HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1702, 19 March 1913, Page 8

HIS 100 TH BIRTHDAY.

OLDEST LIVING PRINTER. LIFE UNDER SIX SOVEREIGNS. (By Telograph.-Special Corresnondent.) Christchurch, March 18. To-day Mr. G. S. Porter, of Phillipstown, the oldest liviiig printer in tho Australasian colonies, and, it is believed, in tho world, celebrated his one hundredth. birthday. His record is indeed u remarkable one. Ho worked till ho was eighty-seven, then sought 1 a' wellearned and long-deferred retirement, and up to quite recently was hale and hearty, his only trouble being an impaired sight and hardness of hearing. He could, however, always recognise and understand old friends.

Mr. Porter was born in Norwich, England, on March 18, 1813, two years before Waterloo. He served his time in the printing business in Ipswich, and afterwards worked in London- till 18J3. Tho conditions of trade in the did Laud were then so bad that lie; looked about for somo now place, and he fixed on Canada, where lie arrived ill the year above-men-tioned. At Newmarket, about twenlyJive miles from Toronto, he took a position as clerk in a store, and ultimately became the proprietor. To this he added a small jobbing printing office, aud.afterWards lie published a stjiall paper. "It I was not a very wise tiling to do," he confessed. "They were not a t literary people, and they never paid." In 1854 ho sold out, and sailed from Boston to Melbourne. His stay in Australia was not long, and he left for Auckland in December of that year. It : was there where he married, and his family were born, and there are many in that city who will /still remember him. On arrival at Now Zealand he took up a position at tho "Southern Cross" office at Auckland, and stayed there for many years. On two occasions he volunteered for servico in the- Maori war, but each time was rejected' because of his deficient hearing. Mr. : Porter married and took up laud in the:' ICawau district, near Auckland. A brief experience of farming convinced him that printing was more suited to his disposition, and he returned to Auckland, to his trade., ence inota.

In 1874 Mr. Porter came to Canterbury, and almost immediately entered employ of "Tho Press," being engaged mostly on the evening papers. Ilis wide experience and studious disposition—until liis sight failed he was a great readermade him a most interesting man to converse with, .though from his retiring nature lie was 'always averse from talking about himself. lie enjoyed to a remarkable degree' tho esteem and affection of. liis follow-eniployees, whom he endeared himself by his serene good temper and gentle nature, and there was general regret when' shortly after tho introduction of the linotype tho old 1 gentleman decided to lay down liis "stick and.rulo" and leave the service in which he had spent so many years. Living long past the allotted span, and seeing life under six Sovereigns, Mr. Porter has some-interesting; history to tell. His earliest memory is of himself standing between his father's legs on the roadside when two men galloped up, and brought the news of tho British success at'the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815. Saturday'was the-principal' market day in Norwich, and it beldom passed without a prize-light with bare knuckles. Cockfighting took place, bulls were frequently baited, and dog-lighting was almost a national sport. About 1819 "dandy horses," large clumsy \voo(lbn bicycles, made their appearances. . They, were poor things, however, and were soon dropped. He remembers some great hangings that took place about that time, eight men being executed one morning at tlio samo hour for various offences. The laws were severe in those days, and death was the punishment for forgery, horse-stealing, sheep-stealing, burglary, and highway robbery. In one case he particularly remembered a man being sent to Botany Bay for seven years for stealing a pair of 'slippers. Talking recently about the old days in England when, George 111 was King, lie. said ho remembered the rebuilding of Buckingham Palace, and the erection'of the Marble Arch, which vas afterwards removed to Hyde Park. lie knew tho Duke of Wellington by sight, and frequently saw him mounted on a pony.