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Trezise Genealogy
Timaru Herald, 15 January 1879: Fully half of
the immigrants are for Timaru, and the Immigration Officer has listed their
various trades and occupations: Joseph found employment as a platelayer on the railway, a job he did for about seventeen years He lived in Waimate in 1881 and he settled at Makikihi in 1900 where he built a comfortable homestead. He married HANNAH (Anna) OSBORNE on 14 July 1881. Anna was the daughter of RICHARD JOHN OSBORNE and was born 1855 in St Stephens Village, Cornwall. She died 04 Oct 1927 in Waimate and they had four sons and four daughters. Joseph was a member of Court Pride of Waimate, Ancient Order of Foresters, and in the Masonic Order is attached to Lodge St. Augustine, New Zealand Constitution. For a good many years Joseph was a member of the Makikihi school committee and died 23 Sep 1945 in Morven, and was buried on 24 Sep 1945 at Waimate Cemetery.(Source: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District] The Waikakahi land opened for settlement in 1899. Joseph Trezise was not strictly speaking an original settler as he did not take over his land Block V11, Section 2 until 1900 which he farmed from 1900-1919 when it passed to his son Edward. John Netting at the opening of the Waikakahi block, drew this 157 acre (64 hectare) section by ballot. It was immediately north of Morven, however as early as October 1899 he found he had insufficient capital to carry on and advised the Lands Department. To comply, he had fenced all his land, put a crop in and built a single room house and rough shed but said he had been "disappointed in the promised assistance" and found himself unable to pay the rent due in January, and he wished to transfer his section to a suitable man. The terms of the lease did not allow settler's to transfer ownership in the first five years without proof of a bonafide reason being given to prove the land was not taken up as a speculation in order to obtain special consent of the Minister of Lands on the recommendation of the Land Board.
The Crown Lands Ranger recommended to
the Land Board that it advise the Minister to consent to the transfer
because "Netting was not the man to carry out the conditions" and the
person that Netting proposed, Joseph Trezise was a 40 year old plate
layer on the railways, a married man with a family who had farming
experience and wanted to settle down. Trezise had the means to work the
section, however he planned to keep his job at Glenavy until he could
build on the section. (Joseph had put in for a section but missed out in
the ballot.) The "consideration" for the transfer was £230 but this
included a promising wheat crop valued at £200. The Land Board declined to
recommend the Minister consent to the transfer (it
suspected Netting's claims because he was reported to be proposing to
visit "the old Country") so Netting applied to take Trezise in as his
partner which the Land Board approved in 1900.
The arrangements quickly went sour. Trezise kept his railway job and sent one of his sons (possibly Charles) to work with Netting. Netting found the boy "impudent" and was soon describing Trezise as "disagreeable, difficult and bad-tempered." By the middle of 1900, Netting was more confident he could work the property successfully himself. Trezise (whom the ranger thought much more reliable than Netting) reported himself in a fix because although he and Netting were clearly not getting along, Netting would neither buy Trezises's share from him nor sell Trezise his share. Trezise proposed dividing the holding between them. The ranger thought Netting had taken a mean advantage over Trezise by obtaining money from him to pay his rent at a time he was likely to lose his holding "simply for the want of means to carry on with." He proposed that Netting retain forty acres (16 hectares) and that Trezise, being a married man, be given the remaining 117 acres (48 hectares) arguing that there would always be a demand for small holdings close to Morven if either lessee ever wished to sell. The two parties eventually put their dispute in the hands of Waimate solicitors and in August 1900 the partnership was dissolved, Trezise taking on the lease on making a further payment to Netting to cover the goodwill and the value of the improvements. The Minister approved the transfer and by the middle of 1901, Joseph Trezise had built a six room house on the section. There were obligations placed on settlers - rent for the lease of sections on which they had to reside, they had to make improvements worth 2.5% within another year and within four years, improvements to the value of another 2.5%, ring-fencing within two years, and restrictions on the extent to which they cropped - these were seen to avoid unscupulous people taking up land for speculation. Ref. Source "Waikakahi "Fullfilling the Promise" by John Wilson Children of Joseph and Hannah
Trezise were:
i. CHARLES TREZISE, born 22 Apr 1882; d. 22 Jul
1915 from influenza at Mrs Henderson's Nursing home, Waimate and was a
farmer of Waihuranga Makikihi. He married JESSIE JANE VALENTINE
HUMPHRIS on 29 Apr 1908 at the Glenavy home of her parents, Jessie Jack
and Valentine John Humphris
ii. R iii. E v. E vi. E vii. M |
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