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oats sold readily as feed for the horses of the mail coaches. In 1868 Hunt acquired his own property of 150 acres, not directly from the Provincial Government but on lease from some other owner with the right to purchase. This property was still held by his grandchildren seventy years later. The Chalmers brothers and their niece never married. Part of their money went later to endow wards in the Christchurch and Ashburton hospitals.

These families were all to some extent induced to settle near the Ashburton River by the promise of development in the area. One early small farmer—Benjamin Ede—made a more unusual approach to the district. A Surrey man, he came to Canterbury in 1861 by way of Victoria. He made the first bricks for the Lyttelton railway tunnel. By 1862 he was brickmaking under contract to J. B. A. Acland and C. G. Tripp who were building two of the most substantial country homes in Canterbury. He also carried out similar work for Captain John McLean who had recently taken over Buccleuch Station. In August 1864 while working on these contracts, Ede bought his first section from the Government. His wife and large family lived on the property while he continued at his trade. He later claimed that his was the first farm worked in Ashburton County. It is a matter of more significance that a few years later, in 1867, Ede helped to pioneer the Willowby district, having to pay £6 an acre, probably to Grigg, for 440 acres of the Longbeach swamp, although the land still required draining.

Land purchases, not only by small farmers but also by runholders anxious to secure a useful estate out of their runs, responded to the financial situation of the times and to the likelihood of improved communications and the opening up of the country. Sales in the region continued at about 10,000 acres a year until the end of 1866. The following three years were marked by the worst depression until 1880. Although the railway line reached Selwyn in 1867, it clearly would go no further until conditions improved. Thus during the year 1867-9 inclusive under 2500 acres of Crown land were sold altogether between the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers; less than 200 acres in 1869. Buying on an appreciable scale recommenced when work began on the Rakaia bridge. The story of the improvement of communications is therefore an important key to understanding why the rate of development of the region varied so noticeably at different times.