People we know

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 27, 30 September 1893, Page 6

People we know

One of f 1 10 pleasantest place? in the district for speiuli ,g a Wednesday afternoon in is the VVaikhvi Nursery, the property of Mr J. Lennie, whom wc found “at home” when we dropped in to take refuge from a recent dust storm on the North Hoad. Mr Lennie’s experience in the gardening line dates from a very earlv pc ra din his life. He was born in the parish <• Lu.-s, almost on the banks of Loch L m 1.0 i ut a few years later his father was ap ; 01 i'i for ester to the Dowager Duchess oi . ray e, at Ardci.eaple Castle, and the family shifted to Helensburgh After serving his apprenticeship here < r Lennie went to Jit ini burgh, and was engaged for a time in the ilotanic Gardens under Mr McNab, ami afterwards in the City Gardens, then in charge- of Mr Drown. A icw years later ho saw further service at Coliuton House, the property of I ord Dumferline, and next at Arc! go wan Douse, near Greenock, the scat of Sir Michael Shaw Stewart. He Was then appointed f reman of Lord Eglinton’s gardens at Jiglinton Castle, in Ayrshire, and when his employer was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Mr Lennie went with him to Dublin, and was f; reman of the vice-regal gardens for some time, pasting from that position to that of head gardener to Lord Bowcrseourt, Oe-unty Wicklow. After six years here, he made up his mind to try the new world, and after a run over to Scotland to see his friends, he sailed on the 10th June, 1862, from > ilasgow in the Kobert Henderson, the first direct passenger ship to the Bluff. The same vessel ou her succeeding trip brought out his future life partner, and in 1863 Mr and Mrs Lennie were married in the hostelry at Gladstone, the Eev. A. H. Stobo officiating. When the Kobert Hencler- - son sailed on her first trip she left eight days after the Hying -Mist, carrying sheep for the old Land ompany, and when she reached the Bluff it was to find that the Flying Mist, which had got in four days previously, had come to gm-i, and had been able to save comparatively few of her sheep. This was not a very cheerful spectacle, but the new arrivals were not left long to study their surroundings. Workers were in demand in those ante-unem-ployed dans, and Air Lennie was engaged as

gardener before he left the ship by JUr . Chalmers, then the Provincial Treasurer, and who' lived at Westbourne Bay Road, afterwards known as Kenilworth. -Lhe Bay Road of the present dav was then impassable, and it took our old friend, Mr T. Middleton, and his sturdy team of bullocks two or three days to get'through the Waikiwi Bush to Westbourne with the new comer’s stores and belongings. Stoppages to cut stumps were of frequent occurrence. Mr Lennie remained at ’Westbourne till the place was closed up owi„.r to the bursting of the wooden railway bubble, in connection with which Mr Chalmers had- contracted to supply some millions of sleepers. Mr Bennie next found himself at W'-mnoa as gardener to the late Mr If. McKcilar, and afterwards to Mr G. M. Bell, with whom he remained six years. Then followed ... snell at .’Switzers, from whence Mr Lennie r iur ied to Invercargill. Here he engaged a; storeman with Mr James Cooper, seedsman, until starting in business on his own account in 1886 and two years later taking over TOE 'WAIKIWI NURSERY, of which an illustration, showing one of the walks, is subjoined. Ihe ground forming the nursery consists of a block of nine acres, and was originally held by Mr J. Hill, contractor, who turned out here some of the first bricks made in Southland. He left his mark in the shape of a big excavation, but Mr Lennie some years ago c diverted this unsightly hole into a pond, with the orthodox islet in the middle,{round which a pair cf black swans may now he seen gracefully swimming, while weeping willows and other trees furnish appropriate foliage. Mr Lennie has had the whole of the ground brought under cultivation, and it is gratifying to learn that he finds a local market for all its numerous and varied products, and that the farmers of the district are becoming increasingly alive to the advantages derived from sun-ounding their homesteads with useful and ornamental trees and shrubs. The grounds are divided into a number of “ breaks,” or squares. “A place for everything, and everything in its place,” is evidently the guiding rule, and the result is that Mr Lennie and his assistants could find a particular shrub, tree, or fiower or fruit just as readily as a grocer or a draper an article on his shelves. The nursery is well supplied with hedges, its chief glory in this respect being a fine growth of holly fronting the North Road. Space is also found for a well-stocked greenhouse and vinery in short, the nursery lacks nothing that skill and experience can suggest. Mr Lennie finds occupation for a number of workers, and is ably assisted in the business by his three sons,, each of whom has charge of separate departments of work. In the summer the nursery frequently has a number of visitors, who find its walks a pleasant resort after a ride per tram car, and who find also ample material wherewith to satisfy their love of the beautiful in fruit, flower, and shrub. It only remains to add that Mr Lennie has done good service on the licensing bench, of which be is still a member ; that be has been connected with the temperance movement for nearly a score of years, and is the oldest P.C.B. of the Murihiku Tent, 1.0. R.; that he served the town as representative of the Third Ward in the Invercargill Borough Council for three years; and finally, that he was one of the founders of the Southland Horticultural Society, being associated in the work with Messrs Monkman, B. Miller, W. B. Scandrett, and the late Messrs J. Morton (taxidermist), H. Graham, and Dr Wilson.