A NONAGENARIAN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 609, 11 September 1909, Page 6

A NONAGENARIAN.

MR. WILLIAM PHILLIPS.

- Mr. William Phillips, of- George Street, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday 'on . Thursday,:is a veteran'of- a very fine' type. ,Tall,;woll set-up, and! very much, alive, he bears the weight of his 90. years as though ; ,tbey . were'.!only. 75. •« A .-conversation that a representative . of .. .The Dominion, -had with .him yesterday proved to., be'.. : all ,'too -short, .for.; Mr. .Phillips ./has '.lived.. an interesting .life,..and .his clear rrcolleotion.ranges over: a .wide 'field. It -is- 60 years .pinco ho camo to the .colony in < the ■ Olympus on ,her .second voyagey : a'nd.he.tells.how;in those-days wages man earii. more than, ten, shillings for ,a, week's work;.'.and food 1 - .It -was/impossible, td .get- beef , or' , mutton,; and 'American, pork; was the stand-by;- with an occasional ' fresh dish, if one happened-to kill a bush jiig. Phillips spent the first few years in Nelson, and he had. divers misadventufes; there.. One'one occasion/tho company' mustered' a forco. of a hundred men to go out .to Happy Valley, whore a Native making himself very troublesome. The; men/were smartly fitted out; with .'..uniforms, of; white 1 'trousers -, and blue ooats, and they carried muskets of historical. interest. They were Tower 200 years -old,- that -the company had bought cheap, and Mr. .Phillip's, -who was unable through- illness to accompany' the men. out to. Happy, Valley,'.where : they- .did 'nothing ü but' ; parley and return, -found-' himself, 1 in ,mnch moro danger ;when' he t.ook his musket and.'went out :to '.shoot' pigeons. ; He did not kiilVmany pigeons, but the 'kick, of the gun brofe' 'his, collar-bone. ' Another.'time he was on a cutter•' :,HMbour,'.-. and let". ah - anchor ;go,' without, noticing' that - his',coat : had become.caught in it. Over he went, too, and, down at the, bottom- of the -sea, he had -to-..cut or ! tefi\ himself : loose, -.' as his- mate in the excitement of the. moment did hot make any attempt to haul him •up. ■ . The sea was the favourite element for Mr. Phillips's, adventures, \ and twice he pulled drowning people .outf 'bf, Wellington Harbour, 'phcei it wiis ! aVman 'from a' hoat, and once' a who wasi found harbour close by where the Hotel' Cecil, n'ow; stands.; • Asked whether he. had been here in the great' earthquake, : Mr.. Phillips told- hpw he and his wife'were' living'at the Hutt at that time, and tho S.thing that : impressed ■'him' most, Was the change in tho river. -• When he looked at t it at the time., of ..the": earthquake,it was runhine.bank. highland when he mentioned .this .(fact . very "'. soon afterwards to some of the men who came at once to his house, they: lookMVagain,- and. .found the .river, was ' almost-'dry. In", a . few. minutes, hp-said, the rivor bed had lifted four feet. It is sixty years since' Mr. Phillips camo to the'colony,- but 'before that time he lived in' London, where he was in the'employ of . the original *! Rothschild, the founder :of the great house,: and ho gave-a curiously 'rivid; account;, of the, last scene in l the banker's ■. Btory;-,".'"-:fiotßoliild -'..liad" gono - across to IPrankfort, to . attend his son's, wedding,'and died there suddenly.. They.brought him to England for burial, jthe coffin wrapped in heavy . casings .of Jead, iso heavy that -no vehicle couldcarry •' it, ;.i until : thoy brought ono.of ■ the wagons on which cases: of bullion were carried/-when going; to. or from Europe. Some of that bullion , had gone to help Napoleon; it had palyed an important part in 'European-affairs,.and .there seemed lar appropriateness that " brought: '.theold financier to his'last'.homo . along the bullion road. ;■ Mr. . Phillips. remembers..' also- V with' great distinctness ?the- wailing- of tho : Jews,' ,the;i professional ..mourners, who - night and day lamented for .the dead! j'. . 'India', - and the - first Afghan War very nearly got Mr. Phillips, for ono of his friends persistently'urged him to accompany him to India with the troops that were going to Afghanistan, ( but while they (debated -as to which--boat *they , would' take, -the flaming posters stuck al lover London, vaunting the charms;of New Zealand, caught tho young man's eye,: and he- went. straightway to: the .'office 'of - the Land Company, New Zealand Compaiiy,; where 'he' paid • his passage .'money. And, he was-';very glad : agterwards that,"lie ,did -.so, ;for the. Englishmen ;in: India 'wero very •; quickly: pressed : . into, 'the! service, ■ aiid sent off to fight t-he Afghans. ' .. Mr! Phillips, by the !way, was. a member, of the;' Nelson Provincial -Council,-'and. ho 'has concerning its affairs; but those.stories are long. ' -