Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/147

 over. In the combined Hay and Sinclair families there were, in all, fifteen souls, and for the first three months we all lived together in a tent, which was pitched close to the beach at a spot now approximately indicated by the large gum tree growing near the main bridge. In July, 1843, the first house was completed. It was built of thatch work with a clay floor. Some three years later a second house was erected, built of white pine, with black pine flooring and totara shingles. Although this house stood for over thirty years, there was no trace of borers in any of the white pine timber, indicating that these pests were an importation, probably introduced in the boxes and trunks of immigrants.

Mr. Hay took a keen interest in educational matters, and himself built a district school on his own land, and secured a teacher, the families benefiting contributing only to the salary of the teacher and not to the building. The first teacher was not a success, so Mr. Hay sent to Scotland, and took pains to secure a good man, who, in the person of Mr. J. W. Gillespie, arrived in 1859. Mr. Gillespie was a man of culture, an excellent teacher, and a great acquisition to the