PIONEER PASSES

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3267, 24 May 1943, Page 5

PIONEER PASSES

50 YEARS AT WAITEKAURI GREAT FAITH IN DISTRICT MR FREDERICK J. N. BUTCHER ‘ The, death occurred at the Waihi hospital last Tuesday .of Frederick James Nichol Butcher, who for al- . most fifty years had resided at Waitekauri. He was 68 years of age. Born in the County of Chester, Eng-land, Mr Butcher came to New , Zealand with his parents when quite a child in the sailing ship Dragon, landing at Lyttelton in June, 1884. The voyage took 98 days from Graves- . end. After residing in Lyttelton for a short time, his parents took up land close to Fielding which they farmed for a few years, then going to the East Coast. When still in his ’teens, . Mr Butcher went to the goldfields, settling in Waitekauri and making his home with the Gordon family; and in 1902 he married the • eldest daughter of the late Mr Thomas Gordon. He took a keen interest *in all mining matters and was a manager of several claims in the Waitekauri district during the mining boom. Until his death he was always convinced that the Waitekauri goldfields would flourish once more.

Mr Butcher was a member of the Waitekauri Fire Brigade in the early days, and was a foundation member of the Waihi Oddfellows’ Lodge. He took a keen interest in all sports, being a member of the Ohinemuri Jockey Club yjjiose race meetings he was never known to miss.. He always enjoyed the best of health, his only sickness being the result of an accident which he met with on the Waitekauri road some eight years ago, and he worked right up to his death. Mrs Butcher predeceased! him by fourteen years, is survived by two daughters, Mrs G. Karl,of Ohaupo, and Mrs Z. Parker, of Paeroa. There are eight grandsons and one grand-daughter. Some indication of the esteem in which the deceased was held was shown by the number of mourners who attended the funeral, which left *the Waihi Presbyterian Church for the Waihi cemetery on Thursday afternoon. The Rev. T. A. Speer conducted services both in the church

and’ at the graveside. Reference to the death of Mr Butcher was made at the monthly meeting of the Waihi Borough Council on Wednesday evening, when the Mayor, Mr W. M. Wallnutt, moved! that a vote of sympathy and condolence be extended to the ex-deputy-Mayor, Mr C. F. Butcher, a brother, and other members of the family of deceased. The late Mr Frederick Butcher, said Mr Wallnutt, had been well-known in these parts for nearly fifty jyears and had been closely associated with the welfare of the district, whose interests he had always had at heart. Mr Butcher had been manager of several mines in the Waitekauri area and in this connection he (the speaker) had often been in touch with him. His genial personality had endeared him to a wide circle of friends. The motion was carried in the usual manner, and the Mayor, councillors, town clerk and other officials were among those who attended the funeral.