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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Mr. John Rennie

Mr. John Rennie has represented the County of Selwyn on the Lyttelton Harbour Board since November, 1897. He first took up his residence at Doyleston, in 1863, and from that early period, when the district was little more than a wide expanse of almost uninhabited land, he has taken a prominent part in transforming it into a well ordered and highly productive area. Mr. Rennie was for twenty years a member of the Ellesmere Road Board, and has for many years occupied a seat on the Selwyn County Council, which he represents not only on the Lyttelton Harbour Board, but on the Christchurch Hospital Board. He has been a director of the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Association since its inception in 1881, and is now (1902) a member of the executive committee, Mr. Rennie is also a member of the Board of Governors for the Lincoln Agricultural College, and of the North Canterbury Education Board, of which he was chairman in 1900. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1840. After receiving a somewhat scanty education at Turiff, Aberdeenshire, he sailed for New Zealand, and landed at Dunedin in 1858. He shortly afterwards found his way to Canterbury, where he was for some years engaged in railway contracting and other work. In the early sixties he took up land at Prebbleton, and, in conjunction with Mr J. Osborne, was the first to import a steam threshing plant into the district. Mr. Rennie purchased his present estate at Doyleston in 1863, and thirteen years later disposed of his property at Prebbleton. He was married in 1867, and has a family of four sons and four daughters.