Mccallum And Company (Archibald McCallum and William Asher), Sawmillers and Timber Merchants; Head Office, Clyde Street, Invercargill. This firm has sawmills at Forest Hill, Kapuka, South Port, Round Hill, Colac, Ermedale, Glenburn, and Fairfax; from all of which there is a very large output of timber. The timber consists of red, white and black pine, and there is also some miro and totara; and twenty-five persons are employed in connection with the mills. The firm has branch offices at Dunedin, Oamaru, Kelso, Gore and Winton.

Mr. William Asher , one of the partners of the firm of McCallum and Company, was born in 1832, at Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland. His father was a wheelwright, but he himself was brought up to farming. He arrived at Port Chalmers by the ship “Alpine,” on the 19th of September, 1859, and travelled to Invercargill by a small steamer, the “Geelong,” which landed its passengers on the beach on Christmas Day, 1859. Mr. Asher worked at Stewart Island for about eighteen months, and then had some experience at Gabriel's Gully. He was also road contracting for a time, and with Messrs McCallum, Muldoch and Dalgleish, joined in founding the firm of McCallum and Company in 1864. McCallum and Co. own a farm of 200 acres at Seaward Bush, and have 1800 acres at Morton Mains. One of the first works Mr. Asher undertook was to erect a bridge over the Puni Creek, for the Otago Provincial Government. Mr. Asher was married, in 1862, to a daughter of the late Mr. James Harrold, of Morayshire, and has one daughter and one son.

Mr. W. Asher

Residence Of Mr. W. Asher.

Oteramika Sawmill (George F. Murdoch, proprietor), Oteramika Road. Mr. Murdoch's plant consists of an eight-horse power portable engine, which drives the saws, and a five-horse power hauling engine. It is intended to start shortly at Stewart Island with a much larger plant. Mr. Murdoch was born in 1866, at Invercargill, where he was educated, and went into the office of his father, Mr. George Murdoch, timber merchant, and remained there six or seven years. He started sawmilling in 1903. Mr. Murdoch was married, in 1892, to a daughter of Mr. W. Young, Town Clerk of Invercargill, and has three sons and two daughters.

The Southland Timber Company , (J. Hensley, Managing Partner), Sawmillers and Timber Merchants, Invercargill. Office, Esk Street, Invercargill; branch offices, Dunedin and Christchurch. This company has up-to-date steam sawmills situated at Otautau, Te Tua, Otapiri, and Kamahai, near Edendale. The mill at Otautau was erected in 1903, and is capable of producing over 6000 feet per day; the other three mills each produce from 4000 feet to 5000 feet daily. The Company's operations extend over Otago. Southland and Canterbury, and its connection is still increasing.

Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. J Hensley.

Timpany Brothers (William Timpany, Robert Timpany, and Thomas Timpany), Sawmillers and Timber Merchants; Head Office, Forth Street, Invercargill. Sawmills at Pahia, Timpany's Siding, Waimatua, and Fairfax. This large business was established in 1883, and the mills belonging to the firm are able to produce six million feet of timber per annum. The wood is chiefly of the red, white and black pine varieties, and from eighty to a hundred persons are employed in connection with the work. The head office of the firm in Forth Street is a large wood and iron building, where an immense stock of all kinds of timber is maintained. The produce of the firm is in large demand throughout Southland, Otago, and Canterbury.

Mr. William Timpany , Senior Partner in the firm of Timpany Brothers, was born in 1858, in Ayrshire, Scotland, where he received his education. He landed at the Bluff, in 1875, by the ship “Christian McCausland,” and found employment in connection with the Southland Sawmills till 1883, when he founded the firm of Timpany Brothers. The firm's first sawmill was on the Mataura river, where the Kahikatea Bush was worked out; and the other mills were subsequently erected. Mr. Timpany was for several years a member of the Mataura Licensing Committee, and also served on the Fortrose school committee, and was chairman of the Kapuka school committee. He was initiated as a Freemason in the local Lodge at page 860 Wyndham. Mr. Timpany was married, in 1883, to a daughter of the late Mr. James Nieholson, of East Invercargill, and has four sons and five daughters.