Gaffney, William Alexander , General Storekeeper, corner of Ythan and Deveron Streets. Invercargill. This business was established about 1885, and has been conducted by the present proprietor since 1903. The premises consist of a wood and iron building, containing shop, office, store and dwelling. Mr. Gaffney was born at Wellington, and was educated at the South School, Invercargill. He learned his trade with Mr. McLean, of Tweed Street, and was afterwards with Mr. R. Jenkins, for several years, before taking over his present business. Mr. Gaffney served three years in the Invercargill City Guards; and has passed all the chairs in Court Star of the South, Ancient Order of Foresters. He was married, in 1904, to a daughter of Mr. Richard Richards, of Invercargill.

Photo by Mr. E. B. Pilcher.
Mr. W. A. Gaffney's Store.

Gerstenkorn, photo
Messrs Fleming And Company's Flour Mills, Invercargill.

Fleming And Company (Thomas Fleming, John Rennie, and William Herbert Pollock Fleming), Flour Millers and Grain Merchants, Athenaeum Chambers, Dee Street, Invercargill, Mills; Tyne and Conon Streets, Invercargill, and at Winton. There is a full roller plant at the Tyne Street mill, which has a capacity of six sacks per hour; the mill at Winton has a capacity of three sacks per hour.

This large business was originally established by Mr. T. Fleming and Mr. P. L. Gilkison, in 1872, under the style of Fleming and Gilkison; but was changed to its present constitution in 1902. The old mills in Invercargill were burned down in 1889, and the present one was erected in the following year. It is a four-storey brick building, and contains the most modern roller flour milling plant. The engines consist of one horizontal compound condensing 25-horse power nominal, capable of being worked up to 80-horse power. The boiler is of 30-horse power nominal, with a capacity of 120 lbs pressure, and the entire works are lighted by electricity generated on the premises. Messrs Davie, Paxman and Co., of Colchester. England, made the engine and boiler, and all the milling plant was manufactured by T. Robinson and Son, of Rochdale, England. The wheat is tipped into a receiving bin at the basement, and passes through separators and cylinders, being treated with hot and cold air, and when quite cold enters the milling machines, and passes through the entire plant automatically. It is consigned into bags containing from twenty-five to 200 lbs, and is then ready for the market without further handling. The mill is connected with the railway by a siding; and when on full time, twelve men are employed.

Mr. Thomas Fleming , the Senior Partner in the firm, was born in 1848 at Holm Farm, on the banks of the river Avon. Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and was educated at the Glassford parish school. Sailing for New Zealand in 1862, together with his parents and nine brothers and sisters, in the ship “Storm Cloud,” he landed at the Bluff in December of that year, and was engaged in farming with his parents for a number of years before establishing the milling business in 1872, in conjunction with Mr. P. L. Gilkison. For some time he took an interest in municipal affairs; he represented page 856 Third. Ward in the Borough Council for a number of years, and he filled the office of Mayor during the year 1889–90. Mr. Fleming is further referred to as a farmer under Raka houka.

Mr. John Rennie , one of the partners in the firm of Fleming and Company, was born in 1866, at Rosebank, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was educated at St. John's Academy, Hamilton, and came to Wellington by the s.s. “Kaikoura” in 1887. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Rennie removed to Southland, and entered the service of Messrs Fleming and Gilkison, as accountant. He served in this position until 1901, when he became manager of the local branch of the New Zealand Flour Millers' Association, and joined the firm as a partner on its reconstitution in 1902. As a Freemason Mr. Rennie is attached to Lodge Southern Cross. He was married, in 1895, to a daughter of Mr. Thomas Fleming, of Invercargill, and has three daughters.

Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. J. Rennie.

Mr. Lawrence Gardiner , Head Miller at the Invercargill Roller Flour Mills, is the eldest son of the late Mr. Charles Gardiner, who founded the first mill in the district at Waihopai, about 1865. Mr. Gardiner was educated at the Central School, and commenced his milling experience at the age of fifteen, with the firm of Fleming and Gilkison—now Fleming and Company. He worked through all the grades of the service, and was placed in full control in 1898. Mr. Gardiner served as a volunteer for three years in the G Battery, and is attached to Lodge St. George, Manchester Unity, Independent Order of Oddfellows, in which he has passed all the chairs. He was married, in February, 1893, and has four sons and two daughters.

Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. L. Gardiner.

Stirling, William Neilson , Storekeeper and Merchant, Dee Street, Invercargill. This business was established by the proprietor in Dee Street in 1887. The premises now occupied have been altered and adapted to suit the requirements of the business. The building, which is of brick, was originally an auction mart, but it has been transformed into a spacious double-fronted shop, with an office and storeroom behind. Mr. Stirling is referred to in another article as a member of the Invercargill Borough Council.