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Settlement, 1853–78
earn distinction more as large-scale farmers. James Archibald McIlraith secured one-third of the 3353 acres which later made up the Auchenflower estate, David Gordon Holmes, the first 1509 acres of Holmslee, and Leonard White, 1600 acres, which he doubled soon afterwards and formed Langley. McIlraith was a brother of the widowed Mrs John Deans and was chiefly responsible for the development of her Homebush estate. Even after he settled at Auchenflower, he and his brother, Alexander Duncan, still held large interests outside the Ashburton County. Holmes was a nephew of George Holmes, the tunnel and railway contractor. He had assisted his uncle, sometimes being placed in charge of construction. He then turned to farming and soon owned an estate of 5000 acres on which, it was reported, he grew as much as 2500 acres of grain and 800 acres of turnips in a single season. William White, the bridge builder, declared in his unpublished Records of an Old Pioneer[1] that he took 5000 acres in part payment for the Rakaia bridge. An area of 3216 acres entered in the name of his son was probably the main portion of this grant, in which case most of the remainder comprised the 1645 acres secured in his own name later in 1872. The first area, three miles due south of Rakaia township, became the Langley estate, which William named from his favourite district in England. One thousand acres of the other land made up the Top Place farm, which Leonard worked from Langley until he sold the latter to Jeremiah Connolly in 1920. The Whites took great pride in their tree planting. Mrs William White, with the assistance of her gardener, usually referred to as ‘Old Line’, raised thousands of trees which she planted on the property, first for wind breaks and then for ornament. William described Langley as ‘a model farm’ with ‘one of the most beautiful homesteads in Canterbury’.[1]
It was not altogether surprising that the most noteworthy purchases of 1873 took place on the upper part of the plains near the hills, a green and well watered area though certainly remote from the promised railway. That year D. G. Holmes laid the foundations of his Mount Harding estate, while the land which became McIlraith’s Broompark (later Waimarama) was acquired by agents. Continuing the process, a great part of the Alford and Buccleuch runs was bought by the leaseholders during 1873 and 1874.
When land purchase reached its height in 1877 and 1878, the more rapid acquisition of the freehold first showed itself on the