DEATH OF MR. W. COOPER

Gisborne Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1448, 8 May 1905, Page 2

DEATH OF MR. W. COOPER

i Quite a gloom was cast over tire town on Saturday morning when the. death o{ Mr ffm. Cooper, of Wainui, was announced, deceased having been one of the earliest Bettlers in Poverty Bay, and a man who was highly esteemed throughout the district. The dags on the mercantile buildings and the Viotoria belfry were flown at half-mast,and general expressions of deep regret in regard to the death of one who had been such a useful member of the community could be heard on all sides. ! Deceased had bean in a low state of health for some months, and recently returned , from America, whore he had been chiefly • for the benefit of his health, and partly to acquire information in reference to oil prospecting, in which he was deeply interested. Mr Cooper was for many years a member of the County Council and Harbor Board, and his death will cause a vacancy on the latter. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand of a 'recent date gives the following skotah ot his life Mr Cooper was born at Bradford, in Yorkshire, on the 23rd March, 1845, and arrived in New Zealand in January, 1856, with his father, mother, and four brothers. Ho assisted his father on land taken up by him about nine miles from Wellington until 1858, when his father | was accidentally killed by a falling tree. At the age of 12, young Cooper then started out into the world on his own account, and worked a 8 farming for some of the first settlers at the Hutt. Not caring for husbandry, he struck out in 1861 for the Wairarapa district, and was for about three years on a cattle station, where he gained a practioal knowledge of stook, together with bush work and fencing. In 1864, Mr Chew, one of the oldest residents of Masterton, took up a blook of 5000 acres in the Tiraumea distriot, and offered Mr Cooper the management, if he would first gain a year orj two’s experience of sheepfarming. With Shis in view, he worked for about throe years as a shepherd on the Plat Point station, andm 1867 took [ over the management of Mr Chew’s property, which he carried on for about 13 months. An opportunity then occurred to carry out his long-cherished ambition of being his own master, and in partnership with an old fellow shepherd, Mr John Cross, he took up 4000 acres or unbroken country, nearly adjoining the property lately managed by him. In 1874 a satisfactory sale of the estate was made to Mr Grant, a gentleman from Otago, and the partnership, was dissolved. Mr Cross took up another rnn at Wharehama, and Mr Cooper went north to Poverty Bay. which was then practically a now distric

with its capabilities unknown. Ho thorp took up two runs o£ 7000 and 12,000 acres respectively, and waa well on the high road to fortune, when the failure of the City of Glasgow hank threw him back almost to his original starting point, However, with ijhe stout heart which had been hitherto the main secret of his success, he again put his shoulder to the wheel. He first took up the lease of about 1150 acres at Wainui, where he established the home ho has since occupied, and acquired the freehold. Mr Cooper afterwards acquired the Puatai estate, of 4200 acres, on the coast, and an inland station of about 8000 acres. Notwithstanding the troublesome timr„s, that Poverty Bay wont through owing to defective native land laws, Mr Cooper acquired titles, either on his own account or for others, to over 100,000 acres of land, and obtained a very valuable and extensive knowledge of this business, in which he ha.s always beou largely interested. In common with others, he took

an active part in endeavoring, against heavy odds, to gat the existing land laws in a good working form. Mr Cooper was connected with the endeavor to develop the petroleum oil industry in Poverty Bay from its initiation in the latter part of 1874, soon after his advent here, and he still heldl at the time of his death eomo of the oil-bearing land, and was saoguine that, sooner or Inter, a valuable result will be achieved with it

At the Holy Trinity Church last evening the Ilsv. Daw3oa Thomas made feeling reference to the death cf Mr Cooptri whom he spoke of as a man with a warm heart and one possessed of a strict regard for duty. Decoasod would, he was sure, be grea'ly missed throughout the district. The funeral will take place on Wednesday next.