid Mr. Adams. “With his pipe to puff he was perfectly contented. And when he got his .pension he always sent for a bit of jam or cheese to share with the others.”