27/10/2026
𝘼 𝙨𝙣𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩...
However, Gaskin’s problem seems to be with creditors. He’s back in court again in August, this time in Christchurch, where R.T. Leatham is asking Gaskin to pay him £7 17/- 6d ($1,550). Judgement again goes against Gaskin.
November 23rd, 1909, sees the first Little River A & P Show**. There are more than 750 entries, and highlights will be the Little River Brass Band, a variety of side shows, and a booth operated by Mr. Gaskin. He is also on the organising committee, creating, perhaps, a minor conflict of interest. But Gaskin is also a keen horseman, and his thoroughbred-entire, Buccleuch, wins second place in the light horse division. Now fully integrated into the community, Gaskin has also become a vice president of the Little River Athletics Sports Club the Banks Peninsula Collie Dog Club, the Star Football Club and is a member of the Kinloch Defence R***e Club. Having shown the Boers a thing or two, and successfully kept the Russians at bay, the local lads were keen to keep themselves fighting fit for the next conflict. They wouldn’t have to wait long.
November of 1910, and Gaskin is again the victim of fraud. Benjamin Searby had forged a £15 (a bit over $3,000) cheque in the names of J. Morse and Minnie Westwood. He then uttered the cheque to Gaskin. “Uttering”, in legal jargon, doesn’t mean he said anything. It means he made use of a forged document with the intention of defrauding someone. Searby was a prohibitionist, a swindler, a wife be**er and a quack who travelled the country swindling and peddling cold tea as a remedy for all ills. To gain the confidence of his victims he would pass himself off as “Dr. Searby” and had previously been involved in a fraud attempt against Gaskin for £32 ($6,600) on December 30th, 1908. On the most recent occasion, he had made good his escape and had to be retrieved from Sydney in police custody. His latest exploits saw him jailed for two years, with hard labour. His beaten wife, Isabel, seized the opportunity of his incarceration to apply for a separation order, charging him with “persistent cruelty and failure to maintain”. Things being what they were back then, it would be a further eight years before Isabel could apply for a dissolution of her marriage.
(**The A&P (Agricultural and Pastoral) show is an annual fixture in many New Zealand small towns, and Little River’s show is still a popular event. Such shows traditionally include events like wood chopping, sheep shearing, dog trials, horse riding, crafts, prizes for the biggest and best flowers and vegetables. Back in Gaskin’s day events were pretty much gender specific, and while the ladies might have got a look-in on flower growing, they were generally relegated to competing for best pikelets, scones, cakes, breads, pickles and jams. Things have changed of course, and now you’re just a s likely to see a woman crutching a ram and a bloke showing off his light and fluffy sponge).
⏳To be published in : 𝖡𝗈𝗍𝗍𝗈𝗆𝗌 𝖴𝗉! 𝖠 𝖧𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗒 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖫𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝖱𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝖧𝗈𝗍𝖾𝗅, 𝖻𝗒 𝖱𝗈𝖻𝗂𝗇 𝖬𝖼𝖥𝖺𝗋𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖽
Image: Photos from recent Little River A&P Shows, an integral part of our community.
