OBITUARY.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12042, 16 April 1903, Page 3

OBITUARY.

GIDEON RUTHERFORD. Mr Gideon Rutherford, the well-knowr* farmer of Castle Rock estate, Totara Valley, died at his home on Monday, aged 70 years. He had not been well for some time past, and in October last, whilst on a visit to Victoria; he consulted one of the best physicians in Melbourne, supposing that he was suffering from rheumatism. He was, however, advised that his complaint was a weak heart, and that he must I be very careful. He then returned to New Zealand, and recently, while driving from his property at Kakanui, he caught a chill, from which dropsy developed, which resulted in his death. Mr Rutherford (who is not a relative, or at all events not a near relative, of the Canterbury Rutherfords) was a native of Golspie, Sutherlandshire. He came out to Victoria with his father in the fifties, and for a time worked with his father, on his Colac run. Being of an enterprising nature, he presently struck out for himself, purchasing the Quambatook station, 160 miles from Melbourne, and he soon became noted as an excellent judge of merino sieep, and was frequently called in as a witness in matters of dispute. He was very successful as a sheep-breeder, and some years shore as many as 100,000 sheep, and this in the days when wool was at a high figure. He accumulated a fortune rapidly, but his generosity towards all kinds of institutions around him kept pace with his growing income. About 22 years ago he visited New Zealand, and liking the climate he determined to come and settle in this colony, while retaining Lake Connowarre, a large station near Geelong. He lived for a few years in Dunedin, and then bought a property called Mamre, near Kakanui, near Oamaru, and later, about nine years .ago, he purchased the larger property of Castle Rock, where lie chiefly lived, Mrs Rutherford preferring Mamre. Mr Rutherford was for some years a member of the Committee of the Timaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and for one term he was vice-president He was a frequent and successful exhibitor of sheep- at shows in Canterbury and Otago. He was a very generous man; in an unostentatious way. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and a great admirer of the late Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, whose son, Rev, T. Spurgeon, who for some years was pastor of the Baptist Church at Auckland, mar'ried Mr Rutherford's eldest daughter. It was largely due to bis liberality to his denomination that the- nice stone Baptist Church at Oamaru was erected. His second daughter is the wife of Mr Alex. Knight, general manager for Bing, Harris and Co. His eldest son. Charles, manages the Geelong property; Mrs Rutherford and nn unmarried son and daughter live at Mamre. Deceased has two sisters in Australia, Mrs T. Brown, of Tuppall station. New South Wales, and Mrs P; Macfarlane, of Burrigoo station, Victoria. Sir J. Paterson, late Premier of Victoria, is a cousin of his. The funeral, a private one, will take place at Oamaru to-day. MrRutherford had lived a comparatively retired life in South Canterbury, but his tall figure and cordial conversation will be missed by many friends: