CANTERBURY PIONEER PASSES

Shannon News, 11 April 1928, Page 3

CANTERBURY PIONEER PASSES

MRS MARY JANE SEIFERT

There passed away yesterday at Rangiora another of New Zealand s earliest settlers in the. person ot Mrs Mary Jone Seifert, mother of Seitert brothers so well known in connection with the development of the nax industrv in/the Dominion- The deceased lady/ who was 83 years of age, was born in London and came to New Zealand 67 years ago in the ship William Miles, landing in Lyttelton in 1861. She settled in North Canterbury before the first railway or the first post office was ouilt, and two years later, married the late John Herman Seifert. The young pioneers spent the first years of their married life on Kaiapoi Island, at the mouth of the Waimakariri river, and those who know the vagaries of that waterway can well imagine that: life in the early days on the island was not. all luxury. There were frequent floods, and communications .with the nearest town wore very primitive; It was on this island that the five eldest members of the Seifert family were born. Later the home was shifted to Loburn, and twenty-one years ago Mrs Seifert moved into Rangiora where she resided until her passing yesterday. The deceased lady was the possessor of an extraordinary keen mind and a vigorous and independent disposition, and her intellect remained remarkably clear almost to the day of her death. Her interest in the affairs of life never flagged and it was that same spirit of enterprise and initiative which inherited by her sons made them the outstanding .figures in the development of the flax industry in New Zealand. Of the seven sons, six are still living. They are: Messrs Herman (Rangiotu), •George (Hamilton), Frederick (Morrinsville), Alfred (Palmerston North), Walter (Feilding), and Louis (Palmerston North). The youngest' son Robert died in South America about four years ago. The daughters are Mrs A. Scott (Southbrook, Canterbury), Mrs J. A. McLeod (Palmerston North), and Mrs J) Gillespie (Auckland). There are 28 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. ■ '