DEATH OF MR. QUENTIN MUIR

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1930, Page 6

DEATH OF MR. QUENTIN MUIR

PIONEER SETTLER OF TARANAKI. One of the few remaining pioneers of Taranaki, Mr. Quentin Muir, passed away yesterday morning at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Robert Hicks, Tongahoe, at the great age of 87 years, after a short illness. Born in Scotland in 1844, Mr. Muir came to New Zealand in 1865, landing at Wanganui some ten years, before the present "town bridge was opened for traffic. ■ Thence he moved to Carlyle (now Patea), and finally reached Hawera in. 1871, building a store of quite pretentious .diMcnsions.. f|Or the .time at the corner of Princes and High streets, where the White Hart Hotel now stands. This building, a two-storeyed one, was erected from pit-sawn timber obtained from the Normanby district.- The late .Mr. Samuel Taplin joined Mr. Muir in partnership, and they carried on a successful general store business for several years, Mr. Muir was appointed postmaster at .Hawera in succesion to Mr. W. J.’Kearney, who had an office in the blockhoue for the reception and dispatch of mails. The appointment was made in 1872, two years before the Government erected ; a'.post office near the present site. ‘ ' Mr. Muir remembered well the old blockhouse erected in 1870, which stood on a• si i’gfit- eminence nearly opposite-the. Hawera Borough Council chambers, also the Canadian redoubt, thrown pp prior to that :hy the original settlers, hear the corner of. South and Beach roads. Most dfitheisetilers at the time of. Mr. Muir s arrival at Hawera were living in the towhsliip,.-for fear. of Maori aggression, working, their farms in periods of peace, and repairing to the settlement when disturbed. Mr. Muir relinquished business and took up a farm on the banks of the Tongahoe in 1878, the. farmhouse still standing in the plantation founded by him. The funeral will take place on Monday from the residence of Mr. R. Hicks. PERSONAL AND GENERAL. Mr. Samuel Blake, Hawera, who has been seriously ill for some months, is reported to be steadily improving in health. ■ Mr. J. Egan, stationmaster at Hawera, left yesterday on annual leaxe. He is being relieved by the chief clerk, Mr. P. A. Munro. Mr. J. J. Goodwin, Hawera, president of the Taranaki Rugby Union, left by car yesterday to attend the Rugby Test match at Wellington. Miss Jessie Sewell, C’h ch of England Sunday school organiser for the Wellington Diocese, is in Hawera. She will visit the Church of England Sunday schools in South Taranaki and on Wednesday will attend a conference for Sunday school teachers at Hawera. A resolution of' condolence with Mrs. E. A. James and family in the loss sustained by the death of Mr. E. A. James was passed at a meeting of the Reform League at Waverley. Warm tributes were paid to the faithful work carried out by' Mr. James during his 19 years’ service as general secretary of the party. Messrs A. H. West (Hawera), C. Brown (New Plymouth), J. Kisisick (Kaponga) and M. Cain (Waitara) were passengers to Wellington by yesterday’s mail train. They were proceeding to a reunion of the New Zealand Army Rugby team, which established a great record in the British Isles and South Africa in 1919. The reunion is the first to be organised since the disbandment iof the team eleven years ago. Mr. W... G. Walkley, secretdry of the South Taranaki Automobile Association, lias received the following telegram from Napier: “Main'highway between Dannevil’ke and Norsewocd closed for traffic. ■ Motorists must take Danne-virke-Ormondyille Road to Takapau and northward.”;

Messrs R, P. Morrissey and Co:, Union ■Street, Hawera, advertise details of their mart sale to be held to-day. Produce, household effects, etc., will be sold by auction. ■