Cuba Street and Manners Street. He bought out Cooper and Holt's share in 1850. Though his claims to the near two million acres were largely disallowed his 30,000 acres Heaton Park estate at Bulls had been a component. It is thought his acquisition of another 80,000 acres in the North Island could be an underestimate and to that should be added another 100,000 acres of grazing rights. Later, along with his younger brothers, their South Island estates stretched from Banks Peninsula to Otago. With similar holdings in the Hawkes Bay – East Coast regions they together controlled, by the 1850s, in excess of 300,000 acres. W B Rhodes and Co In addition to supplying imported livestock and goods of all kinds including liquor to settlers he held the contract to supply troops, the "Hickety Pips". He shipped out his own wool and rapidly obtained the agencies for the major shipping companies. By the 1850s he was not only an insurance agent but a substantial financier. He helped found The New Zealand Shipping Company, New Zealand Insurance and The Bank of New Zealand. Highland Park Rhodes bought his Wellington sheep run from the original holders in 1849 and in 1865 built the driveway now known as Wadestown Road for access to his new house there, The Grange. After his widow's death it became the residence of Sir Harold Beauchamp, father of Katherine Mansfield and, in stages, the former sheep run was subdivided into sites for houses. Politics As a result of his prominence in the national community he decided to enter politics. He served on the Wellington Provincial Council, where he was a strong supporter of Isaac Featherston. He was then elected to the 1st New Zealand Parliament as the representative for the Wellington Country seat, covering Miramar, Mākara, Porirua, the Kapiti Coast and Horowhenua, from 1853 to 1855. From 1858 he represented the City of Wellington electorate in the 2nd Parliament and the 3rd Parliament, but failed to win re-election in 1866. He was later appointed to the Legislative Council. Family Wives and his daughter W B Rhodes' first marriage was in May 1852 to Sarah King, daughter of solicitor John King. She died in August 1862 aged 28. There were no surviving children. In October 1869 after completing The Grange, a new homestead for his Highland Park property, he married Sarah Ann Moorhouse (c. 1837–1914), a sister of William