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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Councillor Andrew Balneaves
Councillor Andrew Balneaves has held a seat on the Mataura Borough Council since 1902, and was previously, for three years, a member of the Mataura Town Board. He was born in the parish of Fearn, Forfarshire, Scotland, in 1855; served his apprenticeship as a draper at Brechin, and came to Port Chalmers by the ship “Oamaru,” in 1872. For a year Mr Balneaves was employed by Messrs M. Ryrie and Co., at Balclutha, but then settled at Mataura, where he entered into the butchering business as a partner in the firm of Balneaves, Mc-Kechnie and Co. Some years later, he sold out, and in 1886, entered the service of Messrs J. MacGibbon and Sons, in the drapery department, to the management of which he was promoted in 1898, and when the business was reconstructed in March, 1905, under the style of John MacGibbon and Sons, Limited, he was admitted into partnership. Mr Balneaves has been a member of the Mataura school committee since 1890. He was at one time secretary of the Mataura Caledonain Society; he was president and treasurer of the local horticultural society in turn; and is an active member of the Mataura Rifle Club, of which he has been secretary for some years. Mr Balneaves has been an honorary member of the Mataura Lodge of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, since its formation in 1883, and treasurer for the greater part of that time. In 1881, he was married to a daughter of the late Mr Hugh Rankin, of Jameston, Scotland, and has three sons and five daughters; one daughter died in infancy.