The highest mountain in Otago, some 30 miles from the west coast, Mt. Aspiring is an impressive peak strongly resembling the Matterhorn in shape. It rises abruptly from ice fields of the Bonar, Volta, Therma, and Iso Glaciers, with two steep ice and rock ridges rising from the south-west and north-west, and a longer ridge (the Coxcomb Ridge) rising from the east to a summit 9,957 ft above sea level. The peak can be climbed only by properly equipped mountaineering parties, has two high-altitude mountain huts nearby (French Ridge and Colin Todd Memorial) and is most commonly reached from the west branch of the Matukituki Valley. It was first climbed on 23 November 1909 by Major Bernard Head and guides Jack Clarke and Alex Graham.

The name of the mountain was given by the surveyor-explorer, John Turnbull Thomson. It in turn has given its name to the newly formed Mount Aspiring National Park.

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

(1810–83).

C.M.S. missionary.

Benjamin Yates Ashwell was born in 1810 at Birmingham, England, and was the son of Benjamin Ashwell, a brassfounder of that city. Ashwell joined the Church Missionary Society in 1831 and spent two years at the society's training institution at Islington before proceeding to Sierra Leone as a lay missionary. The West African climate proved too much for his health, however, and he was obliged to return to England shortly afterwards.

In 1835 Ashwell sailed for New Zealand, arriving at Paihia on 23 December. Because he appeared somewhat temperamental he was not at first entrusted with a mission station, but, instead, occupied himself ministering to the Europeans at Kororareka. When at length he joined Maunsell at Waikato Heads, his temperament provoked hostility among the Maoris. Later he was allowed to open his own mission station at Kaitotehe, near Taupiri, where, to the surprise of his superiors, his ministrations met with instant and impressive success. Besides the normal duties of his mission, Ashwell had to cover a large district. In 1839 he opened branch missions at Te Awamutu and Otawhao, again with spectacular success. The latter was taken over by Morgan in 1841. By 1843, morning and evening services were being held in 30 villages, and reading classes, morning schools, and Sunday services took place regularly.

Ashwell's eccentricities endeared him to the Waikato Maoris and he came to exert great influence among them. In 1846 they asked him to settle a difficult fisheries dispute at Rotokauri. He attended St. John's College and was ordained in December 1848. On 16 January 1849 he assisted Maunsell to baptise 40 of Te Waharoa's tribe at Kirikiriroa (later, Hamilton). By 1851 Ashwell's native school at Kaitotehe was considered one of the finest in the country and was receiving annual grants from the Governor's fund. Ashwell opposed the growing “King” movement in the 1850s and, on the outbreak of war, withdrew to Auckland. There, Sir George Grey arranged for him to take charge of the Kawau prisoners, but these escaped before Ashwell could assume his duties. He returned to Taupiri at the close of 1864, but found his mission people had scattered. Towards the end of the decade he retired from missionary work and devoted his remaining years to church administration. For a time he acted as a prison visitor in Auckland.

Ashwell was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in England, accompanied him to New Zealand and helped him at Taupiri. After her death he married, on 12 May 1858 at Parnell, Maria Brothers. There was no family by the second marriage, but one of his daughters by the first marriage helped Gorst to prepare copy for Te Pihoihoi Mokemoke.

Ashwell had indifferent health during his declining years and died at Remuera on 29 September 1883.

Although he did not always get on happily with his fellow missionaries, Ashwell was eminently successful in the mission field. His school at Kaitotehe became a pattern for similar institutions in other parts of the country. The Waikato Maoris admired Ashwell greatly and he was one of the few missionaries of that district who could return to their stations after the war. For many years “his short figure, wide, greying beard, and asthmatical breathing”, were familiar to settlers living in the Waikato district.

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

• The Advance of the Missionaries, Fancourt, H. C. (1939)
• Armed Settlers–1864–74, Norris, H. C. M. (1956)
• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959).

The Ashburton River, 70 miles in length, is formed by the junction of its north and south branches just above the town of Ashburton. The parallel courses of the two branches are only a few miles apart on the Canterbury Plains and flow down the lower lying junction of the major fans of the Rakaia and Rangitata Rivers. The north branch of the Ashburton River drains the Winterslow, Old Man, and Moorhouse Ranges, 7,000 ft high, which are a block of foothill ranges between the Canterbury Plains and the Lake Heron depression lying parallel to the west side of the plains and running between the Rangitata and Rakaia Rivers. The south branch drains the southern end of the Arrowsmith Range, crosses the south end of the Lake Heron depression, and skirts the south end of the Winterslow Range reaching the plains at Mount Somers.

Of considerable importance to agriculture is the fact that these two branches maintain a local perched water table at a depth of only a few tens of feet along their courses, both separate and combined, across the Canterbury Plains, where otherwise the water table is several hundred feet below the surface of the plains. Ashburton was named after William Baring (Lord Ashburton), a prominent member of the Canterbury Association.

by Alan Copland Beck, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

Ashburton is situated mainly on the eastern bank of the Ashburton River in the central part of the Canterbury Plain about 10 miles inland from the shores of Canterbury Bight. The surrounding country is flat, but within 20 miles inland to the west and north it becomes undulating and hilly and rises to the complex mountain systems lying between the level plain and the Southern Alps. The South Island Main Trunk railway and the Picton-Bluff Main Highway pass through Ashburton. By road Ashburton is 54 miles south-west of Christchurch (53 miles by rail), 36½ miles north-east of Temuka (36 miles by rail), and 48 miles north-east of Timaru (47 miles by rail). Ashburton is the junction for a branch railway to Mount Somers (24 miles north-west); a branch railway from Rakaia (17 miles north-east) to Methven (40 miles north-west) serves the northern parts of the district.

The farming activities of the district are sheep and cattle raising, agricultural and mixed farming. Sheep are run extensively on the rising country inland and intensively on the lower levels. Cash cropping, including cereal cropping, is important. There is a large meat-freezing works at Fairton (adjoining Fairfield, 4 miles north-east). Some forestry is carried on in the district. Lignite is mined near Mount Somers township and lime is quarried. Silica sand deposits are being worked in the Mount Somers vicinity. Lime is also quarried at Staveley (34 miles northwest), Cavendish (24 miles northwest), and elsewhere. Land is continually being developed for more intensive farming by means of irrigation. The Department of Agriculture has an irrigation research institute at Winchmore (7 miles north-west). Ashburton is the commercial, industrial, and market centre for mid-Canterbury. Town industrial activities include the manufacture of butter, flour, other cereal food products and by-products, woollen goods, knitwear and hosiery, joinery and furniture, bricks, concrete products, agricultural implements, and coal gas. Sawmilling, engineering, and motor-body building are also carried on. There are large wool, grain, seed, and produce stores in the town.

Before 1850 Maori and European travellers used a coastal route east of the town. In 1844 Bishop G. A. Selwyn passed through the district and, shortly after, Edward Shortland. Country between the Rakaia and Rangitata Rivers was settled by pastoralists in the early 1850s. Most of the “down country” runs were taken up between 1853 and 1856. The run which included the future site of Ashburton was occupied in 1853. Recognised routes gradually developed towards the interior from crossing places on the Rakaia River. In 1858 William Turton, generally regarded as the pioneer settler of Ashburton, established a ferry station in the vicinity of the present town bridge and built an accommodation house. By 1864 the coaches of Cobb and Co. were using the route through Ashburton in a two-day service between Christchurch and Timaru and maintained it until the completion of the railway. The town site was surveyed by Robert Park in 1864. John Grigg, a notable benefactor of Ashburton, took up property in the district in 1864 and was influential in the establishment of the frozen-meat industry. By the 1870s grain production had become increasingly important and flour was milled in the district. Towards the end of 1872 Alfred Saunders built a water-driven flourmill at Ashburton and commenced to grind wheat in the following year. This mill, subsequently modernised, is still in production. In the 1870s irrigation works were initiated and, since then, the acreage of irrigated land in the district has increased. The future South Island Main Trunk railway from Christchurch was extended to Rakaia by June 1873, to Ashburton by 24 August 1874, and to Timaru by February 1876. The line to Mount Somers township from Tinwald was opened by 4 October 1886 and gave access to the lignite mines near the township (which have been worked continuously since 1866). A line between Rakaia and Methven was constructed during the 1880s. Ashburton was constituted a borough in 1878. The adjoining districts of Netherby, Hampstead, and Allenton were amalgamated with the borough in 1917, 1921, and 1939 respectively, and in 1955 the residential portion of Tinwald Town District also was added. Ashburton was named in honour of Lord Ashburton (1774–1848).

POPULATION: 1951 census, 8,287; 1956 census, 10,176;1961 census, 11,604.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

Arthur's Pass (3,020 ft) lies on the main divide on the watershed between the Waimakariri and Taramakau Rivers, and is the lowest pass, and the only crossing for motor traffic, between the Lewis and Haast Passes. A railway tunnel over 5 miles long was completed beneath the pass in 1923, and this route still constitutes the only rail link across the South Island, carrying a large proportion of the coal and timber produced on the West Coast. Mt. Rolleston (7,453 ft), a fine peak 2 miles west of the pass, dominates the scenery in the area, and especially so from Temple Basin, a popular ski-ing field overlooking the pass. The local heavy rainfall, exceeding 200 in. a year, maintains a thick cover of beech forest on all the lower slopes.

Arthur's Pass is named after Arthur Dudley Dobson, who discovered it in March 1864, acting, it is said, on information given him by Tarapuhi, a West Coast chief. In 1929 the Arthur's Pass Park Board was constituted. The park has an area of some 242,000 acres comprising magnificent bush and mountainous country. It is a popular holiday resort and a favourite region for mountaineering and tramping clubs.

by Guyon Warren, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

Founded in 1892 and indelibly associated with James Nairn and Pumpkin Cottage at Silver-stream, the Wellington Art Club consists of working members only. Members may draw from the model or attend painting sessions in the clubroom in Upper Willis Street. Lectures, criticisms, demonstrations, and film evenings are conducted regularly.

by Stewart Bell Maclennan, A.R.C.A.(LOND.), Director, National Art Gallery, Wellington.

The Hutt Art Society, formerly the Hutt Art Club, was established in 1958. The activities of this energetic society, which include short courses of instruction in drawing and painting and weekend school, are centred round the club room in Woburn Road, Lower Hutt. An annual exhibition of members' work is staged in the attractive gallery of the Hutt Valley Memorial Library. A guest artist is invited to exhibit each year.

In 1961 the society made a generous grant to the National Art Gallery to purchase Spencer Gore's “The Artist's Wife”.

This is one of the youngest art societies, having been incorporated in 1956. An attractive modern gallery at the corner of Grey and Carroll Streets, Palmerston North, contains a main chamber 60 feet by 31 feet with adjoining workrooms and studios. It was erected by public subscriptions, contributions from the society, and a subsidy from the City Council. The building is owned and maintained by the council. The society's income from members' subscriptions is devoted to the activities of the society. Administration is in the hands of an executive committee of 12. The Society holds one annual exhibition and maintains continuous loan exhibitions of painting, pottery, and sculpture. The society has a small permanent collection.

The Waikato Society of Arts came into being as the result of a meeting called in Hamilton in 1934. In 1941 a building was presented to the city by Mrs Allen Bell to be used as an art gallery and/or museum, and this is administered by the society. A paid official acts as custodian, secretary, and treasurer.

Income is provided from members' subscriptions and gallery rentals. There are two permanent collections, one owned by the City Council, who make a grant for acquisitions, and one purchased by the Society. Two members' exhibitions are held annually and loan collections are shown regularly.

Founded in 1946 and incorporated in 1948, the Tauranga Art Society has as yet no permanent premises but stages exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, and film evenings in a public hall. Subscriptions from members provide the main income. The society is self-supporting and has acquired the nucleus of a permanent art collection. There are a president, three vice-presidents, a committee of eight, and an honorary secretary and treasurer.

Lack of a gallery and club rooms is a drawback and the society hopes that the borough council may make provision for such amenities in its civic planning.