THE POPULAR SQUIRE OF ORINGI

NZ Truth, Issue 1108, 24 February 1927, Page 6

THE POPULAR SQUIRE OF ORINGI

CERTAIN people hold that runholders . are pestiferous land monopolists who should without scruple be dispossessed of their broad acres. ' W. H. Gaisford is the owner of Oringi station, near Dannevirke, but he is so generally well-estee ■" ~~ x ~ survive . the extreme disqualification of being a big landed proprietor. The particular acres comprised m Oringi estate were once bush lands, but they are now some of the most smiling pastures of Bay. . ' The present owner is the son of the original pioneer. He is one of those fortunate young men who \ have' been born with the proverbial sliver spoon. Not m his generation fell the task of transforming 'the bush-clad slopes Into fertile grass lands. Nevertheless, it can safely be said that along with the fruits of past toil and enterprise he has inherited the sporting instincts of the old type of English country gentleman. Time was when Dannevirke was not the sedate and solid inland centre it is to-day.' It was once a. straggling bush

township, where stalwart, free-spend-ing and hard-drinking men knocked down their substantial cheques m wooden shops and hotels. Gaisford knows the primitive Dannevirke; he grew to manhood along with the steady emergence of the place itself from a bush township. ~ He is aware, for Instance, " how the British instinct for sport leavened the phlegmatic Norse element m the community and how this culminated m the formation of a racing club and other sports. .'...:.-•■ To-day. m the prime of life, he is the modern prototype of the old-time country squire. Like the squire of the Victorian novel he is the master of the local Hunt Club. In scarlet jacket and with hunting horn he looks and acta the part when there is- a meeting of the

hounds. . He Is a noted breeder and owner of racehorses; every follower of the game knows the performances of his great three-year-old, Commendation. A patron and supporter of not only racing, but other manly sports, he enjoys a wide esteem m the province of Hawkes Bay.