LIGGINS, Joseph William

   Cause of death was Chronic Interstitial Nephitis.

   General Notes:

Photo Gallery

Letters Joseph wrote back to England

OBITUARY

We regret to record the death, which took place at an early hour this morning, of an old and highly respected colonist in the person of Mr Joseph Liggins, of Tokomaru. The deceased gentleman had been prominently identified with the district since its settlement many years ago. One of the sturdy pioneers, he had spent his life in agricultural and kindred pursuits, bringing his holding from its virgin condition to a state of high productivity. A very popular and efficient member of local and other bodies before his declining health caused his retirement from an active life, Mr Liggins gave valuable assistance and advice in many directions and his passing will be mourned by a wide circle of friends.

The late Mr Liggins was born at the small village of Measham, in the County of derby, England, a year or two before the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny years. In his youth he met many of the survivors of these wars and was always keenly interested in their recitals of their experiences. Educated at the village school under a type of schoolmaster of that time, he held various positions, and with a vision in his mind of colonial life, he took a course (at what was then a novelty to farming experience) in dairy work, at Lord Vernon's private dairy factory at Sudbury, Derbyshire. There he fully equipped himself with a knowledge of veterinary work, electricity and magnetism, bacteriology and chemistry.

Eventually selecting New Zealand as his goal, with his wife and family of six young children, Mr Liggins left England on board the "British King", bound for Wellington. On arrival he became a partner in the firm of David Buick and Co's dairy factory at Longburn. Travelling in those days was not so convenient as in present times and the passage by coastal steamer from Wellington to Foxton was not the most pleasurable recollection of Mrs Liggins who had the care of the children on that journey. Soon after his arrival at Longburn Mr Liggins met the late Mr Snelson, who had emigrated from the ancient town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, three miles from Measham, and they often renewed their remembrance of the Old Country.

Upon the Manawatu Railway Co. selling land at Tokomaru, Mr Liggins bought a section and after battling with it, in its then rough condition, he brought it into its present high state of production. Flax of good quality was for some years his chief stand-by, but cattle and cultivation were his chief objects. He established the Ashlea herd of Friesians at about the same time as Mr John Donald commenced with this breed at Westmere. He had varied successes in the show ting, but gave more attention to milk producing qualities in his animals than in concentrating on exhibiting.

As president of the Flaxmillers' Association at one period, he gave excellent service to the industry and on his visits home he interested himself largely in investigating all possible channels of research in the utilisation of the fibre. He was also intensely interested in the Manawatu A and P Association, of which he was a foundation member and for many years a member of the committee and a vice-president. The Makerua Drainage Board had for some years the benefit of his great experience and the success of the work done by the board will be a memorial of the years during which he was a member and chairman. In the establishment of the dairy factories in the vicinity of Tokomaru he was keenly interested and as member of the board of directors, and at various periods chairman, he did yeoman service to the farming community of the district.

Mrs Liggins and her sons - Charles, Sam, Harry and Joseph, together with the daughters, Mrs Williams, Mrs Gardiner and Mrs Jos Smith, are left to mourn the loss of their father, and to these the sympathy of a large circle of friends will be extended. The late Mr Liggins had been in indifferent health for the last six months.

(Taken from the Evening Standard, Tokomaru)

The "Ashlea" Flax Mill (1904-1922)

This mill was situated on the right-hand (east) bank of the Tokomaru stream, alongside house and the railway bridge, on the property now owned by Doug White. Road access was pbtained from the far end of Nikau Street.

The mill was built in May 1904 by Joseph Liggins, a prominent dairy farmer of Tokomaru, and obtained its green flax from 896 acres of swamp purchased from the Makerua Estate Company. Joseph Liggins had no previous experience in the flaxmilling industry, but he was an enterprising man who could see the potential of the flax swamp which lay adjacent to his dairy farm. He also had a family of young adults who could operate the business and the first manager of the mill was one of his sons-in-law (Douglas Gardiner), who had previously worked at a flaxmill near Foxton. Gardiner was succeeded as manager by Sam Liggins (a son of Joseph), while another son (Harry) became the engine driver of the mill. A third son (Joe Liggins) and another son-in-law (Joseph Smith) also worked at the mill for several years, as did a nephew named Osborn Liggins.

The horse-drawn tramway which carried flax from the swamp to the mill ran between the Tokomaru stream and the present Ashlea Road and crossed the Main Drain on a small wooden bridge.

In 1916 Joseph Liggins attracted new capital into the business by forming a private company known as Ashlea Limited. The shareholders of this company consisted of several members of the Liggins family and a number of prominent Wairarapa and Wellington businessmen, including Arthur Mabin (of Levin and Company), who also had an interest in two other mills at Tokomaru. Ashlea Limited continued to operate the mill until its closure.

In 1913 an experimental mill was built in Nikau Street (alongside the "Ashlea" mill) by a wealthy German scientist named Hubert J. Boeken. This man, who calimed to be a distinguished inventor of over 200 patents to his name, was attracted to New Zealand as a result of an offer by the Government to pay 12,000 pounds to anyone who could develop an improved method of dressing phormium fibre (New Zealand flax). When visiting Europe in 1912, Joseph Liggins had met Boeken and had invited him to visit Tokomaru and experiment with the flax plants. Boeken accepted the invitation and brought with him a series of machines which were intended to strip, wash and dry the fibre in one continuous operation, with all waste products being utilised for firing the boiler of the mill's engine. These machines were erected on large concrete foundations, built on land rented from Liggins, but they failed to meet their inventor's expectations and Boeken received no money from the New Zealand Government.

Boeken's experiments were conducted under a cloak of secrecy, which aroused the coriosity of Tokomaru residents and led to rumours of experiments with "military machines". When war was declared between Britain and Germany in 1914, Boeken disappeared from Tokomaru and it was widely believed that he had been imprisoned by the New Zealand Government as a German spy. Boeken's machines were eventually dismantled and sold for scrap metal by Joseph Liggins, but the concrete foundations remained in place for many years and were commonly know as "the German's mill".
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   Events:

1. Emigration; Mar 15, 1884; New Zealand. Emigrated aboard the "British King"

   Marriage Information:

Joseph married Sarah Ellen LAND on Oct 20, 1873 in Hulland, Derby, England.