Mr. Thomas Finlayson , Senior Partner in the firm, who is the third son of the late Mr Robert Finlayson, was born near Dunblane, Perthshire, Scotland, in 1846. Educated at Greenloaning school, he was alterwards put to the carpenter's trade in Blackford, and worked as a journeyman in Glasgow and Edinburgh for ten years before emigrating to Otago, by the ship “Canterbury,” in 1877. On arrival in New Zealand, he settled at Wyndham, where he worked at his trade, and, in 1881, established the present business in conjunction with his brother. In 1884, Mr Finlayson married May, daughter of the late Mr Hugh McKerrow, of the Survey Department.