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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Gifkins, William

Gifkins, William, Woolscourer and Fellmonger, North Road, Styx. Mr. Gifkins is a native of Hertfordshire, England, where he was educated. He came to New Zealand in the ship Celestial Queen,” landed at Dunedin in the year 1868, and learned his business with Mr. W. Rutherford, at the Burnside Fellmongery, Green Island, Otago. Then he removed to Canterbury, and erected woolscouring plants in several parts of the province, first at Alford station, in the Ashburton district, and afterwards at Double Hill, Mount Hutt, Acheron, Lake Heron, Lake Coleridge, and Glenthorne. In 1882 he bought the property where he now resides and commenced his present business, which has steadily increased. The property contains about eleven and a half acres, and the buildings consist of a sorting shed, 72 feet by 36 feet, a scouring shed 60 feet by 24 feet, and a packing shed, 60 feet by 50 feet. The buildings contam all the necessary appliances for the successful treatment of wool and skins, and the machinery includes a thoroughly up-to-date wool press, and a wool scouring machine designed by the proprietor, and manufactured by Messrs Booth and Macdonald, Christchurch. Mr. Gifkins is well known in Masonic circles. He was initiated in the Lodge of Concord in 1890, under the New Zealand Constitution, and was the first New Zealand initiate to obtain the Master's chair, in which ne was installed in 1893, and was re-eleoted the following year. In 1896 he was elected to the office of Assistant Grand Secretary; he received the appointment of Junior Grand Warden in 1897, and in 1900 was appointed Provincial Grand Master for the district of Canterbury. He is a member of the Albert Edward Royal Arch Chapter, was also one of the founders of the Canterbury Rose Croix Chapter, and in 1896 was elected to the office of Most Wise, and received the degree of Prince of Memphis 32–94 degree. He holds the office of Deputy Grand Representative of the Grand Mystic Temple Council General 32degree, also Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, United States of America. Mr. Gifkins takes considerable interest in local affairs, and was for some time chairman of the Papanui school committee.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo Mr. W. Gifkins.

Wrigglesworth and Binns, photo
Mr. W. Gifkins.