The Invercargill Chamber Of Commerce dates from 1863. The office of the Chamber is in Dee Street, and there were about forty members page 835 for the year 1904. Mr. J. E. Watson is president, Mr. W. D. Hunt, vice-president; and the other members of the committee are Messrs J. McQueen, I. W. Raymond, J. Crosby Smith, E. Hammond, and J. Callender. Mr. A. D. Strang is auditor; and Mr. C. Rout acts as secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Irven Willis Raymond , formerly President of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, is the eldest surviving son of Captain J. W. Raymond, late of Avondale station, and was born in Invercargill in the year 1861. Mr. Raymond is one of Southland's most prominent citizens and a fearless public man. He began the battle of life at the age of sixteen, and five years later opened a stock and station agency business in Wyndham, which has since been extended to Invercargill. At the age of twenty-one, he was placed on the commission of the peace, and two years subsequently was elected to several public bodies, including the Bluff Harbour Board, Southland County Council, Education Board, and Chamber of Commerce, and has at various times been chairman or president of each of these bodies; indeed, during one year, he held the chairmanship of three of them. He takes a keen interest in politics, in opposition to the party now (1904) in power. But from first to last he has proved himself to be a useful settler, who has unstintedly applied his ability in the just administration of various local bodies, in the interest of his fellow colonists.

Mr. I. W. Raymond.

Mr. William Duffus Hunt , who has been Vice-President of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, since 1903, was born in 1867 in Auckland, where he was educated. He removed to Otago in 1885, and had six years' experience of country life before joining the staff of Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co., at Gore in 1891. Three years later Mr. Hunt went to Dunedin, where he had two years' experience at the head office of the firm; and on the opening of the Southland branch, in 1896, he was sent to Invercargill as resident partner and manager. Mr. Hunt was married, in 1894, and has two sons and one daughter.

The Southland Building And Investment Society And Bank Of Deposit , Tay Street, Invercargill. This well-known institution was established in 1869, in Esk Street, and some years later it was removed to the commodious premises erected by the Society in Tay Street. Directors: Messrs R. Erskine, president; J. Kingsland, R. J. Cumming, C. W. Brown, W. B. Scandrett, J. J. Wesney, G. Froggart, J. Stead, J. E. Hannah, and J. Erskine. Mr. James Brown is secretary, and Messrs R. F. Cuthbertson and R. Allen, auditors. The Society has power to borrow up to £65,016, and the value of members' shares in 1903 was £56,751. The total amount of debentures issued under its borrowing power was £45,352, and the amount advanced on mortgages, £97,535. Since the inception of the Society the sum of £96,758 has been credited to members by way of profit. The total turnover of the Society up to 1903 had been £1,779,077.

Mr. James Brown , Secretary of the Southland Building and Investment Society since 1872, was born in Scotland, in 1839. He arrived at the Bluff by the ship “Robert Henderson,” in 1863, and was employed as a photographer before his appointment to his present position. Mr. Brown was a member of the Invercargill Road Board in the early days. He was married, in 1864, to a daughter of the late Mr J. McGregor, of Perthshire, Scotland, and has one son and three daughters.