ALMOST A CENTENARIAN.

Shannon News, 30 November 1928, Page 3

ALMOST A CENTENARIAN.

ANOTHER OF THE OLD PIONEERS , PASSES AWAY. ME FRIEND HOOK, IN HIS lOOtli YEAR, Another of the oldest of the pioneers of the Wellington province passed jnvav yesterday in the person of MiFriend'Hook, who died at the residence of his daughter Mrs Robert Hooker, of 30 Worcester Street, Palmerston N., in his hundredth year. , The late Mr Hook was born in Kent in IS2O, and oame out to New Zealand in the Coromandel with h'is mother, arriving in Port Nicholson in 1840. Ilis mother, Mrs Beninett-Hook, was a widow with three children. On board the Coromandel she met a widower with two children, Mr Steven Pilcher, whom she married shortly after tlieir arrival in New Zealand Port Nicholson in those days w r as composed of a group of primitive mud huts. As a boy, Friend Hook, had to sell wood or home-made brooms to eke out a precarious living. Schools were not thought of in those stirring times. With the outbreak of the Maori War, young Hook joined the militia and served rigid through the campaign. the age of 33 years he married Miss' Taylor and settled in Tawa Flat near Wellington. He took part in. the gold rush at Gabriel’s Gully with moderate success, later returning to carve out his home and farm from the virgin bush that eveiywhete covered Tawa Flat in those early days. For close on forty years he was foreman on that stretch of road between Johnsonville and Tawa Flat, working on the road all day and attending to the milking of his herd of cows morning and evening. During his long and strenuous life he saw Port Nicholson grow into the city of Wellington and 'Cobbe’s coach give way to the Maiuwvatu railway and the motor. He retired from liis ’farm in. Tawa. Flat twenty years ago to live in Levin ana eventually went to live with his daughter in Palmerstton North four years ago. The late Mr Hook enjoyed wonderful health despite his ripe old age. His right leg, injured about forty years ago by a cart, a.t times gave him considerable pain, but despite this he was always able to get about. Only a fortnight ago, he walked from his home in Worcester Street to the Square and back againr He was present at the last day of the Royal Show and contracted. a chilly which undoubtedly 'hastened the end. He became seriously indisposed last Friday and was taken to the Palmerston North hospital, but implored to be allowed to return home on Sunday. Throughout his brief illness he was' very cheerful and he retained his faculties right up to about an hour before the end, which came peacefully yesterday evening. Like most of the pioneers, Mr Ilbok had a large family, there being seventeen children of' which sixteen lived to maturity. There are still twelve surviving, seven sons and five daughters. The sons are Messrs George Hook (Shannon), Henry Hook (Linton), Thomas Hook (Porirua),, Walter Hook (New Plymouth), Isaac Hook (Levin), Arthur Hook (Waikato), and Albert Hook (Wellington). The daughters are Mrs R. Hooker (Palmerston North), Mrs L. Wilton (Mas'terton), Mrs G. Bayliss (Tawa Flat-t), Mrs E. Ingram (Feilding), aind Mrs A. Hyde (Buhnythorpe). There are also sixtysix grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren. The late Mr Hock celebrated his 99th birthday on November 14th and was thus in his 100th year.

MR 0. C. NATION.

Early on Wednesday, Mr W, C; Nation, of Levin, 1 ' received a telephone message conveying the sad news that his only son, Mr Charles C. Nation, had passed’away at Raetihi, where he had been in business as a newspaper pro prietor for some years. He had been in , ill-health for some weeks and recently entered a private hospital fo) treatment, it being thought that a long rest would restore him to health. He was reported to be slightly better yesterday, but collapsed early this morning and never rallied. The late Mr Nation was born in Christchurch, and removed with his parents successively to Greytown and Shannon. At an early age he followed the tradition of his family by en tering the- printing _ and newspaper business in which his father and grandfather had been engaged, and with Mr W. C. Nation, he established the Manawatu Fanner at Shannon in 18£>3, also publishing there the Foxton Telegraph. Three years later, the,t moved to Levin and incorporated the then existing paper in the Farmer, of which the Chronicle is the present-day representative. The late Mr Nation, when the firm’s interests in Levin were disposed of, joined tlie staff of the Ohakune Times, and made such progress that he eventually purchased that journal and also took over the Waimarino County Call, published in the neighbouring town of Raetihi. He carried on these papers and the associated printing offices with so much ability that he built up a substantial and prosperous business, and came to be held in general esteem by his fellow townsmen. Warm sympathy will be, felt in Shannon for the bereaved family