His son, James Edward Payne, tells (from http://ourpedigrees.shampayne.org.nz/p1.htm#i1):

James Payne was born on 11 September 1908 at 28 Patten Street in Birkenhead, CHS, ENG. (Birkenhead Registration District 1908 Dec Qtr 8a 421). He lived in Birkenhead, CHS, ENG, after 1908. He was the son of James Payne and Margaret Copeland.

On 27 May 1926 James Payne emigrated from Liverpool, England on the Pakeha with £20 and a case of clothes. arriving at Sydney, NSW, AUS, on 17 July 1926 (He went out under the Dreadnought Scheme, one of the juvenile emigration schemes of that time. They were meant to go out on the EURIPIDES, but when it caught fire they were switched to the Shaw Saville and Albion ship the PAKEHA on which wooden cabins had been built for their accommodation. It appears that there were also other young boys as part of the Big Brother Scheme on the ship as well. The PAKEHA called in at Cape Town for coal, Albany (Freemantle), Adelaide, Melbourne finally arriving in Sydney. Dad said that they arrived in Sydney on 8 August 1926 but this wouldn't tie into the date he commenced at Grafton).

From Sydney he was sent up north to the Grafton Experimental Farm situated on the Clarence River. He stayed there for three months and he was taught how to milk. When this training was finished he was put on a farm near Brisbane. While he was there he got a poisoned left foot and spent Christmas and New Year in hospital. He remembered hearing one of the nurses calling to another nurse, "Have you seen this young Englishman? He's got the most beautiful complexion!"

After he had been released from hospital he met another English lad who was working on a farm that was being sold up because of the drought. Then the rain had come and they found that with the new grass they needed another milker. He went to the farm, but apart from the milking there was very little to do there.

When the farm was finally sold up and the job was completed they were paid off and came down to Sydney on the Express about 8-10 August. They had 10 pound each and stopped at the People's Palace. They arrived on a Wednesday and on the Friday they went to see the sights. In Martin Place, the shipping and business area, they saw a notice advising that the S.S. Ulimaroa would leave the next day at noon for Wellington, New Zealand. It cost him 6 pound 10 shillings to travel steerage.

He lived at Salvation Army's Hostel, in Wellington, WTN, NZ, about 15 August 1927. (It only cost him £2/10/- a week but eventually his money ran out and he went to the Labour Exchange. There were no jobs available. He walked out but was called back and asked, "Can you milk cows? Can you fence? An inquiry has just come in." He was advised to go out to Mr Charlie Thomas' farm at Mirimar. It would only cost him sixpence for the six sections and the tram would pass the farm. He replied that he would walk as he had no money but the man lent him sixpence.).

He lived at at the Salvation Army Hostel, in Wellington, WTN, NZ, in July 1928. (As he had been paid before he left the Pinnacles, he decided to have a holiday before starting working again). He lived in Dellow's Bluff, Murchison, NLN, NZ, about August 1929. He lived in Murchison, NLN, NZ, before 31 August 1932.

He married Minnie Clare Gibson, daughter of Ebenezer Gurchen Gibson and Eliza Payton, on 31 August 1932 Methodist service at residence of E G Gibson at Maruia South, NLN, NZ. (Jim had been told that permanent jobs were now available for married men so that perhaps sped up their marriage..). James Payne and Minnie Clare Payne lived at at the bottom on the Murchison side, in Hope Saddle, NLN, NZ, in May 1934. (They along with six other PWD families, some of whom had up to three children, were living in tents there.). James Payne and Minnie Clare Payne and Betty Margaret Payne lived in Sandy Creek, near Glenhope, NLN, NZ, on 2 May 1936. James Payne and Minnie Cl