Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/154

 all of whom he acted as legal adviser, giving them the advantage of his knowledge and experience without stint and without fee. He and his brother John were sterling men, pioneers of the right stamp and universally esteemed, and when Mr. William Deans was drowned his loss was deeply deplored by all. Arriving in Canterbury, the Deans Brothers decided to make their home at Riccarton. They were, even at that early date, the third party to take up land in this locality. The first venture was made by the firm of Cooper and Levy, who had whaling vessels in New Zealand waters, and who traded with the Maoris in the early ’thirties. Cooper and Levy were a Sydney firm, and, having bought from the Natives the bush land on what is now Riccarton and Papanui, as well as blocks in Akaroa and Port Levy, they despatched a vessel under the command of one Captain Underwood, presumably to take possession. This vessel, however, was lost with all hands, and the Maori titles being lost with her, Messrs. Cooper and Levy abandoned the project. In 1840, another Sydney firm, Messrs. Abercrombie and Co., bought what is now Riccarton, and in the same year took possession of the property,