WAITT, ROBERT (1816-66) was born near Jedburgh, Scotland. After finishing his education he went to London, where he had a thorough business training in the office of the Lord Mayor of the time. He came to New Zealand in the first year of the settlement of Wellington, where he established himself as a merchant and auctioneer as early as Sep 1840. He lived at Te Aro, and his wharf and store were on the old beach near Manners street.

Waitt was one of the earliest stockowners in the South Island, having sheep in charge of a man at Kaikoura in 1849. In 1850, by the advice of his friend John Scott Caverhill, he took up a government lease of all the country which afterwards became the Teviotdale and Glenmark stations, on the north bank of the Waipara river. On the arrival of the first Canterbury settlers, Waitt opened a branch of his merchant's business in Lyttelton, in partnership with D. M. Laurie. In 1854, G. H. Moore arrived from Tasmania and bought the freehold of 58,000 acres on the Glenmark run, selecting his land in such a way as to make the rest of the Glenmark leasehold unworkable without it, so that Waitt had to surrender the leasehold to him. Waitt went on with Teviotdale, and in 1854 wound up his Wellington business and settled permanently in Canterbury. He lived partly at Teviotdale and partly at Casterton, his house in the Heathcote valley, and divided his time between the station and the business in Lyttelton. He married Catherine, daughter of Donald Macdonald, a very early settler, who chartered his own ship to bring out his family. In 1856 Waitt published The Progress of Canterbury, a pleasantly written pamphlet in the form of a letter to Captain Joseph Thomas (q.v.). His health broke down about 1862 and he retired from active work, leasing Teviotdale with the sheep, dissolving his partnership with Laurie, and selling off the merchandise by auction. He died at Opawa on 14 Sep 1866.

Waitt does not seem to have taken politics very seriously. He sat for Wellington Country district in the Wellington Provincial Council (1853-54). He was also an alderman in the first Wellington municipal council (1842) and one of the original stewards of the Wellington Racing club. In Canterbury he represented Lyttelton in the Provincial Council (1857-58). He was a very well-set-up, athletic looking man, rather dark, and wore a full beard. He had a friendly manner with all kinds of people, and a good sense of humour, and enjoyed speaking the broadest Scots dialect.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Cycl. N.Z., v, 119; Parltry Record; Ward; Waitt, op. cit.; Acland; personal information from contemporary settlers; Jane Deans, Letters to My Grandchildren.

Reference: Volume 2, page 222

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