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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Councillor William Coster

Councillor William Coster , who was elected a member of the Mataura Borough Council in 1902, is a well-known coalmine owner. He was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1863, went to school in his native place, and accompanied his parents to Port Chalmers by the ship “Buckinghamshire,” in 1871. After being six years in Mataura, Mr Coster found employment in various parts of Southland, and was farming at Forest Hill for eight years. Having removed to Mataura, he entered into the coal trade, and opened up the Mataura Lignite Pit on fifty acres of leasehold, which his firm—Beattie, Coster and Co—has acquired as a freehold. The seam is very regular, and averages fifteen feet in thickness, and the firm holds the contract to supply the local paper mills for seven years. Mr Coster was married, in 1882, to a daughter of the late Mr Samuel Shaw, of Scotland, and has four sons and six daughters.