PHARAZYN, ROBERT (1833-96), the son of C. J. Pharazyn (q.v.), was born in London, and came to New Zealand with his parents. Shortly afterwards he was sent to Auckland for his education at St John's College. He purchased land at Te Aute, Hawke's Bay, became a sheep farmer and took part in the agitation for separation from Wellington. He was a prominent member of the Settlers' Association and a warden of the Waipukurau highway district (1858).

Selling out to Stokes, Pharazyn spent three years (1860-63) travelling in Europe. He came back to New Zealand just before the war on the West Coast, and purchased 5,000 acres of the Waitotara block, which he owned until his death. While improving this run (Marahau), Pharazyn gave some attention to public affairs. He was a facile writer and contributed much to the press in favour of colonial control over native affairs. He was for some years chairman in the militia. From 1865-69 he represented Wellington in the Provincial Council, and thenceforward until the abolition he represented Waitotara and Kai-iwi. At the time of the abolition he was provincial secretary. When Fox resigned the Rangitikei seat in the House of Representatives (1865) Pharazyn was elected and sat for a few months. He then retired and was appointed commissioner of West Coast lands under Fox, an office which he administered with zeal and capacity until it was abolished. In 1871 he married Mrs Lomax (née Emily Whitbread, daughter of W. N. Cole, London).

Pharazyn was for a while mayor of Wanganui (to 1874), chairman of the hospital board, and of the Wanganui and Castlecliff Railway Co. which he helped to form. In 1875-76 he was a member of the Wellington City Council, and in 1876 he contested the Wanganui seat against Bryce. He was a good speaker and a student of political science. In 1885 he was called to the Legislative Council, of which he remained a member until his death. He was a member of the banking committee in 1894. Pharazyn belonged to the old Liberal party in pre-Ballance days. In 1886 he was commissioner for New Zealand at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in London. A man of considerable culture, well informed, a keen debater and a fine conversationalist, Pharazyn had no personal ambitions in public life. What he did was done out of a sense of duty, but never perfunctorily. He published a small history of the New Zealand Society (1867). He died on 19 Jul 1896.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., 21 Jul 1896; Gisborne; Hocken; Wanganui Chronicle, 16 Sep 1874; N.Z. Times, 20 Jul 1896; Evening Post, 12 Oct 1929. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 85

🌳 Further sources