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

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Councillor John Shanks , Junior, has been a member of the Port Chalmers Borough Council continuously since 1898, and is now (1904) chairman of the Finance and Reserves Committee. He has always taken a keen interest in the welfare of the borough. Mr. Shanks was born in Port Chalmers, in 1862, and comes of an old family of colonists, his grandmother, Mrs Mary Williams, having arrived in New Zealand in the ship “Philip Laing,” in 1848. He was educated at the Port Chalmers Grammar School, and served an apprenticeship with Messrs Thomson Brothers, ship chandlers and provision merchants, with whom he remained for twenty years. Mr. Shanks was subsequently foreman for the Otago Dock Trust and Freezing Company, and in 1892 accepted his present position as accountant with Messrs William Gardner and Co., engineers. As a Freemason, he is secretary of the Marine Lodge, 942, English Constitution, Port Chalmers. Mr. Shanks was married, in 1888, to a daughter of the late Mr. James Whitelaw, of Wishaw, Scotland, and has four sons and two daughters.