PLOUGHMAN, JUDGE AND ADMINISTRATOR

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29269, 29 July 1960, Page 18

PLOUGHMAN, JUDGE AND ADMINISTRATOR

’ William Divan of Rosewill, ; president of the Timaru ■ Ploughing Match Association, is ' a veteran ploughman, judge and ; administrator. Mr Divan was at the first Tim- : aru ploughing match held on : the Washdyke flats three or four 1 miles from the site of tomorrow’s ' match in 1904. He was then a ; boy of 12 years of age. He vividly ; remembers that match in which ■ nine teams took part One of the ' competitors that day was the late Alick Brown, of Waimate, still a boy at that stage. Mr Divan classes him as possibly the greatest ploughman there has ever been in Canterbury. “He was al- > ways the toughest man I had up ; against me,” recalls Mr Divan. "I did beat him, but not very : often. He made a proper hobby ; of it and was most successful” There was a lapse in Timaru : fixtures following the first match ; but in 1908 as a boy of 16 Mr Divan was behind the plough : participating in a men’s class ; .which he won. For the next 25 ■ years he was ploughing at matches i from North Canterbury to South- ; land and he had wins at matches North Canterbury, Lincoln and Rakaia as well as at his- home match. In 1909 he joined the committee of the Timaru association and he has been a member ever since. While still very young he served a term as secretaiy and his present term is his third as president. He has also been a judge for about 30 years and has been a member of the judging panel of two Atlantic Silver Plough finals. Ploughing is in the Divan family blood. Mr Divan’s father, who came from Stranraer in Scotland, won a medal for ploughing before he arrived in this country. After he came out he worked at Oamaru and while there Reid and Gray’s challenged a local blacksmith who made ploughs that they could turn out a better plough than his. Mr William Divan’s father held the handles of the Reid and Gray swing plough when the two ploughs were put to test at a North Otago ploughing match close on 100 years ago. The firm’s plough was judged the winner and Mr John Divan was given the stake. Mr Wallace Divan, Mr William Divan’s son, was also a successful ploughman and in one season had three firsts and two seconds in five starts. Mr Wallace Divan

is now vice-president of the Timaru Ploughing Match Association and farms 504 acres at Rosewill in conjunction with his father under the name W. Divan and Son. , A nephew of Mr William Divan’s, Mr J. Gibson, had seven firsts in seven starts in one year. Mr William Divan’s wife’s father, Mr W. H. King, also ploughed at Timaru matches and was a former member of the committee of the association. Back in 1908 Mr William Divan practised on the paddock where tomorrow’s match will be held. The property now owned by a sister, Miss Mary Divan, was originally taken up by his father, Mr John Divan, more than 80 years ago, “I don't think that anyone will be at a disadvantage there,” he says.