A Pioneer of the Motor Industry Passes

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 108, 1 October 1947, Page 4

A Pioneer of the Motor Industry Passes

MR ARNOLD WILKINSON. A CAMBRIDGE IDENTITY. The late Mr Arnold Wilkinson who died in his 84tli year at the Waikato Hospital on Monday last, was a very old resident of Cambridge and one of the pioneers of the motor industry in New Zealand. Bom in Halifax, Yorkshire, where his people were cotton mill owners, the late Mr Wilkinson at the age of 17 came" to New Zealand in the ship, "Doric," the first steamship to enter Auckland Hai-bour. He mairied Miss Anne Jane Judge, of * ParneUV Auckland, and in 1888 came to Cambridge where, with his father, the late James Wilkinson, he laid the foundations of the present firm of Wilkinson & Co., Ltd. In those days the firm were cycle agents and plumbers. At the turn of the century Mr Wilkinson purchased a motor cycle. Here was something completely new. No one knew anything about it and the machine would not run. So he pulled it right down and carefully re-assem-bled it, working all night. About four o'clock' in the morning the "bike" fired for the first time. Thus encouraged, the first motorist in the Waikato persevered until in the grey dawn he rode up Duke Street on the first motor vehicle ever owned or driven in the Waikato. For this machine he bought benzine in Winchesters from the local chemist and sent to England for spark plugs. The next venture was a part ownership in a car, "The Starling" and soon he was creating such records as one hour to Hamilton and Rotorua in the day. He so'on gained a wide reputation for his skill in diagnosis and repairs and cars were railed to him from all over the Province. In those early days no oil company had an office in New Zealand and purchases of petrol had to be' from an s office in Melbourne. Mr Arnold Wilkinson also introduced the first closed car to Cambridge, the Model "T" Ford sedan in 1923. The late Mr Wilkinson was for many years a member of the Cambridge Borough Council, Chairman of the Library Committee, original member of the Cambridge Power Board, a past president of the ' Cambridge Golf Club of which body he was a life member. For years he was an active member of the old Cambridge Operatic Society and later the Dramatic' Society. His wife predeceased him some 16 years ago and he is survived by two sons and one daughter, (Messrs L. Wilkinson, .Hamilton and K. L. Wilkinson, Cambridge and Mrs V. S. Mooney, Pukekohe); also five grand-children. - The interment, which was of a private nature, took place this morning with his.sons and grand-sons acting as pall-bearers, while Canon C. W: Chandler officiated at the graveside.

MRS ELIZABETH CLARK The death occurred at Cambridge yesterday of Mrs Elizabeth Clark, aged 82 years, widow of the late Mr Malcolm Clark, a well-known pioneering farmer. The late Mrs Clark had lived, for the past 44 years at Ohura, and prior to.that she and her husband had farmed at Hamilton and other parts cf the Waikato. She came to New Zealand from Edinburgh as a young woman, and was married in this country to Mr Clark, to whom she had been engaged in Scotland. The first few years were spent in KiritakL Mrs Clark had a number of friends in Cambridge, often visiting her son, the late Mr M. J. Clark,' of Bryce Street. . She arrived in Cambridge a few days before her death. She is survived by one son, Mr J. G. Clark; and one cjaughter, Mrs H. Reeve, both of Ohura. "