Naturalist.

William Swainson was born at Newington Butts, London, on 8 October 1789, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson and Francis, née Stanway, the second of his three wives. His father's family originated in Lancashire, and both grandfather and father held high posts in H.M. Customs, the father becoming Collector at Liverpool. William, whose formal education was curtailed because of an impediment in his speech, joined the Liverpool Customs as a junior clerk at the age of 14. But his passion for natural science led to a desire to go abroad, and in 1806 he obtained a junior post on the staff of Commissary-General Wood. In the following year Swainson went to Malta, then Sicily, with. the army of occupation. There he remained until 1814, and was able to devote much time to the study of Sicilian and Greek zoology and botany. In 1814 he studied the ichthyology of western Sicily under Baron Bivona. In 1815, after rising to the rank of Assistant Commissary-General, he was forced by ill health to return to England. Next year he retired on half pay, became a fellow of the Linnean Society, and went with Koster to Brazil. There he met Dr Langsdorff, and the party, detained by revolution, made a rich plant collection. In 1820 Swainson, now back in London, was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and began the serial publication of an important group of works on natural history, including the Zoological Illustrations and Exotic Conchology, which used new lithographic methods of colour printing.

In 1823 he married Mary, only daughter of John Parkes. When hopes of a post at the British Museum proved futile, he devoted the next 15 years to the writing, of a large number of botanical and zoological works, all illustrated by himself. But after 1835, the year in which his wife died, he gradually lost interest in that work, the more so since his speculations in Mexican silver mines proved disastrous. Disappointed once again over a post at the British Museum, Swainson turned his thoughts to New Zealand. In 1839 he became a member of the committee of the New Zealand Company and of the Church of England committee for the appointment of a bishop to New Zealand, bought land in Wellington, and gave up scientific literary work.

Swainson married again in 1840. His second wife was Anne Grasby, daughter of Joseph Grasby, of Bawtry, Yorks. Together with four of Swainson's five children by the first marriage, they sailed for New Zealand in the Jane, reaching Wellington, after a trying voyage, in June 1841. Swainson took up 300 acres at the Hutt and established his estate of “Hawkshead”. After a few months this land was claimed by Taringakuri, a Wellington chief, and for several years he was in constant dread of interference and violence. During the operations against the Maoris in 1846, he was an officer in the militia in charge of a body of friendly natives. In 1852, in partnership with his son-in-law, Major J. W. Marshall, Swainson took up a considerable area of pastoral land in the Rangitikei, but it yielded little return during his lifetime, and he was largely dependent on his half pay.

During the years 1852–54, at the invitation of Australian Governments, he studied the flora of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. He soon confined himself to gum trees, described 1,520 varieties, and claimed to have discovered the principle of their variation. He returned to New Zealand to live at Fern Grove, a property in the Hutt, where he died on 6 December 1855.

Swainson was a notable naturalist, an extremely skilful botanical draughtsman, and a competent artist with water colours. He was too gentle a man to be a successful colonist, and seems to have felt isolated and unhappy in New Zealand. Insecurity of all kinds, and tension between stepmother and stepdaughters in his household also contributed to making his later years sombre ones. He was survived by four sons and a daughter by his first wife, and three daughters by his second, whom he also predeceased.

by K.C.

• A Short Biography of William Swainson, F.R.S., F.L.S., Swainson, G. M. (MS), Turnbull Library
• Marshall Family Papers (microfilm MSS), Turnbull Library
• Adventure in New Zealand, Wakefield, E. J. (ed. Stout, Sir R.) (1908).

Sutherland Falls, among the world's highest, comprise three spectacular leaps totalling 1,904 ft, and are fed by a small cirque lake, named Lake Quill. The lake occupies a small rock basin that was formed by ice-action during the Ice Age, and spills almost directly over the lip and down a near-vertical mountain-wall into a valley carved by ice. The falls owe part of their impressiveness to the leaping action of the water from the two main ledges on the mountain wall. They are named after Donald Sutherland who, with J. McKay and J. Malcolm, settled at Milford Sound between 1887–80. Sutherland, who discovered the falls, explored much of the surrounding country in search of a new route to Lake Wakatipu.

by Bryce Leslie Wood, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

(1839–1919).

Backwoodsman.

A new biography of Sutherland, Donald appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Sutherland was born at Wick, Scotland, in 1839. He was brought up on the east coast, and in his boyhood roamed the shorelines from Caithness to John O'Groats. In his teens he tired of the smell of the herring fisheries and went away to sea. He sailed the Seven Seas as a sailor before the mast for some years, and finally came ashore for good in Auckland in 1862. Like so many more of his kind he became embroiled in the Maori Wars, and when the fighting was finished he left the Armed Constabulary and took a job before the mast on a Government steamer. Gold prospecting attracted him for a time, and he made an indifferent living, first in the Thames area and later on the West Coast. He tramped the lower reaches of Westland when few Europeans knew much of the locality, and for a while he settled at Martins Bay. From there he penetrated to the head of Milford Sound and continued prospecting for gold. There was not much to be found, but a meagre living from sealing enabled him to continue with the lone exploring that seemed to be his métier.

Sutherland cultivated a small holding in the Cleddau Valley but it was only a means of sustenance. The still virgin country of Fiordland fascinated him and he sometimes disappeared for weeks at a time. The Arthur River valley was one of his favourite spots, and on his travels he discovered Lake Ada and the highest falls in New Zealand, the 1,904 ft Sutherland Falls which were named after him. He found the Mackinnon Pass between Otago and the West Coast and named it Ballon Pass, quite unaware that McKinnon had already traversed it. At the age of 51 he met and married a widow of his own inclinations and character, and for 12 years the pair conducted an accommodation house at Milford Sound, where Sutherland settled down to the unexciting, but to him absorbing, existence of bird watcher and student of the flora of the Sounds and the habits of the tides and the weather. He died at Milford Sound on 24 October 1919 at the age of 80 years, a well-known and popular identity of a region which in his later years he regarded almost in the manner of a manorial possession. His character developed only from the contacts he made with tourists at Milford, and he was regarded as a cheerful friendly type, hospitable and interesting, though he brooked little contradiction or argument when it came to matters concerning the locality which he considered to be peculiarly his.

by Ronald Jones, Journalist and Script Writer, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Wellington.

• Pioneers of Martins Bay, McKenzie, A. (1952)
• Far Famed Fiordland, Beattie, H. (1950).

In July 1941 the Sutherland Self Help Trust was founded by Arthur Sutherland on behalf of members of the Sutherland family. The trust's assets derive from £5,000 given by A. F. Sutherland, together with 22 properties donated, on 27 July 1942, by the Self Help Cooperative Ltd. The trustees have leased these properties, which comprise 58 shops and eight residences, to the Self Help Cooperative at rentals based on the shop sales. The annual income from these was allowed to accumulate until the trust's capital reached £500,000.

The trust is administered by a board comprising A. F. Sutherland (died 1942), John Sutherland (during his lifetime); one member nominated by each of the New Zealand Law Society, the British Medical Association (New Zealand Branch), and the New Zealand Society of Accountants; and two members nominated by the directors of the Self Help Cooperative Ltd.

The deed setting up the trust specifies that the annual income is to be used to aid (a) the rehabilitation of disabled servicemen and women; (b) in providing medical, surgical, or other curative treatment for handicapped children, for child-welfare purposes, and for vocational or special educational training for children; (c) to aid the Plunket Society; and (d) for “any educational, religious or other charitable purpose … selected by the Trustees”. The trustees are empowered to devote the whole of the annual income to some particularly deserving cause to the exclusion of the others mentioned above. They may also make grants towards the establishment, upkeep, or maintenance of hospitals, schools, camps, and similar institutions.

The first distribution from the Sutherland Self Help Trust was made on 20 September 1963, when £21,470 was granted to various purposes.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• The Sutherland Self Help Trust, 1941
• Self Help Silver Jubilee, 1922–47, Sutherland, B. (1947)
• Evening Post, 3 Jan 1949 (Obit)
• Dominion, 3 Jan 1949 (Obit).

(1873–1949).

Chain-store pioneer and philanthropist.

A new biography of Sutherland, Benjamin appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Benjamin Sutherland was born on 22 October 1873 at Seaward Bush, Invercargill, and was the son of John Sutherland, a farmer, and of Mary, née Sutherland. He was educated at South School, Invercargill, and after completing his formal studies became a school teacher. In 1890, however, he joined the New Zealand Railways as a clerical cadet and was stationed for various periods in Canterbury, Southland, and Wellington. Following a serious illness in 1904 he became a telegraphic instructor at the Head Office in Wellington, where he remained until he resigned in 1922. During the First World War he served prominently in several patriotic movements.

In 1921, because he was alarmed about the rising prices consumers had to pay for goods, Sutherland began to organise a cooperative shop among the Railways Department staff. At first he experienced difficulty in attracting shareholders to his scheme and this, together with the enmity of certain wholesalers who brought political pressure to bear against him, induced him to resign from the Railways Department to continue his scheme privately. Sutherland's Self Help Cooperative Ltd., which was founded in Wellington on 27 October 1922, proved popular from the outset. A year later there were seven Self Help stores in Wellington and, by December 1926, there were 18. When he organised his cooperative, Sutherland sought to sell groceries to his customers at the lowest possible retail price. With this in view he endeavoured to keep normal working expenses to the minimum and he stipulated that his shop should allow no goods to be purchased on credit, should not deliver goods, and should not be party to any attempts to fix prices. In 1926 his success in Self Help led merchants, manufacturers, retail grocers, and chemists to form the “Proprietary Articles Trade Association” in an effort to enforce uniform prices for their lines. In March 1927 Sutherland successfully challenged the legality of price fixing in Court. By 1931 there were 100 Self Help shops in New Zealand and, in the following years, many more were added. The Court case did not end the merchants' and retailers' hostility to his organisation and, in May 1931, Sutherland had to fight the “Traders' Welfare Association” – an offshoot of the earlier Proprietary Articles Trade Association”.

From the commencement of his business career Sutherland put his own enlightened ideas about staff relations into effect. In October 1932, to mark the tenth anniversary of Self Help, he inaugurated a liberal staff benefit fund. This was followed in May 1941 by a £10,000 Fighting Services Trust, which was founded to help to rehabilitate Self Help staff members serving overseas. In July of the same year his son, Arthur, established the Sutherland Self Help Trust and, in December 1944, the Arthur Sutherland Self Help Staff Fund was founded to provide superannuation and life assurance for their employees. In January 1946 a female marriage bonus and educational bursary scheme was inaugurated.

For many years Sutherland was a prominent member of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and of the Wellington Employers' Association. He was president of the latter in 1936–37. He also played an active part in the affairs of the New Zealand Employers' Federation, being its representative at the I.L.O. conference in New York in 1941. In addition to his business interests he was an executive member of the Wellington Amateur Athletic Association for many years. On 12 March 1906, in Wellington, he married Lucy Nicholas, daughter of James Edward Humphries, and, by her, he had two sons and one daughter. Sutherland died at Lewisham Hospital, Wellington, on 1 January 1949, as the result of an accident.

Although he did not enter the business world until he was 50 years old, Ben Sutherland saw his Self Help Cooperative grow from humble beginnings into a chain-store organisation having 200 shops in all parts of New Zealand. This was indeed a remarkable achievement for a man whose railway staff card is said to have borne the words “a man with no initiative”.

(1923– ).

Cricketer.

Bert Sutcliffe was born at Auckland on 17 December 1923. While still at school he represented Auckland (1941–42). He played for the province, with an interval in Japan with J-Force, until 1949–50, when he took up a coaching position in Dunedin and joined the Otago team. Sutcliffe has established an enviable reputation as a batsman in New Zealand first-class cricket. He has represented New Zealand 34 times and scored 230 (not out) against India at New Delhi, 137 (not out) at Hyderabad during the 1955–56 tour, and 151 (not out) at Calcutta during the 1965 tour. He scored centuries against England at Manchester, 1949, and Christchurch, 1951, and holds the record for a second-wicket partnership for New Zealand v. England, 131, with J. R. Reid. His test-cricket record, in 62 innings, is: not out, five times; aggregate score, 2,335 (including four centuries); highest test score, 230 (not out); and a batting average of 40.96. In New Zealand first-class fixtures Sutcliffe has twice scored over 300 runs, (355 for Otago against Auckland in 1949–50 and 385 for Otago against Canterbury in 1952–53), and he has 42 centuries to his credit, including four occasions when he has scored two centuries in a match. He holds the record for the best first-wicket stand, 373 (Sutcliffe, 275, L. A. Watt, 96), Otago v. Auckland; and, for the fifth wicket, 266 (Sutcliffe, 355, W. S. Haig, 67), Otago v. Auckland, 1949–50. With Don Taylor, of Auckland, he shared in double-century opening partnerships in each innings of the Auckland v. Canterbury match (1949). Sutcliffe established a world record when he scored 141 and 135 in partnerships worth 220 and 286 runs respectively. He also holds the world record for the greatest number of runs scored by a left-handed batsman in a first-class innings – this was his 385 for Otago against Canterbury (1953). From 1942 until the end of the 1965 tour, Bert Sutcliffe's record in first-class cricket was as follows: 224 matches (120 in New Zealand, 104 overseas); 391 innings; 37 not outs; highest score, 385; aggregate runs, 17,019 (9,934 runs in New Zealand, 7,085 for New Zealand overseas); 44 centuries and a batting average of 48.07. In 1950 Sutcliffe was selected as Wisden's cricketer of the year. He has also held the Redpath Cup – for the best New Zealand batsman of the season – on six occasions. Bert Sutcliffe holds practically every New Zealand batting record and is second only to Sir Donald Bradman for the most runs made on an English tour.

In a test against England during the 1965 tour, Sutcliffe, with V. T. Pollard, made a record seventh-wicket stand for New Zealand of 104 runs. The previous record of 100 runs was established by T. C. Lowry and H. M. McGirr at Auckland in 1929–30.

The holders of the principal New Zealand surf titles since their inception have been:

(NOTE—Gaps in the above list are due to certain events having been abandoned on account of weather conditions.)

The exchange of visits between Australian and New Zealand teams began in 1937, when a New South Wales team came to this country. A New Zealand team made a return visit the following year. The main trouble in these pre-war contests was the different interpretation of rules. New Zealand was then very new to the six-man drill, but the records suggest that, all other things being equal, the Australians would still have beaten New Zealand in the water.

A three-test series was held in 1950 between New Zealand and a visiting Australian team, New Zealand winning the series, 2–1. This was the only time a test series was held. In 1954 Australia won the only test by six events to three. The 1956 tour of Australia was controversial, mainly because of the confused method adopted in keeping points. In the international surf carnival near Melbourne, New Zealand won the six-man rescue and resuscitation, the individual surf race, and the belt race. At the Australian championships New Zealand was allowed to compete in, and won, the surf teams' race. The concluding carnivals at Maroubra and Collaroy brought more New Zealand victories, but the large number of specialist events left Australia narrowly in the lead. This marked the last time tests were held between the two countries. The Australian team which visited New Zealand in 1961 met provincial teams only

Certain names stand out among the national champions: A. T. Dalton (North Beach), J. T. Clark (Maranui), N. and C. Chambers (New Brighton), M. Haxton (Maranui), P. Garrett (Taylors Mistake), John Jarvis (St. Clair), R. Harker (Red Beach), and J. Cotterill (Castlecliff). Alan Dalton was the first man to win a New Zealand individual title two years running—in 1936 and 1937. He also won the wartime title in 1945. Joseph Clark has the most remarkable record of all. He won the “double” – the surf-race championship and the individual beltman's title – two years in succession, in 1939 and 1940. Then, after war service overseas and a long rehabilitation period, he came back again to win the beltman's title in 1949 and 1950. The Chambers brothers of New Brighton monopolised the senior surf race from 1946 to 1949 and Murray Haxton performed the unprecedented feat of taking this individual title three years in succession – from 1952 to 1954.

Among other notable achievements was that of New Zealand's “Flying Squadron”, which was never headed in surf events in Australia during the Olympic tour of 1956. The performance of these swimmers in heavy surf conditions was a great surprise to the Australian' champions and was one of the factors which helped New Zealand to run Australia to a close decision in the first international surf contest ever held.

In quite a different category of enterprise is one surf lifesaver who will never be forgotten - Barrie Devenport, of Worser Bay club. In November 1962 he became the first person to swim the notorious Cook Strait, one of the most unpredictable and roughest stretches of water in the world. Devenport swam from the North Island to the South Island and, after nearly 12 hours, reached a rock at the entrance to Tory Channel.

The competitive side of lifesaving in New Zealand centres on the Nelson Shield, donated by the late William Nelson, the first contest between provincial teams being at Napier in 1915. The contests went ahead uneasily till 1922, when it was decided for the first time to allow club teams to compete for the shield. From this small beginning came the tremendous three-day championships of today when more than 40 teams contest the main event and where there are more than 30 titles to win.

It is a curious fact that, of the 35 contests for the shield which have been held since club teams were allowed to take part, only once has a province been successful. This was Canterbury, in 1927. The other contests were won by one of 10 clubs as follows: Maranui, 12 times; Lyall Bay, six; New Brighton and South Brighton, four each; Fitzroy, two; and New Plymouth Old Boys, St. Clair, North Beach, Eastern United, and Red Beach, one each.