Reader Of “The Press” For Sixty Years

Press, Volume C, Issue 29514, 16 May 1961, Page 10

Reader Of “The Press” For Sixty Years

One of the pioneers of moving pictures in New Zealand, one of the first to retail icecream, and an enthusiastic composter and gardener at 95. Mr D. Eilwood, of 21 Totara street, has been a reader of “The Press” for 60 years. “I first read “The Press’ 60 years ago last Christmas, and I've been getting it ever since,” he said yesterday. Mr Eilwood will be 96 in November. He said he still worked eight hours a day in his garden. He is a firm believer in the benefits from compost, and attributes his good health largely to homegrown food. He never has a cold and has not needed a doctor for about 60 years except for one or two minor accidents. He has a cold shower every morning. Mr Eilwood was born near Cambridge, England. He worked on the railways there, and when he was 21 he went to Leeds. Later he had a fish and chip shop at Ossett, about 10 miles from Leeds, and was there until he left for New Zealand in 1900. He arrived at Wellington on September 23 that year. His wife end three children joined him the following year. The three children became well known throughout New Zealand as the Eilwood Trio (‘cello, piano and violin). In 1910 the children returned to England and then studied music at Berlin and Brussels. They were away for three years and when they came back to New Zealand they again went on tour. Mr Eilwood had one of the first three silent moving picture projectors in New Zealand. It was a movable plant

and he used it at various towns in Hawke's Bay. The family trio played on stage during the show. During this period Mr Ellwood made ice-cream for sale. He was one of the first to do so, and many people did not know what it was. The Eilwood family settled in Christchurch in 1906. the year the New Zealand International Exhibition opened here. “We had a secondhand shop in Armagh street for about 30 years. I retired nearly 30 years ago and we came to live here in Totara street.” said Mr Eilwood. His wife died about three years ago. Mr Eilwood was one of those who first planted orchards at Loburn. At one time he lived there for part of each week.