Mr. Andrew Cumming was chairman of the Westland County Council for nine years, and has been a member for over twenty years. He was one of the first members elected to the Borough Council of Hokitika. As an energetic member of the County Council, Mr. Cumming has left no stone unturned to promote the interests of the district. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in the year 1841, and was educated at the Cumnock school. Mr. Cumming began life as a grocer's boy in Glasgow, and was afterwards for about ten years in the tea trade. He came to New Zealand in 1862, and landed in Otago by the ship “City of Dunedin.” The gold fever was then at its height, and Mr. Cumming was appointed gold buyer for the Bank of Otago at its Hindon branch. He afterwards took charge of a business for two years for Messrs Eastgate and Company. In 1865 Mr. Cumming removed to Hokitika, and established himself in business in Revell Street. He, however, sold out four years later, and took up some land in the Kokatahi district. Mr. Cumming was for some time chairman of the Westland Licensing Committee. He married a daughter of Mr. Gavin Millar, of Airdrie, Scotland, and has eight daughters and two sons.