South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce

Who Are We?

The South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce is a non-political, non-profit organisation which represents the full spectrum of business interests, both small and large, in South Canterbury - retailing, service, manufacturing exporters, importers and other organisations.

The Chamber is one of 22,000 Chambers worldwide, and 32 in New Zealand.  It was formed in 1992 from the merger of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, the South Canterbury branch of the Export Institute of NZ Inc. and the South Canterbury Manufacturers Association. 

Our membership has doubled in size over the last 2 years covering a large spectrum of the business sector.

The Chamber is governed by an elected President and Board of Directors, supported by skilled and professional staff.

The History of our Chamber
The Chamber celebrated 100 years at their Annual General Meeting and dinner in November 2006.
An insight into what's gone on before us......

100 YEARS OF THE SOUTH CANTERBURY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Following is a glimpse into the past hundred years of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce & Industry.   It gives us some insight into the changing face of business and some of the personalities who have helped to mould both the Chamber and the Community.   

 One thing that has not changed is that the Chamber is and always has been a non political and independent body working in the best interests of business in the community and nationwide if and when the need arises.  And, the Presidents have always been extremely busy men – the old saying about giving a busy person a job I guess……

But in earlier days it was customary for the local Post Master, Station Master, and managers of the Harbour Board, Power Board, County Councils, and various industry associations to be prominent members of the Chamber.    In fact as Maurice Smith found during his long relationship with the Chamber, both as Vice President and then Secretary for many years, it was customary for the Post Master or Station Master to phone and invite him to morning tea from time to time to keep up with what was happening on the business front.    Also the local Member of Parliament, then Sir Basil Arthur, regularly consulted with the Chamber to keep up to date with what was happening businesswise in his electorate and this gave local businesses an opportunity to lobby if and when necessary.   It appears to have been very much a male bastion  and I think they would have been rather envious of our membership numbers which now stand at 478 and include a much better representation of the female business community.   Maybe some of the first Presidents would be horrified at this fact as of course the Chamber was in existence long before New Zealand women were the first in the world to be given the vote in 1928.

The first President in 1906 was Mr J P Newman and he reappears in 1919 when he served for a further year.  
John Patterson Newman came from England to New Zealand in 1879.    After a time in Christchurch and Invercargill where he was manager of Wright Stephenson & Co, he came to Timaru in 1899 to manage the Canterbury Farmers Co-operative Assn or CFCA.    His family can’t have seen much of him I don’t think as in addition to his job he was Vice President of the Timaru Rowing and Cycle Touring Clubs, Chairman of the Woolbrokers Assn, a keen follower of Music, Member of the Timaru Harbour Board, a J.P. , a Director & Chairman of Timaru Gas Co, S C Breweries, Evans Atlas Flour Mills, Farmers Co-operative Insurance and Director and Chairman of Westland Timber.   A very busy man to say the least.
He was followed by Moses White, Manager of the NZ Loan & Mercantile Agency having been Secretary to the Timaru Landing  Shipping Co. under Mr F Le Cren.

From 1910 – 11  Mr W Priest took the helm having founded the firm Priest & Holdgate, ironmongers.
 
 Such names as D C Turnbull, the founder of D C Turnbull & Co, whose son Hugh and now grandson Andrew continue the business currently, was President 1912 – 13.

During the period of the First World War, there were a succession of Presidents and one of these was M J Doyle, who came from Ireland to Australia in 1889 and came to Timaru with his family in 1892 and became General Manager of the Timaru Herald.

 P B Foote who also  served two terms as President during the 1920s -1930’s was the founder of the present day Footes and was National President of the New Zealand Institute of Accountants.

 Others during this period were M White, W Priest, G S Gray, K G Turner, F Barkas, W R Pearson, E G Rawnsley, and  W G Irwin

In 1923 R S Forsythe, C M G , Manager of National Mortgage took over the Presidency.   He was an interesting character who represented New Zealand on the Empire Marketing Board, London, was Imperial Adviser to the NZ Government at an Imperial Conference in Ottawa in 1932, was on the Imperial Economic Commission in London in 1933, and was President of the British Association for Refrigeration.

In 1921 the Chamber became an incorporated body and the list of Presidents during the next 10 years includes G C Curtis, FC May, P B Foote, R B Bell, B L Blodorn , W I Tait and F S Shrimpton who began his working life as an office boy for D C Turnbull in 1894, worked his way up to Manager and actually died while still in office.

W T Ritchie, President from 1931 – 1933 was Chairman of the Harbour Board.    He graduated in Mechanical Science from Cambridge University and alongside his academic achievements  played Rugby for Scotland vs England and Ireland.

In 1934 under the Chairmanship of Mr G D Virtue, a meeting was organized by the Progress & Publicity Committee of the Chamber and held in The Little Playhouse to discuss the need for a publicity campaign for Timaru.     The Publicity Manager for N Z Railways addressed the Meeting and praised Timaru and Caroline Bay as the finest watering place in the Dominion!   It was decided to spend 350 pounds on an advertising campaign within New Zealand and overseas.

Another 10 years later and Mr W S Minehan took the Chair.   He was the Manager of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company and apart from being married to the famous Rita, he became something of a local celebrity when he was robbed at gunpoint on the highway south of Timaru when delivering the Payroll to the Pareora Freezing Works.

Many of the Presidents appear to have been either associated with Stock Firms, or local bodies or boards and one exception is Mr Sam McClelland who was President from 1944 – 45 and also 1947-49 and was a local Menswear Retailer.

 Mr C R Hervey , businessman and later Mayor , was President  from 1950 – 52 and later a Life Member and his son Mark followed in 1979 – 1981.

1954 – 56 was the turn of Mr J S Satterthwaite, Stockbroker, followed by Mr N H Gould, Goulds Transport Company, Mr E W D Unwin, Timber Merchant and Mr P W Young, an Accountant.

During the period 1967 onwards, Presidents included M A Brownie, Footwear retailer and Councillor, I.A. Johnson , Panel Beating Business who was made a Life Member, R G Blackham, Real Estate Agency and Councillor, J A Hogg, Publican and Auctioneer who was made a Life Member along with Maurice Smith , D E Potter, Hervey Motors, J K O’Donnell, Plumbing Business,and P F Lewis, Aluminium Manufacturer who was also responsible for organizing and running the very successful Industries Fairs.

During the 1980’s the harsh economic times were a matter of concern to the Chamber and also issues such as patronage of Timaru Airport, The Roading Plan for State Highway l, Support for the Young Enterprise Plan, The Opuha Irrigation Scheme, and the siting of finance houses in Stafford Street.

Mr Sid McAuley was President from 1987-1990 during a period when the re-establishing of a Food Processing Industry in South Canterbury was of prime importance.

In 1988 Mr Greg Mulvey from the Invercargill Licensing Trust spoke on the perils of setting up a Hotel/ Conference Centre in Timaru – what’s new?

In 1991 Mr Nigel Watt took the Chamber by the scruff of the neck and gave it something of a major shake up.    He was General Manager of the Timaru Herald  and together with Maurice Smith instigated the Business After 5’s which of course have gone from strength to strength in recent times
Also at this time, the Export Institute made approaches to the South Canterbury Chamber to amalgamate and while all this was taking place, the Manufacturers Association also asked if they could join, with the result that in 1992 a new organization, the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce & Industry as it is known today, was formed under a new constitution to incorporate all three bodies.

Kevin Cosgrove continued the good work with the BA5’s as did Jimmy Wallace, Howard Smith, Roy Weaver and Terry Byrne.      Which brings us up to the the present day with Steve at the helm.

In 1998 the Aoraki Development Trust took over the Secretarial duties of the Chamber and this partnership is the envy of other Chambers around New Zealand.