A NONAGENARIAN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19933, 18 October 1934, Page 12

A NONAGENARIAN

EARLY DAYS IN SOUTH CANTERBURY The distinction of being a nonagenarian was attained last week by Mrs J. Leitch, of Melville Downs, Fairlie. For a large part of her ninety years, Mrs Leitch has resided in South Canterbury and since she has seen the country develop into its present great productivity from its native state, she can justly claim a very close connection with the early pioneering days. In spite of her age, Mrs Leitch retains her mental alertness, and in the columns of “The Timaru Herald” she keenly follows current happenings. Between the days when wool from the Mackenzie Country came down the Waitaki Gorge in slow moving waggons, and the days of the present with their mechanical wonders, Mrs Leitch can recall many milestones in the district’s history. The arrival of the reaper and binder on South Canterbury’s wheat fields and similar events, are things within her memory. Mrs Leitch, then Miss Smith, left her native town Beauly, near Inverness, Scotland, in 1875, and after five months and three days of sea travel in the Christian McCausland, she landed at Invercargill. From there she went on to Waimate. After her marriage in 1880, she lived in Pleasant Point, where, with her husband, she became well and favourably known through many kindnesses and unstinted generosity. Her husband died 20 years ago. During the last six years, Mrs Leitch has resided chiefly with her niece, Mrs A. F. Campbell. Notwithstanding her age, Mrs Leitch can yet, if she wishes, readily speak Gaelic, the tongue that was once the everyday language of the Scottish Highlands; and she can even demonstate the steps in the Highland Fling. On October 11, before a party of friends who gathered in honour of her birthday, she made an interesting speech, and cheerfully extinguished the 90 candles on her birthday cake.