William Henry Reeve, SNR

OBITUARY. - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19070221.2.17?query=...

William Henry Reeve, aged 97.

Another old pioneer and early settler of this district, in ths person of William Henry Reeve, passed awav at the residence of his neice at Newtown, Wellington, at 5 p.m. yesterday, at the great age of 97 years. He was among the early settlers in this district. The deceased first visited Wellington in 1839 as a member of the crew of the whaling brig Ann and Mary. -While taking in stores at the Chathams, the vessel was cast upon the rocks and wrecked. Mr Reeves settled on the, islands for a time. In 1841 he came to Wellington, where he marridl &nd' and returned to the Islands but left there after three years and returned, to Wellington. After a whaling cruise he resided at Jobnsonville for about 25 years subsequently removing to Foxton. He left here about six years ago. Mr Reeve only took to his bed last Tuesday. He leaves four sons and five daughters : Mrs Elizabeth Taylor Foxton ; Mr William Reeve, Pelonpus Sound ; Mrs Harriet King, Wellington ; Mrs Dewar, Foxloa ; Mrs Brightwell, Newtown ; Messrs John and Frank Reeve, Maslerton ; A. Reeve, Foxton ; and Mrs Dunbar, Tmbape. The deceased will be laid to rest by the side of his wife, who predeceased him about five years ago, in the Karon Cemetery.

Anglican Church, Johnsonville, Reeve buried there William donated the land on corner of his land for first Johnsonville school Land boundaries:

Ironside Road Moorefield and johnsonville road bill cutting place trafalgar st

Reeve Street, Foxton

William REEVE and Mary Fairbrass were married on 22 Jan 1841 in Wellington, but not St Paul's Cathedral Church Wellington New Zealand which wasnt built then. William and Mary were married in Wellington New Zealand when William came over from the Chatham Islands and chose a wife of the Slains Castle boat. Mary Fairbrass had a daughter with her and William became her step-father. REEVE:Robert Benjamin (1783–1861) HOWARD:Lidia (1789–1874) REEVE:William (1814–1907) United Kingdom:England:Suffolk:Orford William REEVE, son of Robert Benjamin REEVE and Lidia HOWARD, was born on 4 Mar 1814 in Orford, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.United Kingdom:England:Suffolk:St Mary:Dennington He was christened on 12 Jun 1814 at Dennington,St Mary in Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.New Zealand:Horowhenua:Foxton In 1869 he was a Farmer in Foxton,Horowhenua,New Zealand.25 Daniel Street Wellington New Zealand William died on 20 Feb 1907 at the age of 92 in 25 Daniel Street Wellington New Zealand. William passed away at the home of his grand daughter Elizabeth Harriet King the wife of Thomas J CarterNew Zealand:Wellington:Karori:Karori Cemetery He was buried on 23 Feb 1907 in Karori Cemetery, Karori, Wellington, New Zealand. William was a sealer/whaler who was on a trading brig 'Ann and Mary'(Ann Mary) "Captain Richards" whicharrive in New Zealand 1838 but was shipwrecked on the Chatham Islands in May 1839 just after the Maori had massacred and eaten the crew of the French whaler,"John Barr".The crew there and then squatted on the islands. (In 1835 two Māori groups, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga, invaded the Chatham Islands. They had left northern Taranaki with Dicky Barrett and his wife due to warfare, and were seeking somewhere else to live. Moriori decided to greet them peacefully, because they chose to obey Nunuku's Law and did not fight back, but the Māori killed more than 200 Moriori and enslaved the rest.) He then found his way to Wellington and boarded the "Slain's Castle"which arrived in Wellington on the 25th January 1841.It was the 11th vessel chartered by the New Zealand Company to transport immigrants to the "new" New Zealand Colony. On board was a 20 year old called Mary Fairbrass who he claimed for his wife. Mary had a two year old illegitimate daughter with her,Elizabeth Mary and it appears William accepted her as his own. "Northern Suburbs Community Newspaper Trust".On the 31st of May 1846. Frank Johnson sold just over 5 acres of his land to William Reeve for Sixty Pounds. This block was bounded on the north side by Ironside Road,to the east by Moore field and Johnsonville Roads,on the south by Bill Cutting Place,and the west by Trafalgar Street. This would have included the site of Mr Johnson's house.

The first State or Public School in Johnsonville was proclaimed in 1867 under the Province's Education Act of 1855.By the same Act Johnsonville was declared a School District. Ohariu Valley was also granted the same status. This act also provided for the election of a school committee. Land was already available,as William Reeve had deeded the section where the present Telephone Exchange is situated in Johnsonville Road,this was by way of a gift to Henry Taylor and Robert Bould in 1865,and half an acre of land was to be held in trust for the purposes of a common school at Johnsonville. The first school under the new arrangement was opened on the site in 1867,it is believed that this was the first State School to be opened in the country. Local government came in form of the Wellington Provincial Government's Local Boards Act of 1873.On the 21st September 1874 the locals went to the polls,and the first commissioners for the Johnsonville Local Board were Messes C. Austin,B. Reeve,T. Bowler,F. Taylor and W.H. Saunders. The board members sometimes met in the Ames Arms Hotel. (The above information was from "Up in the Hills"a history of Johnsonville by R.J. Meyer assisted by G. Halliday.Pub:Northern Suburbs Community Newspaper Trust 1990)

21st Feb 1907 A colonist with an exceptionally interesting career and record, passed away at the home of his granddaughter(Mrs Elizabeth Carter) in Daniel St Wellington yesterday,in the person of Mr Wm. Reeve,who was 97 years of age ,and a resident of New

Zealand for over sixty years. Mr. Reeve,who leaves a large family of five sons,four daughters,and 250 grand and great grand- children,was active and sensible up till the last,and his illness began only on the day before his death. He first went to sea in

1830,and until he settled down in Foxton in 1869 he was always responding to the call of the deep. The greater part of his life at sea was spent in hunting the whale,his cruises taking him all over the waters of the south pacific,and away into the extreme of the Behring Sea and the coast of Alaska. Then trading between Sydney and New Zealand at the end of the 1830's,Mr Reeve's ship a trading brig 'Ann and Mary' was wrecked on the Chatham Islands,and there he settled amongst the natives till 1844,broken only by a voyage to Wellington,where he married and returned to the Chathams. A trip to Tahiti, on a whaling ship Corinthian with the view to settling there,resulted in a whaling voyage of eighteen months as the French were found to be in possession and Mr Reeve cared only for the Union Jack. In 1846 he brought his wife and children to Wellington on the cutter "Ocean"Captain Coyle,and he had been only a fortnight in possession of 6 acres of land at Johnsonville when all settlers in the district were called into Wellington for safety,owing to the Maori's proving troublesome. When peaceful times returned,Mr Reeve went out to Johnsonville again. In 1849 Mr Reeve sailed on the"Tory'to Melbourne Australia seeking gold without any luck, so he served as a a steward on the "Tory" between Sydney and Melbourne for a time before he returned to Johnsonville and resided there until 1869,in which year he settled in Foxton,which he left eleven years ago to live with his relatives in Wellington.

William REEVE and Mary FAIRBRASS had the following children: REEVE:Elizabeth Mary Fairbrass (1837–1917) 8 i. Elizabeth Mary Fairbrass REEVE, born 3 Jul 1837, Canterbury, Kent, EnglandEngland:Kent:Canterbury ; married Frederick Benjamin TAYLOR, 29 May 1855, St Peter's Church Porirua Wellington New ZealandSt Peter's Church Porirua Wellington New Zealand ; died 25 Oct 1917, Levin, Horowhenua District Council, New ZealandNew Zealand:Horowhenua District Council:Levin .

REEVE:William Henry (1847–1927) 9 ii. William Henry REEVE, born 24 Mar 1847, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married Mary Ann MCGREGOR, 13 Oct 1870, Foxton,Horowhenua,New ZealandNew Zealand:Horowhenua:Foxton ; married Julia CAVANAGH, 7 Mar 1917, Blenheim, Marlborough, New ZealandNew Zealand:Marlborough:Blenheim ; died 2 Jun 1927, Deep Creek Blenheim New ZealandDeep Creek Blenheim New Zealand .

REEVE:Harriet Thursa (1849–1922) 10 iii. Harriet Thursa REEVE, born 16 Aug 1849, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married Edward John KING, 14 May 1866, St Pauls Mulgrave St Thorndon Wellington New ZealandSt Pauls Mulgrave St Thorndon Wellington New Zealand ; married Robert SCOTT, 26 Jun 1914; died 21 Dec 1922, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville .

REEVE:Robert (1851–1922) 11 iv. Robert REEVE, born 8 Aug 1851, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married Fanny ALLEN, 26 Dec 1881, Papakura, South Auckland, New ZealandNew Zealand:South Auckland:Papakura ; died 23 Aug 1922, Grey Lynn, Auckland, New ZealandNew Zealand:Auckland:Grey Lynn .

REEVE:Lydia (1851–1925) 12 v. Lydia REEVE, born 8 Aug 1851, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married Alexander DEWAR, 30 Jan 1873; died 27 Sep 1925, Palmerston North, Manawatu, New ZealandNew Zealand:Manawatu:Palmerston North . REEVE:Benjamin Fredric (1854–1864) vi. New Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville Benjamin Fredric REEVE was born on 22 Feb 1854 in Johnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand.New Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville He died on 15 Aug 1864 at the age of 10 in Johnsonville, Wellington, New Zealand.

REEVE:John (1855–1903) 13 vii. John REEVE, born 5 Nov 1855, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married May MATHEWS, 15 Jan 1873, New Plymouth,Taranaki,New ZealandNew Zealand:Taranaki:New Plymouth ; died 1903, New Plymouth,Taranaki,New ZealandNew Zealand:Taranaki:New Plymouth .

REEVE:Mary Ann (1857–1943) 14 viii. Mary Ann REEVE, born 22 Dec 1857, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married William Herbert BRIGHTWELL, 30 Oct 1873, Foxton,Horowhenua,New ZealandNew Zealand:Horowhenua:Foxton ; died 12 Mar 1943, Sydney,New South Wales, AustraliaAustralia:New South Wales:Sydney:Woollahra . REEVE:Arthur William (1859–1922) 15 ix. Arthur William REEVE, born 8 Sep 1859, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married Annie DUNN, 2 Jan 1890; died 14 Jan 1922, Foxton,Horowhenua,New ZealandNew Zealand:Horowhenua:Foxton . REEVE:Frank (1862–1893) 16 x. Frank REEVE, born 1 Mar 1862, Johnsonville, Wellington, New

ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married Elizabeth DONOVAN, 11 Oct 1887, Wellington,New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington ; died 1893, New ZealandNew Zealand .

REEVE:Florence Juliana (1864–1935) 17 xi. Florence Juliana REEVE, born 27 Sep 1864, Johnsonville, Wellington, New ZealandNew Zealand:Wellington:Johnsonville ; married William George TRASK, 19 Mar 1885, Foxton,Horowhenua,New ZealandNew Zealand:Horowhenua:Foxton ; married Charles DUNBAR, 1902, Rotorua, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, New ZealandNew Zealand:Bay of Plenty Regional Council:Rotorua ; died 22 Nov 1935, Rotorua, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, New ZealandNew Zealand:Bay of Plenty Regional Council:Rotorua .

REEVE:Jeremiah (1852– ) xii. Jeremiah REEVE was born in 1852.

PAPERS PAST: THE WILD OLD DAYS. NEW ZEALAND TIMES, VOLUME XXVIII, ISSUE 5804, 23 JANUARY 1906

PAPERS PAST: OLD WHALER'S EXPERIENCES HUTT NEWS, VOLUME 13, ISSUE 10, 9 AUGUST 1939

OLD WHALER'S EXPERIENCES

Probably the oldest colonist alive in this part of the world is William Reeve, who resides with his. daughter, Mrs. King, at No. 7 Burnham Street, Petone, Wellington. He is no ordinary man this fellow, who roved the colonial seas way back in 1838—before Wellington was Wellington— and who subsequently was married here on the day Wellington was established, 65 years ago. He will attain his 96 th birthday in June next, yet he can move about lively enough, has a pair of clear eyes that disdain the aid of spectacles to decipher print, and plays cards shrewdly. His compelxtion is wonderfully clear, his sound nerve is evidenced by the manner in which he shaves him Self, and his voice is that of a man of 40. The face of the man has that peculiar pink smoothness that comes at times with healthy old age, but his hands are history. They are almost fleshless—knotted, gnarled and corded. William Reeve arrived in Port Jackson (Sydney) in 1838,. one of the crew of the brig Ann and Mary. At Sydney the vessel was sold, and her new owner fitted her up for a trading cruise to New Zealand. She sailed from Sydney about February or March, 1838, in charge of Captain Richards, with Reeve in the crew. Wellington, or what is now Wellington, was the first port made, and a. pretty spot it was with the native bush extending' like a soft cloak of green from the hill-tops tothe water, with only a few insignificant clearing round the Maori settlements. There was no prospect of much business, so the Ann and Mary stood out to sea again, rounded Terawhiti, and cruised for a time about Kapiti and Mana. Receiving little encouragement to trade in safety, Captain Richards beat through the Strait again, and stood out east—away for the the Chatham Islands, then a whaling station of some importance, though even then not what it had been on account of the great, decrease that had taken place in the number of whales.

CANABALISM AT THE CHATHAM ISLANDS.

The Ann and Mary arrived at the Chatham Islands in May (1839) and the .first news they heard was that a French whaling vessel had been seized by the Maoris (who had previously come from New Zealand and almost demolished the Moriori population), and her crew had all been killed and eaten. Indeed some who came on board the brig were crippled and knocked about, the Frenchmen having made a bold fight before being overpowered. After the Maoris had rifled the French vessel Of everything of any value, they set fire to her close inshore, and what was not burned sank to the bottom of Whangaroa Bay. Reeve says that the Maoris had no idea of the use or value of money, a quantity of which they looted from the Frenchmen, and he purchased from a dusky chief a double-fist full of dollars for 18 pigs of tobacco —a deal the old man recalls with a chuckle. After doing some business and replenishing the lazarette with pigs and potatoes, preparations were made to sail for islands still more remote, but while the wind came up in fierce squalls from seaward the Ann and Mary commenced to drift towards the rocks. A second anchor was being lowered, but before it could be dropped the gallant Ann and Mary was on the rocks—at once her grave and monument. Of the scene that followed, Mr. Reeve relates a dramatic incident. There was no loss of life. Subsequently, when the gale abated, the crew was ordered to discharge the cargo. He was carrying a bale of blankets to the side of the vessel to drop it into the whaleboat alongside, when a Maori, who had got on board, and became excited at the scene, made at him with a tomahawk, and was about to prevent Reeve seeing old or even middle age, when the Maori's wife threw her mat over him, and act which caused her fierce spouse to desist. The incident had caused Reeve to drop the bale into the water, but it was recovered later on. After the vessel struck, the captain ordered Reeve to stave in the two casks of rum on board, fearing that the Maoris would get at the liquor and create trouble, but the next morning he repented and toid him to save as much as possible of it, so Reeve went on board only.to find that what spirit was left was well diluted with salt water. "I bottled it off, though," said the old man with a twinkle, "and we sold it afterwards to American whalers— sailors in those days didn't mind a little thing like that." Asked how it' was that the natives slaughtered the Frenchman and spared them, Reeve explained that Captain Richards had been down to the Chathams before, and was well known to the chief, who had visited Sydney. After everything was discharged, the brig was broken up, and out of her.timbers the crew constructed a house, in which they lived in comparative comfort for some time. On one occasion Reeve and two others set out for a ramble to the other side of the island. They reached a pah-not far away, and were walking leisurely through when they espied a native squatting gravely inside a whare by the track. At the same moment another Maori came, along the track. When .opposite the whare, he who was sitting within

LIFE ON THE CHATHAM ISLANDS.

strode out and smashed in' the skull of the other fellow, who fell dead almost at the feet of the pakehas. Then the murderer strolled back to the whare arid reseated himself as of he had only Been out to say "How are you?" It had been alleged that the dead man had "makutued" a relative of him in the whare, and the act of blood was apparently one of revenge. ISLAND LIFE. About Christmas time that year the owners of the lost Ann and Mary sent down a schooner from Sydney to look for their vessel and their crew, a son of Captain Richards being in charge. By this time the crew of the brig had become firmly settled. They, however, undertook to do some dealing on - outlying islands, whither they were conveyed in the schooner, being given a fortnight's provisions. As the schooner did not retunrfor a month, the sealing party had a pretty bad time, having to subsist on fish, shell-flsh, the eggs of the sea birds, and fathen (the earliest record of the muchdetested noxious weed), which when boiled made a substitute for vegetables. At the end of their stay on the sealing island they were to eating the flesh of shags!" About that time—early in 1840—a boat's crew, including Reeve, decided to settled on South-east Island, a home there and keep it going by growing potatoes and rearing pigs for sale to the whalers, who then called there frequently. To help them in their venture they took with them two or three Maoris-who had escaped the fury of the Maori raid, and these became willing slaves and worked well.

On Pitt's Island they discovered a couple of men—escaped convicts — who had fled from Tasmania, and had made their way to the islands. Schooners were now trading pretty regularly between Wellington and the Chathams, and early in January, 1841, Reeve took a -trip to this port." On January 22nd the ship Stain's Castle arrived, and he went on board at once to "pick a wife out," a mission of which he . was quite successful, and straightway was married—6s years ago to-day. There were no long engagements or spun-out courtships in those wild days. He took her to his home off the storm-beat Chathams, where they lived until early in 1844. Reeve had been told the wonders of Otahiti, and the roving spirit arising within him, he resolved to sail away. He contracted to sell his share of South-east Island, vith his home for £100, to one McClutchie— half to be paid in trade goods and half in cash (Captain William Gardiner McClutchie (1818-1855). The trade goods were lost by the sinking of a cutter (bound from McClutchie to Whangaro, . and so staggered was the gentleman with the charasteristic name, that he refuse.d to pay the cash —albeit he had assumed the part of the ownership of South-east Island. Reeve made for Wellington in search of justice. He waited on Mr. Brandon, who said he was not then practising, and then he saw a Mr Hugh CokeleyRoss (Hugh Ross of Cokeley, who was the surviver of NZ's last duel), who would not stir in the matter unless Reeve put up £10. This, he could not do, so that the property became forfeit to McClutchie.

The McClutchie does not die out of the story here, for on Reeve's return to the Chathams, a man named Ryan came on the scene. He had come down from. Sydney with a cow, McClutchie contracted to buy the animal, but failed to pay up, meanwhile having handed it over to the natives for safe keeping. . Ryan, exasperated, called for volunteers to rescue his cow, and Reeve made ore, feeling aggrieved at McClutchie's treatment of himself, and having made up his mind to go a-sailing again. Indeed at this juncture he had signed on the American whaler Corinthian,, then lying at Waitmgi. The party of cow-rescuers advanced on the pah, where they knew the cow to be, and there encountered McClutchie. He and Ryan got to hot words and Ryan, who was armed with a double-barrelled gun, fired and shot him in the arm and cleared off. McClutchie, who al*o had a double-barrelled gun, fired two shots without effect, and then rushed at Reeve with the butt end of the gun screaming, "Blood for blood." Reeve warded oil the blow and was then taken prisoner by McClutchie and his party. As they were marching him ofl they > r "ountered a search party from the Corinthian, who took McClutchie in charge, conveyed him on hoard and had the bullet extracted fr)'.n his arm. The captain offered tne natives half a keg of tobacco -T the cow when delivered, and in mighty short time it was on the beach, where it was slaughtered and placed

among the ship's stores, "and good beef it made," added our informant. It was South Pacific justice as then, understood.

The Corinthian sailed the next morning, and had not been long out when the crew struck a whale, which in turn struck the boat, smashing it up like matchwood. When one boat became injured, it seems it was the habit to ry and. transfer the line to the second boat, so as not to lose the whale. On. this occasion the mate (Portuguese) was in charge of the second boat, but instead of attempting tcr take the line he pulled away. This ■was the final act in a long-standing breach between the mate and the

skipper (a Nantucket mail), and afterwards the latter swore loud and high that he would have no more of that Portuguese. He sailed away for Sydney, where a new mate was shipped. AN ACT OP PIRACY, Before leaving the Chathams altogether, there is a story that should be told of the 1 lawlessness that prevailed in those wild days, particularly aboard ship. Either in 1842 or 1843, a vessel (Reeve could not recall her name) arrived in Wellington in charge of Captain Ellis, somewhat of a buccaneer, as things turned out. He was caught in the act of smuggling "stuff" ashore in a' pretty comprehensive style, and for this he wa.s about to be arrested, but escaped in a boat across to Cloudy Bay. His vessel was confiscated and fell into the hand 3 pf one Captain. Bell, who fitted her out for a whaling cruise. When ready he sailed away to Cloudy Bay, where Ellis was picked up, and in

the course of time arrived at Chathams, where Bell was well known. At Whangarao, Ellis, Bell and old "Bill" Anketell (who kept a store at Waitangi, across the bay), .got drinking, and "in the course of a quarrel Ellis struck Ankertell, who was as brother to Bell. Ellis, thinking that his action would prevent Bell taking him on any further in the vessel, became downright buccaneer. That night Bell aM the mate slept in Reeve's house. About midnight the latter was awakenec by his wife, who . said she aeard s boat coming ashore. Reeve jumpet out of bed and went to the gate, bu; could neither see nor hear anything so returned to bed. A little latei his wife again woke him and .'•aid she heard a gun-shot in the na'. He roused Bell up and the mate, who were about to put -off to their ship, when they found that their oars nad b.een removed from the boat, which was also stove in. The drama was revealed. Ellis had collected some malcontents ,and seized the vessel, having previously filled with rum all others not of a mutineering fracpe of mind (and tied their legs). It! transpired that the shot fired in the ' i

night was to' settle one of the faithful (Jimmie Green), who had not been so drunk as to fail to see what

was happening. As Captain Bell reached the beach the mutineers were unfurling the topsails, aud as the vessel slowly gathered way and slided past Fowl Point, Bell and the mate discharged their flintlock pieces at those about the deck, but without effect and the brig got clear away. The next day Bell, Reeve and the mate went over to see if the mutineers had plundered Ankertell's store at Waitangi, but they had not been there. Subsequently the loyal members of the crew were landed on South-east Island. It afterwards transpired that Ellis sailed to a place near the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand, where a man owed him some money. While ashore there news of the business at the Chathams leaked out, and Ellis and the crew were taken prisoners. A Government brig was sent from Wellington to the Chathams to collect evidence, and after a trial Ellis was sentenced to either five or seven years, and the crew also felt 'he iron hand of justice. There was : ■ mething suspicious about Bell, too, who, instead of waiting reasonable time at the Chathams for news of his purloined vessel, left the islands on an American whaler, and eventually reached Cape Colony. The supposition was that his hands were not too clean in the affairs of the ocean, and he took the first opportunity of leaving this part of the world. After arriving in Wellington from the Chathams in February, 1846, Mr. Reeve stayed a few days in the settlement, and then, having purchased six acres of land (the present site of Johnsonville) from Mr. Frank Johnston, after whom the place is named, he went to reside there. The price paid was £10 per acre, and the house then erected by Reeve still stands —on a section nearly opposite the hotel. On March Ist of that' year came the alarm that the Maoris on the West Coast had danced the war haka at the different Kaingas, preparatory to sweeping down on the settlement uoder Te Rauparaha. All the women and children were ordered to be brought into Wellington, and Reeve himself helped to build Che stockade raised on the lull at the side of the hotel—on Petherick's ground. Nothing transpired, however, and the women and children returned to their homes, under the impression that- military entrenched at Paremata had -stopped the Maoris in their raid. One evening, however, came a report that the

Maoris were coming in the morning, and all the women and children hurried into the stockade and sentries were posted along the road, keeping guard throughout the night.

Reeve had three pigs tethered in the fern near a sentry box in which old George Wall, of Porirua (still alive, but helpless with old age), kept guard. In the night one of the pigs got loose and ambled down the road. When near the sentry-box Wall sprang out, gave the challenge (which was only grunted at) and bayoneted the crawling enemy, which ran squealing into the fern, taking Wall's bayonet with it. It appears that a little time before a hoßtile native had scrawled up to the

sentry in the Hutt in "pig style" and had slaughtered him there and then. Wall was taking no risks. Alarms were frequent in those days. On one occasion a policeman named George Petherick had received leave to visit Johnsonville. He arrived at the settlement white and trembling with the story that he had been chased by the Maoris. The aiarm was given, and volunteers were called for to convey the news of the enemy's presence to Captain Clifford in Wellington, and Reeve made one of the quartet to run the gauntlet. Wellington was reached without mishap. The volunteers who accompanied on that night excursion to Wellington were Hobbs, Crackell and Lockyer, whose descendants may still be in the Dominion. Fighting, however, never took place at Johnsonville then or since that date.

LATER RECOLLECTIONS. Reeve tells of the Branks tragedies in 1849. The Branks family— man, wife and three children—lived at the half-way house, about a mile on the Porirua side of Johnsonville, where they were clearing a site ""or a home. One day Branks was felling a tree when his wife came in his direction in search of a cow. He told her to stand clear as the tree was a large one and about to fall. In its descent the big tree lodged in the fork of a smaller one, which bent like a bow beneath the weight. Gradually" the great tree worked itself free of the smaller one, which, straightening .caught up a piece of timber, and hurled it with full force at Mrs. Branks, breaking both her legs. Reeve was one of those who

helped to carry the poor- creature to hospital, which was then situated on Thorndon flat (the present site of the Girls' High School), where she died from shock. . Subsequently Branks worked for a Mr. Drake, and was living in one of that settlers's houses when another grim tragedy befel. It was Branks's habit to read the Bible each evening before he went to bed, but one morning he failed to turn up to work and someone went to find him at his home.

They found him lying in a pool of blood inside his house, with his brains scattered round the apartment .still clasping in his rigid grasp his worn copy of the Scriptures. Further search found Branks's three children stiff and stark in their gore abed. Branks; it appeared, had harboured and fed a Maori ,who had recently been imprisoned for some offence, and. he was seeking revenge for his incarceration. - It came out afterwards that the people coming home from chapel had seen the native coming from the direction of Branks's house that night, and further evidence showed that he had been seen

washing himself (ah unusual procedure with the old-time native) in ithe early morning at Kaiwarra. The culprit was caught next day in Polhill's Gully (now Aro Street), and after trial, was publicly hanged.