OBITUARY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9789, 4 March 1910, Page 3

OBITUARY.

MR ALEXANDER REESE. j Mr Alexander lleese, who died at | Pahiatua on Tuesday, had many rela-.l tives and friends in Canterbury, as | well as in the Wellington district. Ho was born in 1843, at Bell's Hill, near Motherwell, Scotland. After spending a limited time at school ho found employment at the ironworks. In 1857 he found his way to New Zealand, and for some time he worked, in Christchurch as a carpenter. Proceeding to Wellington he carried out some building contracts, erecting amongst other structures tho present railway station. Going up country in company with Mr Joseph Dawson, of bridge-building fame, ho constructed several bridges in the Wairarapa. When the Forty-mile Bush was opened up for settlement, he proceeded with his family to Pahiatua, and was one of the pioneer residents of the new township, carrying on the business of a dairy farmer. For some time he did valuable service for the Labour Department, taking charge of the gangs of . unemployed who were despatched from the city and placed on the co-operative road and railway works. Mr Reese at this time was also an active promoter of special settlements and village homesteads, taking an enthusiastic interest in promoting the welfare of the struggling settlers and getting them permanently attached to the soil. Identifying himself with the party led bv the ~ late Mr Ballance, Mr Reeso was often a conspicuous figure in the Press and on tho platform, and the forco and pungency of his letters on tho side of Liberalism will not readily be forgotten. Eventually ho made his home on a leasehold section belonging to the Wellington City Corporation. For about twenty years and up to the time of j his death be *as a member of the Wel- : lington Land Board. He was also a Land Purchase Commissioner under the Land for Settlements Act and a Justice of the Peace. He was a brother of tho late Mr Daniel Reeso, of Christchurch, formerly a member of the House of Representatives.