People we know

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 21, 19 August 1893, Page 7

People we know

Under Uiis title we intend to publish from time to time sketches of our local public or business men. We will leave to our bigger and older contemporaries the work of bringing before their readers the notabilities of the world, the men who have sought the bubble reputation at the cannon’s mouth and suchlike, and content ourselves with forming a portrait gallery of the people who have lived and worked amongst us for years, and who have had somewhat to do with advancing the prosperity of the town and district.

The subject of our first sketch, Mr D. McEarlane, occupies the position of Inveroarcargills chief magistrate, and is well-known throughout the district. He comes of a hardy ■ race, having been born in 1841 at Linlithgow, Scotland, where his father (now a hale and hearty veteran of 77) carried on a bakery business for a number of years. When about thirteen Duncan went to Stirling, where he learned his father’s trade. Eeaching his sixteenth year, he determined, like many another adventurous lad before him, to seek his fortunes in the colonies. He sailed lor Victoria in 1857 in the good ship General Wyndham, on which he worked his passage in the capacity of steward. On reaching the distant Eldorado, he tried his hand at a digger’s life, following a number of rushes, and experiencing a full share of the vicissitudes that fell to the lot of the seekers after the precious metal. In 1863 an important event in his career occurred- —hs took a partner for life, and settled at Kangaroo Elat, Ballarat, where he combined baking with farming, and established a profitable business, in 1871 the country was visited by heavy floods, and Kangaroo Elat did not escape, the dams erected by the miners bursting and wrecking a large number of buildings, among them all Mr McFarlane’s premises, together with his plant and property. Everything was swept away in one night, and Hr IVld arlane and his family with difficulty escaped with their lives. Nothing daunted, he selected a site on higher ground on the other side of the road, and there erected a fresh group ot buildings at a cost of about £IBOO. An idea of how property afterwards depreciated may be gathered from the fact that he sold them all for £2OO when leaving, although the fruit and shelter trees planted had in the interim nearly doubled in value. He next gave Gippsland a turn, but it proved too slow for a man of his active \ temperament, and in 1878 he left for New ■ Zealand, settling in Invercargill with his wife and olive bi’anches, then eight in number. Eor some time after their arrival the ground was covered with snow, and the prospect was anything hut encouraging for the new-comers, and if our worthy mayor had not acted on the advice of his better half, Invercargill might have lost a good baker and a valuable citizen. One redeeming feature about the place in the eyes of the travellers •was the fact that it was mainly a Scottish settlement, so that they felt that they were, so to speak, among their “ain folk.” Engaging soon after his arrival in the bakery business, Mr McEarlane is now at the head of an extensive concern, including the well-known Coffee Palace. He has prospered in business, and we feel sure he will not quarrel with the statement that for this some credit is also due to Mrs McEarlane — women’s rights must not be overlooked nowadays. From the first Mr McEarlane formed a very high opinion of the resources and natural advantages of the district, and he is very sanguine as to the future of our town, whose claims ho advocates unweariedly. Though a busy man, he has found time for the discharge of the duties pertaining to good citizenship, and has filled not a few offices with acceptance. Eor nearly a quarter of a century he has taken a prominent part in Masonic matters, having been W.M. of the Talbot Lodge in Victoria in 1877, and one of the founders of the Victoria Lodge, 1.C., in Invercargill. He was also N.G. of the Pioneer Lodge of Oddfellows. A.C., of this town, and while in' Victoria twice held the position of C.K., of a Foresters’ Court. He has also been connected with local hospital management for the last ten years, and is the senior member of the present Board of Trus-

tee*, of which he was chairman for a time. School committees and licensing benches have also had a good share of his time, and the Borough of North Invercargill had the benefit of his services, first as a councillor and afterwards as mayor, for a number of years. In 1878 he entered the Invercargill Borough Council, was re-elected unopposed in 1891, and in November last was chosen Mayor of the borongh by a substantial majority. Early in the present year he had as mayor to do the honours on behalf of the citizens on the occasion of the visit of Lord and Lady Glasgow, the Earl and Countess of Hopetoun, and the Countess of JKintore, and acquitted himself to the satisfaction of all, discharging the duties incumbent on him with characteristic energy and “ go.” Now that the general elections are approaching, our reporter saw no harm in putting what the lawyers call a leading question to Mr McFarlane as to his intentions regarding his reported candidature for-Parliamentary honours, whereupon Mr McEarlane frankly stated that, although lately pressed to do so he had no intention at present to woo the electors in that capacity. That “at present ” is decidedly diplomatic.