OBITUARY.
MR ALEX. FLEMING, OTOKIA.

Mr Alex. Fleming, who died at Otokia on Friday afternoon last, February 18th, was a brother of the late John Smyth Fleming, of Balclutha, who died on April 22nd, 1907. He was born in the Parish of Alyth, Perthshire, Scotland, on the 20th of December, 1826, and had therefore entered upon his 84th year at the time of his death. He was the eldest of a family of five sons, the father, who was born on Feb. 27th, 1781, dying of fever on April 11th, 1831, and the mother, who was born on November 21st, 1796, surviving till the 22nd of April 1893, being then in her 97th year. The second youngest son, Thomas, born March 29th, 1833, died of fever also, on April 10th, 1836. On reaching manhood, Alex. and John, who was born on January 4th, 1831, came to New Zealand. Peter, the second eldest, was in business for many years as an immigration agent in Dundee, dying there on October 24th, 1901, just a month over 70 years old, and James, the youngest, born on June 10th, 1835, after farming in his native parish for many years, went to the Sandwich Islands a little over 20 years ago, and did well as a sugar planter, retiring a few years ago.

Early in December of 1863, the subject of the present notice, having married two or three years previously, and having one child, set sail for New Zealand in the ship Lady Milton from London. Amongst the passengers were Sir Robert Stout, now Chief Justice of New Zealand, then a Shetland youth of about 18 years, Mr D. Ryrie, now of Balclutha, and Mr James McHarry, for many years in the Tapanui district, now residing in Caversham. The Lady Milton, which brought out the first shipment of rails tor the Bluff railway, arrived at the Bluff on Friday, April 8th, 1864, after a long and wearisome voyage, and the passengers transhipped to the s.s. Phoebe and sailed round to Port Chalmers, arriving there on Monday, the 11th. For a few days Mr Fleming, his wife and two sons (a second having been born on the way out) stayed with his brother John, then residing at Port Chalmers, and who arrived by the Zealandia at Lyttelton in 1862. The new arrivals, on farming bent, soon made their way out to the Taieri, however, and stayed with the Grants of Granton for a few weeks. In the meantime the farm on the river bank that in later years became well-known as Shandfield, was leased from the Shands, and thither the family repaired to the sod whare that had been erected for them. This was their home for four years, when a wooden dwelling was erected. For 22 years the family lived at Shandfield. In 1886 a farm was bought at Henley, but a succession of floods and wet seasons resulted ruinously, and in May 1893 the family removed up to Otokia, taking the farm previously occupied by the late W. T. Shand, a short distance below the original Shandfield, and here the late Mr Fleming passed the last 17 years of his life, enjoying in his latter days well-earned comfort. At the time of his death he was, and had been for some years, the oldest resident in the southern part of the plains. When he settled there in 1864 there was only a small strip along the river bank that was high and dry. The rest, from the river to Maungatua, was a veritable swamp of Maoriheads, flax and water. He brought with him from Home a quantity of agricultural implements — plough, harrows, etc., and harness, besides various household utensils, and these were soon turned to profitable account. In those days boats sometimes came up the river and took away the grain, but the service was uncertain, and the chief outlet was by means of dray or waggon to Dunedin, the river being forded at the late Mr James Allen's riverbank homestead. With periodical heavy floods, and no roads, the life of the settlers on the lower west side of the plain was for many years an uphill disheartening struggle. Of a determined nature, however, and a strong constitution, the subject of this notice never gave in, even when the outlook was blackest, and when crops and stock were swept away by floods, but stuck to the task before him with a tenacity that must have brought a profitable reward under more favoured conditions. In the long space of 45 years he saw a wonderful change on the face of the plain, from being an almost isolated settler on the river bank he saw the swamps gradually reclaimed, until today from hill to hill there are cultivated fields and numerous homesteads, and on the day of his death the threshing-mill was at work in the middle of what was but a few years ago a dreary swamp, impenetrable to man or beast. His share in the changed scene was no light one, but few know, and still fewer can realise, the long years of work that was little short of slavery that was his portion.

He took an active part in the public life of the district. In the original Henley Road Board he was a member along with John Reid, latterly of Elderslie, then of the Henley Estate, and when the district was merged into the West Taieri Road Board, he continued a member of it for many years, his fellow members being the late James Shand, James Allan, the Grants of Gowrie and Granton. These men have all long since crossed the border. They were the strong men of the West Taieri in the 70's, but today the lands they held are held by others, and the once familiar names are almost forgotten. Impressed with the effects of the embankments in the Upper West Taieri in keeping the river from overflowing, the late Mr Fleming was chiefly instrumental in getting a River Board formed for the lower portion, and the Henley River Board came into existence. The first members were E. B. Cargill (chairman), W. T. Shand, James Allen, H. Campbell and himself. He acted as clerk to the Board for the first year or so. This, in 1878, saw the initiation of the embankment system in the lower end of the plain. He was off and on a member of the Board for many years, his last election being in 1904, when, after several years' retirement, he was again returned by a good majority. In the work of the Drainage Board he also took an active part. In drainage matters he had very definite ideas, and in the expression of these he was always very outspoken. In the Road Board he was one of the first — if not, indeed, the very first — to urge the construction of the bridge at Greytown, now Allanton, and it was at his suggestion that James Shand took the matter up in the County Council and carried it through.

In school and church matters he also took an active interest. He served on the Otokia and Henley School Committees for nearly half a lifetime. To church matters he devoted a special interest. He was one of the first subscribers for the erection of the church at Otokia. For 35 years, up to the time of his death, he was an' elder of the church, and for nearly 30 years he was church treasurer. He was also for some years Superintendent of the Sunday School. He was also on several occasions a member of the Presbyterian Synod and was a member of the General Assembly in Jubilee year.

With the exception of two attacks of rheumatic fever a good many years ago, he always enjoyed robust health. Four years ago when in his 80th year he had to get one of his legs amputated below the knee, in consequence, it was thought, of a slight injury to the bone some years previously. He made what was considered by his medical advisers a remarkable recovery, and continued in good health and spirits till about four mouths ago, when the weight of over fourscore years commenced to bear heavily upon him. For the last month or so he was confined to his bed, but he was sensible up to two or three hours before his death. He felt but little pain other than intense weakness. "Tired and done-up" were his own words.

In his personal habits he was regular and moderate. His home had an ever-open door and a hospitable welcome to the visitor and stranger. His wife died on the 30th June, 1903, in her 64th year, after nearly 43 years of married life. He is survived by four sons (residing at Balclutha, Milton, Clarksville, and Otokia), all married; one married daughter residing at Milburn, and two single daughters residing at Otokia. One daughter died on 30th December last.

His remains were interred in Otokia cemetery yesterday, the Rev. J.U. Spence (in the absence of the Rev. D. McColl) and the Revs. David Borrie, Geo. Miller, and W.H. Howes officiating. (Bruce Herald, Feb. 24, 1910)