EARLY SETTLER CELEBRATES HIS 95TH BIRTHDAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18674, 31 January 1929, Page 11

EARLY SETTLER CELEBRATES HIS 95TH BIRTHDAY.

MR EDWARD HACK ARRIVED IN 1856,

One of Canterbury’s oldest residents, Mr Edward Hack, of 56 Avonhead Road, celebrates his ninety-fifth birthday to-day. Mr Hack arrived at Lyttelton on July 3, 1856, in the ship Paget, after a five months’ passage from England. At that time there was one building at the port, and the sea came right up to where the Post Office now stands. 11 is party carried their beds over the

hills to Christchurch; but a boat that had run from Lyttelton to Cowlishaw’s corner (known as “The Bricks”) had just been wrecked, so that they did not get the rest of their luggage for a month. A Mr Dalton, who lived in Fendalton, near the site of the old malthouse on Idris Road corner, carried most of their effects on horseback to Riccarton. A Gipsy’s Warning. There is a real touch of romance concerning Mr Hack’s decision to go to New Zealand. Up to the time of his departure, at the age of twentytwo, he was working on a farm in the Lincolnshire fens. One Saturday an old gipsy woman came to the farm. Mr Hack crossed her palm with silver to the extent of sixpence, and she told him that he was going to cross the water and would get more news in two days’ time. He did get the news the next Monday in the form of a letter from Mr Robert Main, who lived twenty-eight miles away, asking him to accompany the Main family to New Zealand. He immediately gave notice. They sailed a fortnight after Mr Hack’s twenty-second birthday. Shortly after landing Mr Hack married a Miss Main. They had a large family, the eldest son being Mr Fred Hack, who is now a poultr}--farmer at Riccarton. There were ten other children, and Mr Hack’s descendants, in Christchurch, Dunedin, Timaru, Wellington and Auckland, now number nearly 170.

Shot Ducks in Cathedral Square. Mr Hack remembers Cathedral Square as a waste of sandhills between which water lay, making good duck-shooting. At that time a branch of the Avon ran under the present sites of St Michael’s Church, Anderson's foundry and the Bank of New Zealand. It rejoined the Avon at the Avonside cemetery. Six buildings were then the extent of the city. Four of them were hotels: The White Hart, the Golden Fleece, the Caversham and the Royal. In the Royal Mr Hack spent his first night in Christchurch.

Farming at Harewood. Seventy-three years ago Mr Hack went to Harewood, where he purchased fifty acres of land from a Mr Shephard. Then he got fifty acres, and later seventy acres more, from Captain Morgan. When Harewood Road was resurveyed, it was found to be well out of its right position. As a result of this error, the Harewood Church was built on part of Mr Hack’s farm. He stayed in that district for twenty-six years, afterwards living in Russley Road for forty years.

Grew the First Gum Trees. In 1860 a Mr Reece, a relative of Mr E. Reece, of E. Reece, Ltd., came from Adelaide, bringing a quantity of eucalyptus seed.. This was sown in boxes at Mr Hack’s farm, and from it grew the first gum trees in New Zealand. When the M ( ormack-Deering reapers first arrived, they were demonstrated at Mr Hack s farm. He became a travelling agent for the company, assembling about two hundred combinations in Dunedin alone. All old residents of Canterbury will join in wishing Mr Hack a happy birth--1 day.