Emigrated to New South Wales in 1838 where he took up employment with the Colonial Architect. "... From Sydney he sailed to New Zealand as a member of Hobson's staff and became the first architect to live and work in this country. Mason spent twenty two years in Auckland, sampling the many occupations of a colonist ... While a Member of Parliament he moved south to Dunedin to enjoy the prosperity of a province suddenly enriched with the discovery of gold. He became Dunedin's first mayor and then in 1877 withdrew to the seclusion of Lake Wakatipu ..." -- Inside front cover.