OFF TO ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20124, 20 February 1937, Page 16 (Supplement)

OFF TO ENGLAND.

MORRINSVILLE PIONEERS. MR AND MRS F. J. MARSHALL. There has been a round of farewells during the past fortnight for Mr and Mrs F. J. Marshall, pioneer settlers of the Morrinsville district, who leave on a trip to England next Thursday. Mr and Mrs Marshall were Mayor and Mayoress of Morrinsville when the town was created a borough in 1921, and have always been to the fore in the public and social life of the district. Mrs Marshall’s parents, Mr and Mrs J. Turnbull, settled at Kiwitahi, near Morrinsville, In 1873, while Mr Marshall fTrst came to Morrinsville 54 years ago. On Thursday evening Mr and Mrs Marshall were the guests of honour at a social evening held in the council ohambers. The Mayor, Mr W. T. Osborne, presided, and there was a representative gathering of councillors and their wives, past councillors and old settlers. The Mayor made a presentation to Mr and Mrs Marshall of an illuminated address album form. The album contains present-day views of Morrinsville’s parks, business area and saleyards, and also a photograph of the first Morrinsville Borough Council with Mr Marshall as Mayor. A brooch that is a replica of a link of the mayoral chain of the borough was presented to Mrs Marshall. Mr and Mrs Marshall suitably responded, and referred to the good friends they had known during half-a-century of residence in Morrinsville.

Other tributes to the services rendered by Mr and Mrs Marshall to the district were paid by Mr W. C. Kennedy, chairman of the Piako County Council; Mr W. Morrice, deputymayor; Messrs B. Chapman and T. J. Ryan, members of the Morrinsville Borough Council; and Mr W. MoLean, of Walton. Reminiscences of the early days of the district were given by Messrs H. J. Clifford and C. M. Gummer, who were associated with Mr Marshall on the first Morrinsville Town Board in 1908. Work For Farmers. At a gathering of members of the Morrinsville Agricultural and Pastoral Society, of which Mr Marshall was the first president, opportunity was taken to present Mr and Mrs Marshall with a leather suitcase and a travelling rug suitably marked with their monograms. In making the presentation the president, Mr W. J. Aitken, referred to Mr Marshall as the founder of the society and one who had been responsible for introducing the best thoroughbred horses to the Waikato. Ip reply, Mr Marshall recalled how the Morrinsville Show was inaugurated. Other speakers were Messrs G. S. Leggett, W. T. Osborne, W. Hetherington, R. J. Ramsay, W. Hogg and L. Echlin.