GLENORCHY.
(From a Correspondent). In common with all other places the. weather at the Head of the Lake has been simply wretched, rain falling at more or less frequent intervals. Mr Fenn has imported a portable engine, together with a saw-milling plant, and purposes turning out the timber himself for building a two storey accommodation house at Paradise. Considerable difficulties were experienced in taking the engine to the site of operations, as it had to be taken across all sorts of country and through the Dart river. It took eleven horses for the work, but under the capable whip of Mr J. Cronin almost insurmountable difficulties were overcome without the slightest mishap. -Lake County Press, 24/5/1906.
Glenorchy Notes
From Our Own Correspondent.
We have had the most glorious weather we could wish for during the Christmas holidays, bright,. warm, sunny days with gentle breezes now and then. Many local people whoso work would allow them went for drives and picnics to the different beauty spots. Tourists were not very numerous till the last few days in the district, but now there are a few more coming, and an additional number of excursionists who take the drive to Paradise and back in the same day. A new drive has also been commenced from Kinloch to Kowhai Creek, a very pretty picnicking place. In a short time the road is to be improved which will enable them to drive to the Routeburn Valley and back the same day for the steamer. Mr Fenn’s Hotel Arcadia is now completed, though out buildings and grounds have yet to be erected and completed. The hotel itself can now rank among the first hotels of New Zealand. The furniture, fittings, and paper hangings are the most beautiful I have ever seen anywhere, and the comfort of the guests had been considered everywhere. Mr Fenn has been fortunate in his staff. Mr and Mrs Story being the right people in the right place. -Southland Times, 4/1/1907.
In our article on "Arcadia," Paradise, last week, we omitted to mention that a private telephone was being erected by Mr Fenn between the new house and Glenorchy. This, it is obvious, will prove a great boon, particularly to those who wish to make arrangements for board, etc. -Lake Wakatip Mail, 15/1/1907.
GLENORCHY NOTES
Mr J. C. Fenn has sold his property (including that fine building “Arcadia”) to Mr Reid, of Alexandra. I hear that Mr Reid intends to utilise “Arcadia” as a residence, so that it will in future be closed to tourists. Mr Fenn will in future reside in England, and in his departure the district is losing a gentleman whom it will he hard to replace. Mr Fenn has proved himself a friend to many, and although of a quiet and retiring disposition be took a keen interest in any movement that had for its object the welfare of the district. His donations were always liberal, particularly to the various local patriotic funds. His many friends here will wish him many years of health and happiness in his retirement. -Lake County Press, 17/2/1920.
OBITUARY.
JOSEPH CYPRIAN FENN; Aged 69,
On Thursday last death claimed one off the oldest and most highly respected inhabitants of the district in the person of Mr Joseph Cyprian Fenn. In coming straight from England, a young man, in 1881, Mr Fenn settled in Paradise, Lake Wakatipu, purchasing all the Messrs McBride’s and Whitburn’s properties there, and with the exception of very rare and short business trips he has never been a day or a night out of Paradise since. Four years ago Mr Fenn disposed of his property to Mr Alex. Head, but he continued to reside in his old home until Boxing Day, when, being extremely ill, he was conveyed to Queenstown, where he passed away at Mrs Fix’s private hospital.
Writing of Mr Fenn, our Glenorchy correspondent describes him as a man of strong character and sterling worth, a man possessed of an inflexible will, allied to a high sense of honour, and one who was of a generous nature. A highly educated man, having passed through Cambridge University, Mr Fenn was a fine type of cultured English gentleman. In his young days he was also no mean athlete, having rowed with success in the Cambridge eight against Oxford. Of a very sensitive and reserved nature, deceased never took any part in public affairs, but he was a great reader and a keen lover and student of nature. The romantic beauty and magnificent grandeur of the scenery amid which he lived so long had a strong appeal for him, and he never thought of leaving these familiar scenes or his hermit’s castle until death forced his departure. For him the city had no lure; the whirl and the dissipation of what are called the pleasures of life held for him no charm. Although a retiring disposition prevented Mr Fenn from participating publicly in many of the local functions, a subscription list — especially one for any charitable or patriotic purpose — was never presented to him in vain. Quiet and unaffected, a cultured gentleman, one who loved nature and the simple life, he has passed from amongst us, leaving behind the record of a stainless life, and a memory to which honour and respect, in the highest degree, will always be paid by those who knew him best. Mr Fenn, who was a batchelor, leaves no relatives in the Dominion. The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon, the remains being interred in the Queenstown cemetery. The Rev. Wm. Uphill, relieving vicar of St. Peters, conducted the burial service. -Lake Wakatip Mail, 8/1/1924.
Mr Joseph Cyprian Fenn, a resident of many years’ standing at Diamond Lake, Paradise, the show place beyond the head of Lake Wakatipu, died in a private hospital in Queenstown on Friday. Deceased, who was 74 years of age, came from the Home Land nearly half a century ago and engaged in farming at the head of the lake, where he had been for over 40 years. Some years ago he built the accommodation house known as Arcadia on a piece of his run at Paradise. This he sold with his property when he disposed of it to Mr Alex. Reid a few years ago, Since then he had lived in retirement. Mr Fenn was educated at Cambridge University, England. He never married, and lived in close retirement all his life at Paradise. -Wairarapa Daily Times, 9/1/1924.
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