OBITUARY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 69, 1 May 1945, Page 4

OBITUARY

MR ROBERT E. GRIEVE The passing of Mr Robert Elliot , Grieve which took place recently , has removed one of the pioneers of , the Rangitaiki' from a community which had for him the greatest re-» ; spect and admiration. Born seventy-six years, ago at Harwich' Scotland the late Mr Grieve » wasf educated at that town and received his high school training , in Glasgow. As a young man he, decided to migrate to Australia and he 9 arrived there some fifty* years ago .'when most of the larger centres were going through the stages of transformation which later produced the moderfi metropolitan centres which are known today. He stayed two years Jthere and then decided to try his luck in. New Zealand. y He arrived in this country with his young wife who was Miss Isobel Lillico of Hobart Tasmania. 3 He farmed first at. where he stayed for some years at Tarata. However forty-four years ago he moved north and settled at. Te TekQ. where he purchased 4000 acres of lancjl and where he had such faith in the. future of the Plains-, which were then a wilderness that he decided to start farming in a substantial way. Breaking in the large area was hard work ? but this land responded and soon the major section was fenced off and cleared. His success prompted him to purchase in his wife's name a further 5000 acres, known as the Heaheainga ! which he also proceeded to break in and pasture. His large holdings soon established him as one of the most, successful men on the western. Rangitaiki and J as the central plains were drained and consolidated he played no In-> conspicuous part in the process of transformation. He served two terms as County and was also an active member of the early Drainage Board. Recently his holdings have been cut up into smaller farms but the man who pioneered the area lived to see. his dreams coming true all around him. Of a retiring nature Mr Grieve was not known by many of the lat? ter farmers of the Plains. He had however many friends amongst those who arrived here in the early days. His wife predeceased him some five years ago, and although he himself had always enjoyed the best of health her death was a noticeable blow to him. He leaves no family.