Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/160

 went to the Old Country, whence he never returned. Motonau was eventually leased to Mr. J. S. Caverhill.

These three men were sterling, upright, and highly respected, possessing the qualities which best fitted them for pioneers, and their loss to the country is to be deplored.

John S. Caverhill, 1840-50, came south with the Greenwoods, with whom he stayed for a time at Purau. He then went as manager at Motonau, and after the death and departure of the Greenwoods, he leased that property for a number of years. Some time in the sixty decade he bought Hawkswood, where he put up a beautiful home. Whilst on this property he imported some fine shorthorn cattle, from which he reared a splendid herd. Many of them getting out of bounds became wild, and roamed about the Black Hills, where they had to be destroyed. Mr. Caverhill, selling Hawkswood, purchased Highfield, which he only retained for a few years when he sold it in turn for a very large profit.

Mr. Caverhill was a good farmer, and an excellent judge of all kinds of stock. He told the writer on one occasion that, in order to support the swaggers who infested his