Death of Mr James Farmer

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2110, 14 June 1898, Page 2

Death of Mr James Farmer

Death has once more been busy in our midst. This time an old aettler in the person of Jerries Farmer, of Manawaru, has been, gathered to his fathers, at the ripe age of 75. Mr Farmer, well-known as a pioneer iii what wos called in the early days the To Aroha West, district, was a Hampshire man by birth and arrived via New Zealand, in ; the' sixties, 'after visiting the'Dnited States of America whore ho had two married dnpgbfceis livmfl - H e whs h fihbspeoime#df'riio hearty, energetic, resolute English ‘emigrant—a class fast dying put in this effeminate age—a class whose now rapidly thmuing rants formed 'ihe backbone of New Zealand in the troublous times now happily passed away,, let us’hope, for ever, It is to m m of the late James Farmer’s stamp that we owe the solidarity of this colony to-day, It is only the AngloSaxon race that produces such men. James Farmer was essentially a man of .c,ion—one,of those silent workers that goi out from, our cities and cn”ye Homes fdr in the Such men ere the;, genuine buiiderß of British colonies, the world ever. He had not the gift of words, but none a keener eye to the possibilities of a country, nor. more grit and resolution to develop them. It is Some thirteen years ago now since he settled down in what is now known as Manawaru, and ho has seen that flourishing setti*> | ment grow up, as it were, under h’s eye. The*last thing he interested himself in was o btaining a Post Office for Manawaru, we beliove. He took no active part in politics, in which he was a broad minded Liberal; neither" had parochial affairs much -attraction for him, Like his class he was a man of few sympathies; but those he had were, deep and abiding. He lived to see his family grow hp around ;hiin; and prosper exceedingly, and in that he aaked Ho more of Providence ; .save the peaceful end that came to him on Monday morning may be found, perhaps, his most appropriate epitaph. He leaves a widow and a large family to .mourn his loss. The funeral leaves 'The farm-stead at Manawaru to-mor-row-at 1.30 fo* Hie To Aroha West Cemetery. v . ’ ..