NOTABLE CAREER ENDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 1 September 1928, Page 2

NOTABLE CAREER ENDS

DEATH OF MR. W. LAIRD OLD MARINE ENGINEER A career which opened in the days of “wooden walls” was ended with the death yesterday of Mr. AN illiam Laird at his home in Norfolk Street, Ponsonby, at the age of 87. He was formerly superintending engineer to the Northern Steamship Company. Born at Dundee, Scotland, in IS4O, Mr. Laird’s parents took him to America when he was an infant, lie was an engineer apprentice with C. E. Delamaker and Company, of New York, being employed there when the war between the Northern and Southern States commenced. He was one of the men employed in the construction of the Monitor, one of the two first iron-sided vessels in the world. Before coming to the Dominion, Mr. Laird’s mother had her attention drawn to a newspaper advertisement inquiring for heirs of Mr. Robert Fyffe, who had been drowned off Cape Campbell, New Zealand, leaving a sheep run in the Nelson district. Mrs. Laird’s maiden name was Fyffe and she established her relationship as a sister of the deceased man, inheriting about £IB,OOO. Mrs. Laird, who was a widow, came to New Zealand with her family, arriving at AVellington toward the end of 1862, Mr. W. Laird going to Kaikoura to take charge of the farm, which was later sold. He entered the service of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company, but later took up land on the Waikato River, selling out and going to Thames, where he was manager of the battery of the Caledonia Gold Mining Company. In 1872 Mr. Laird came to Auckland and with the late Captain McGregor purchased the Rowena, one of the vessels around which the present Northern Steamship Company was formed. When the company was formed Mr. Laird continued in its service as chief engineer on the AVellington, Clansman, Argyle, lona, Gairloch and other steamers trading around the coast. Mr. Laird claimed to be the last of the original shareholders of the company and also that he was the oldest marine engineer in New Zealand, Mr. G. Laird. Norfolk Island, and ISC3. He retired from the position of superintending engineer in 1909, having spent 36 years in the company’s service. For a time he was Lloyd’s surveyor in the port. He was actively interested in Freemasonry and was a very early member. Mr. Laird is survived by his wife, who is 72 years of age, four sons, Messrs. C. R. J. and H. Laird, Auckland, Mr. C. Laird. Norfolk Island, and five daughters, Mesdames E. Bowring. P. Carter and AAh Brown, and Misses Harriet and Henrietta Laird, all of Auckland.