Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/167

 working men, and besides paying high wages to their employees, they gave them a share of the profits from their dairies and other farm produce. The two brothers specially connected with Akaroa, George and Robert Heaton, left fairly large families; among them are men of business capacities equal to those of their fathers. Robert Heaton Rhodes, of Bluecliffs, South Canterbury, a son of George Rhodes, has been Chairman of the Waimate County Council for several years; another son, Arthur E. G. Rhodes, has been a member of Parliament for Gladstone and Geraldine, and also Mayor of Christchurch, and the Hon. Robert Heaton Rhodes, son of R. H. Rhodes, is a member of the Ministry of the present Government, being the representative of the Ellesmere district and part of the Peninsula. In 1886 the Rhodes Convalescent Home was opened by means of £10,000 contributed by the children of Robert Heaton Rhodes. The Christchurch Cathedral is greatly indebted to the family. The tower was erected by Robert Heaton in memory of his brother George, and the spire was erected to the memory of their father by the children of George Rhodes in 1881. One part of the