PASSED AWAY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 15 June 1926, Page 8

PASSED AWAY.

AN OLD IDENTITY. THOMAS WEBSTER FYEE. Oil Thursday last died, in his ninetieth year, the earliest business man of Timu.ru then surviving, Mr Thomas Webster Fyfe, who arrived in Timaru and commenced business here as a painter and glazier in 1862. Mr Fyfe, i with his wife and an infant daughter less than a year old, came out from I Home in the Echnilgai the second immigrant sliip to Timaru, about three years filter than the Strathallan, the first of these ships. He was a native of Dundee, where lie was horn on November 11, 1800. After his school days he wits apprenticed to the painting and g'azing trade, first in Dundee and then under a linn in a large way in London. Proving an apt pupil and deft with his hands, lie was sent as assistant to expert workmen to renovate and decorate some largo mansions in Scotland. This work gave him invaluable experience. When his apprenticeship was concluded -lie returned to Dundee and continued to work at his trade, in 1800 he married Miss Craigie, a sister of a fellow-townsman (now the Hon. James Craigie, M.L.C!., of Timaru and Wellington)/ In 1802 he came out to Timaru, arriving here on December 16, Anniversary Day, 1802, accompanied, as before mentioned, by his wife and infant daughter, and also by two younger sisters of his wife. The arrivals by the earlier ship, the Strathallan, had to. put up with very rough accommodation. Tho Provincial Council voted money and gave, orders that better conditions .should be provided beforehand for the people coming out in the Echunga. Barracks for lodging them were to be built, a well dug, and a stock of firewood from Arowhemia Bush laid in. None of these, tilings had been done when the ship arrived. On learning that no accommodation was ready for them, two-thirds of the 310 passengers of tiro Echungai refused to land, and were taken on to Lyttelton. The barracks would have been completed (near where the Drill Shed now is) but the supply of timber was not delivered in time. The Government- sent down tents for use in tho meantime, but those had not been put up when the immigrants began to land, in pouring rain. Firewood had not been stacked in readiness at the camping place, for fear that it would be stolon. The well was not dug, but water of a sort was obtainable. One of Mr Fyfe’s reminiscences of those days was that there was a stagnant pool not far away., A plank was laid across it, and kneeling on the plank and pushing weeds aside, ho got three or four bucketfuls of water and had a -good wash. The water could be drunk after filtering. A crowd on the beach including many Maoris, awaited their landing. 'fhe Fyfe family were directed to the camping ground, where for two nights they s’ept comfortably enough, in tents, with plenty of straw, and a good supply of bedding of their own. Boilers and camp-ovens were provided for cooking. This was a great contrast with the conditions, encountered by immigrants of tho present- day. Mr Fyfe brought with him a draft on the Bank of New Zealand. The manager, Mr R-. A. Chisholm, had received advice of this, and also a daguerrotype photograph of Mr" Fyfe, which lie declared was a good ■ikeness, a. guarantee of tho bona fides of the bearer of the draft. Of empty houses there were few or none. Mr Fyfe inquired whether there was anyone in Timaru in his line of business, and found one, a Mr Proctor, who had a two-roomed sod hut oil the section opposite to tho Eng-, lish Church, and next to the Public Trust Office. Mr Fyfe bought out Dir Proctor, hut, section, stock-in-trade and goodwill for £6O m cash. Mr Proctor went'to Oamaru, and “made good” there. 'The family lived in the hut for a good while, and the second child was born there. Mr Fyfe bought a section, in Heaton Street, Government Town, and with tho hc'p of an export in that material, set to work to build a threeroomed house of cob, roofing it with V.D.L. shingles. The cob walls were .so well built that they stand to-day, part of the present house, nearly as good as they were sixty years ago. As the family increased, four rooms, in wood, in two-storeys, were added, and later other additions were made. A well was dug, and by means of a force pump and pipes, Mr Fyfe supplied water to other houses near by, as- well as to his own.

The arrival of two more immigrant ships in 1863, the Lancashire Witch and the Victory, gave another fillip to the growth of Tininru, which as yet, was a scattered village, chiefly of very small, houses, many of them of sod or cob. The nearest sources of building timber were the native bushes at Arowhenua. and Waimate. (The former lias completely disappeared.) There wore a lew good .sized dwellings in wood, and wood stores, and general stores were being built. The only painter and l Iglazier in the town was, therefore, in much request, and his business flourished so that lie had to engage an assistant. His services as a tradesman were also in demand at station homesteads, for dwellings and wool sheds. In complying with these demands, Mr Fvfe saw a good deal of South Canterbury, and to the last ho cherished happy memories of engagements at stations, especially those "in th<' Geraldine district, and enjoved talking about them, and also about the | early Levels homestead. In later years, business being slack in his line in South Canterbury, be visited the North . Island, and obtained contracts in vari- ' pns places, as far north as AVhau’garei. In one case, when painting the 'hotel at Petane, a, few miles north of Napier, he slept in a detached bedroom, which lie recognised as the former deckhouse of the Echunga. This ship, after making one more successful voyage to New Zealand, was wrecked during her next voyage on Hie coast of Hawke’s Bay, and the deck-house was one of the fragments salvaged and put j to use ashore. Other business trips were of ail unusual kind. Mr Fvfe

m.-itUi two visits to the Old Count! 5, wofkinK his passage Homo by steamer for a return ticket, by painting ami decorutim; saloons and cabins on tie Homeward run, in readiness ior the next outward passage. His work was so mueh apprec.ated that on eaeu occasion lie received a substantial cheque on -reaching London. The profits ot his business exceeding what could lie invested in it, Air J'yie from time to time purchased town sections and built shops or dwellings upon them; but from lack ot an optimistic view of-the future of T.maru, he did not bold fast to them, as a shrewder man would have done. One block, new to 1 he Laud OHieo, is still , known as “Fvfe’s Buildings." He a sc bought rural land at Gien-iti, built a house, and made ids home there, so that must of Hie children attended the Glen-iti school. Part of this farm land, and the Heaton Street property are still hvmily possessions. Air 1-yfe was attracted to ulen-iti scon after ins arrival in iimaru, being struck during a Sunday st’-ell in that direction by the beauty of' the Wai-iti glen in its natural condition. Its rock-strewn sides were reallv beautiful, with their growths ot shrubs, bracken and lutsoek, with almost countless ti trees on the slopes above the glen. The Wai-iti (“littlewater”) creek was nearly permanent in those davs. as cultivation and ditches did 'not hasten the escape ot 1-iiiL water fi’oin the land, as they do now Thu little glen is not unlovely now! ill .spots, but willows, gorse and brcom, are a poor exchange lor tho vanished native growths Whilst he resided in Heaton .street, before removing to Glen-d.i, Air i'.yiu took some part in inmneipai a;la;rs. He ivas one of seventeen candi'iates- in the first election of A!unic-ipa! Council m • nine, in 1805, but was unsuccessful. He ; ,vas elected on Urn next occasion, and j ivas a, lac'miiea of the tsnmed lor a. ; uumber of Years, iis-hiding tin- pel md ,vhen Building Regulations were irninkl, prohibiting tho use ot combustible miterinls for Will's of buildings on the Vlaiu Road, in eon-oqueneo ol the groat ii-e which swept tho west side of that •oad from Church Street to AVooll■omim Street, and destroyed or demigod a number of buildings on the ?a.st side. J:!o was not living in Tinai'ii wlumi tho Rareora. water supply vas brought in, but was intorosted in Eraser’s experimental water race, as it to,shod hi* land at Olen-ili. Thence lie water ran down Wai-iti road into own. "When the work was carried out lermanently, the race ended on the

farther side of the glen. laving near, and having children of school age, Mr Evfe was a member of the first Clen-iti school committee, and of many subsequent committees. Ho was one of the foundation members of the Timaru Lodge of Oddfel'ows, M.U., and to the last, manifested a keen interest in tho Order, though for a good, many years, owing to physical infirmity, he had been unable to attend meetings of the Lodge. Mr Fyfe’s work in Scotland as an apprentice to tho London linn, took him into Ayrshire and the Country,” where tho youth made himself familiar with many details of places mentioned in Burns’s poems, and thus was led to take an interest in and enjoy the poems. Luring lis visits to tho Old Country, above mentioned, lie revisited these scenes of fame and ot youthful memories. ile was fond of reciting Burns’s poetry, his “Cotter’s Saturday Night’’ being his favourite, and to near the end of his life, in spite of failing memory, given one line, lie could “carry ou ,) to the completion of the passage. M rs Fyfo predeceased her husband by five real’s. Of twelve children, ten survive—six daughters and four sons: Only one daughter remains in Tinuirti, Jessie Fyfe, who is infant mistress in the South School. A sister, Miss Evelyn Fyfe, was for many years infant mistress at AVaiimtaitai School, and is now in Alt. Albert School, Auckland, in which city several other members of the family now reside. Some of the

sons and daughters were formerly well known m. musical circles in Timaru.

The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon. Among those present were two sons from Auckland and New Plymouth (other sons were unable to roach Timaru in time). The deceased’s brother-in-law, Hon. Janies and other relations in Timaru and its vicinilv, were present. Officers and 1 members of the Odd fellows’ Lodge took ' part in the funeral, and a number of old ' Timaru friends of the deceased and his family wore also present. The Rev. H. • 0. Coring conducted services in tho house and at the grave, and at tho latter B ro. Jones read the Oddfellows’ ; Burial Service.