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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]
Mr. John C. McVay
Mr. John C. McVay was Mayor of Napier from April, 1901, to April, 1902, and was formerly chairman of the public works committee of the Napier Borough Council. He was born in Auckland, and is the second son of the late Mr. John McVay, one of Auckland's early settlers, who arrived from New South Wales in the year 1841. Mr. McVay was educated at the Rev. John Gorrie's Academy, and was subsequently apprenticed to the saddlery trade. In 1873 he started the business which is now so extensively known, and in which he employs thirty persons. Mr. McVay has been a borough councillor for over twenty years, and was a member of all the standing committees of the Council, and chairman of those on which the Mayor did not sit. For several years he has been an active member of the Napier Harbour Board. Mr. McVay is president, and was formerly vice-president, of the Napier Park Racing Club, and is a director of the Hawke's Bay Permanent Building Society. Few movements for the advancement of the town and district have been inaugurated in which his ready assistance has not been available. He is a Freemason of many years' standing. In 1871 Mr. McVay married Miss Craig, of Belfast.