A FINE OLD COLONIST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 284, 10 May 1915, Page 7

A FINE OLD COLONIST.

THE LATE MR. JAMES LIVINGSTON. Til.; late ih'. James -Livingston, who died m-ar IJinvm on Friday, was' born in Kirkciidlu igiit-shire, Scotland, on Kcbmary 7, Ifi-IU, and was brought up to a country life. Jle was -induced to ivy Jlis loituc in this iar-oi'i end of the Empire at a comparatively eur,y ago, and arrived ill Auckland in 18.")!). So far a. t we .arc aware the only shipmate with whom liu kept in touch was the late Air. Reuben h\ Jiitc, whose death look place a few weeks ago. Xnv .-aUei's in those (lays liail to turn their hands to anytiling that oifered, and t \uung Livingston, wit.i plenty ol common sense, ol great jm.vsical strength, and industrious 111 hab.ts, soon found plenty of won; to 00. in a short time ire hear of him in the Koad.i Department of the Colonial .Service, and we think he worked in that capacity in i iawke's Hay; later on he was one of the overseers in the construction of the Wanganui town bridge, liut his destination was the land. Whether he was farming in 1 linvke s Ray we are not aware, but in )S(i7 he came'to Taranaki, probably in connection with the roading work then going on. In 18li7 he made his first purchase of land as Olrnwc. At that time the native coin tingent was encamped there, soon to complete their term of enlistment anil -become entitled cadi to a rural section of Hit acres and a town section, which they w ere anxious to turn into cash at the earliest possilile moment. In fact, many had sold in anticipation. liut later on Air. Livingston pure la-ed three of these rural sections, and the-,- became the nucleus of the Waipapa, or, as it is now known, the fokaora estate, in his Upid purchases he was associated with ..Mr, -McMichael, who, however, left the distrct at a. comparatively early date, and who is rciiienibored only by very few of the earlv settlers. ' But lm.ving land in Taranaki in those dav-» was not attended with any certainty that in the immediate future it could be occupied as a .'.mine. !ilr. Livingston wa 3 soon to discover thisf. in lfiliS he returned to Uawkes Ray, and with Mr. MeMicharl ami two employees he brought over ]sso sheep and six horses, and in .March took possession, in .May, Titokowaru appeared on the scene aiid helped himself to some of the horses, and in June tile war, which had been threatening for some time, broke out, being declared in the native fashion by the killing ol" three settlers living in the bush near l\\ ailu—Messrs Squires, Cahill and Clark—and several days later a trooper was also killed. Settlers at once had to abandon their homes, and if houses had been ibuilt these were speedily burned down by the natives. .Many persons volunteered to serve in the colonial forces, and of those Mr. Livingston was one. Ilc> was with the local forces, of which the headquarters at that, time were at \\ aihi redoubt, about a mile to the south-west of Normanby. Attacks were made from here upon the native positions, and it was from here that went the ill-fated expedition which met with so sad a reverse on September 7th, ISBS. it is not necessary to restate the story of Te-Xgutu-o-te-Manu, but iM!r. Livingston's part in it cannot be overlooked. He "was one of those who materially assisted to bring out the remnant of the force. Colonel 'Roberts' report saows what a perilous trip it was. lie bad to silently push back to Waingongoro, halting at dark til! the moonlight'came, and getting back to Wahi about S o'clock next morning. In bis despatch Colonel Roberts said: "1 beg to mention the cool and g-allant conduct of Volunteer Sergeant Livingston, to whose untiring efforts: I owe in a great measure my being able U) Hiring the womuled through the ibush." (Mr. John Rlyiln 'is the only other survivor in this district of the party.) Not till 1013 did Mr. Livingston get the .\'.Z. war medal, and then only by the agitation of friends, for he would never personally make application for it, and personal application had been mad;' a condition precedent to its grant by the Defence authorities. After the Avar, when matters settled down, .Mr. Livingston returned to his farm, and gradually, by ! occasional purchase's, he acquired a good sized holding. Population came but slowly, and Mr. Livingston was certainly the chief man of the district, and very few people here know how great an influence ii(: -had. if neighbors had disputes about fencing or straying, cattle, or the hundred and one things the people often do dispute about in sparsely settled districts, the usual course was to "go and see Livingston,'' and his arbitration, accompanied by generous hospitality, was gem.rally accepted without a murmur. Curiously, in later \iears, when the Te 'Whiti trouble arose, it was at Mr. Livingston's that the Maoris formally asserted their rights to the confiscated land bv taking their ploughs and horses and turning over the lawns in front ot his residence; and when townspeople of Ilawera and the settlors all round, impatient at the slowness of the Government authorities, decided to take matters somewhat into their own hands and form what they facetiously dubbed "a republic,'' .Mr. Livingston was- by acclaim made "president." As a fact the rough organisation virtually settled the difficulty for the time ibeing by quietly putting the -Maoris and t'icir ploughs into their own carts and depositing them across the AYaingongoro, which at that

time was regarded as the boundary line between European and Maori. In' later years '.Mr. Livingston took his part in the local government, of the country, serving on various local bodies, and there was a time when lie was pressed liard to enter public life in a broader arena, but iiv could not lie persuaded to do so, preferring to live tin* quiet, life of a farmer, following as one of his hobbies gardening and fruit-growing, iu vvMc.h 110 retained unabated interest till the day of his death, as will have been gathered from reports which from time, to time have appeared of his entertainment of the agricultural and orchard classes in connection with the Ilawera Technical School.

It will lie r,emeinl>ered that a little over a year ago, wlien .Mr. Livingston attained liis 71th birthday, there was a great gathering of liis friends from all over the Dominion, and he was made the recipient of an address and presentation. This notice nia\| fittinjrlv elosej with Hie I'oncludintr words of the ad-! dress: the value of your life to the district, we hope that von may he lonjj spared to,, live and move amongst ih as in the past, our esteemed friend and honored neighbor, .still justifying the saying, 'Man is made to he kind, and obiij.'injr, and therefore when Jie do:'s a <j;ood action and proves serviceaide to the world lie fulfils the e.ud of his heiii!.: and attains his own reward.'" The hope therein expressed of a much longer Pie \v;is ni>i realised, hut the sentiment:-; ; expressed as to tile honorable usefulness of Mi*. I.ivimj-f u iu\ lile remain ;is a comfort to his .sorrowing family. The |ate Mr. Uviuj*>ton leaves a i tirown-up family—Mrs. J, il. Paker and Inn unmarried daughter, Fred, ! Cny and Heathcote l/i\inn-ton.—Hawera I Star.