DEATH OF MR BURTON BOYS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9030, 22 February 1908, Page 5

DEATH OF MR BURTON BOYS.

CLOSE OF AN INTERESTING LIFE.

The death of Mr Burton Boys, of Lansdowne, which occurred early yesterday morning, removes one of the Wairarapa's earliest and most respected settlers. In the early sixties the deceased gentleman took up his residence on an estate of some 150 acres at West Taratahi. Along with the old pioneers he saw some stirring times, as the Maoris were troublesome, and the late Mr Boys was a member of one of the earliest Volunteer corps which were formed to suppress native disturbances. The deceased gentleman's brother was also a prominent figure in Grey town Volunteer circles, in connection with which he held a captaincy. The late Mr Boys came of-an old English family, and he was a good class of Englishman—upright to a degree, and proud of his nation and its men. He was engaged in farming pursuits on his place at Taratahi for many years, and identified himself closely with local body politics and the wider spheres of public life. He twice contested the Wairarapa seat unsuccessfully—against the late Mr H. Bunny and Mr W. C. Buchanan. He held a commission as a Justice of the Peace, an I, also, occupied the position of Chairman of the late Taratahi-Carterton Road Board. Combined with his numerous good qualities he possessed an exceptionally keen memory, and few men could converse more fluently and relate more interesting anecdotes than the late Mr Boys. He vyas brimful of good spirits, and was never happier than when entertaining a friend with stories of earlier days and public men. It will be readily conceived that as a maker of Wairarapa's early history he had plenty of scope for his talents, and these he exercised to the utmost. Always radiant with perennial sunshine, he made very many friends, and he showed wonderful fortitude in late years against the increasing infirmities inseparable from old age. It was some eighteen years ago that the late Mr Boys first came to reside at Mastcrton. He had built a residence at Taratahi, and this he disposed of to Mr W. li. Allen. For a while he carried on an agency business, but finally retired to the seclusion of his home, "Dormerton," at Lansdowne. He was extremely fond of pigeons, and it was once a familiar sight to see him from the road in his pigeon loft, with a cloud of his pets flying overhead. The late Mr Boys, who was predeceased by his wife some years, was seventy-six years of age. He had five children —two daughters and three sons. Two of the latter are farming in the Forty Mile Bush, and one daughter was the late Mrs Meenken, of Carterton. The funeral will leave "Dormerton," Lansdowne, at 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon.