MR. J. R. CORRIGAN DIES

Taranaki Daily News, 20 March 1935, Page 6

MR. J. R. CORRIGAN DIES

result of long illness OUTSTANDING PUBLIC FIGURE. SPORTSMAN AND BUSINESSMAN. WORK FOR DAIRY INDUSTRY. Mr. James R. Corrigan, for many year? outstanding figure in South Taranaki public life, died at his residence. The Oaks” Hawera, yesterday morning. He had been suffering from the effects of a severe illness. An attack of pneumonia hastened his death. ■. Mr. Corrigan was one of the beM known and most capable men of his day in the district, and his virile business ability was responsible for the building up of many public and private. As a dairying m he was generally considered ins and his services were rewarded when he was elected member of ? arl1 ®" ment for Patea, in which capacity he served from 1922 to 1925. For six years after being in • Parliament he was a ward representative on the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board. At one time he was particularly well known aS an owner of trotters. Born at Woodend, Canterbury, the son of Samuel Corrigan, Mr. Corrigan served his apprenticeship at the famous Longbeach station of the Grigg family. He married MiSs Annie TrOup at Tinwald and moved to Hawera 42 ago. With Mr. A. A. Fantham bought sheep and cattle for some time and then established a stud sheep farm, the products of which won high honours at all North Island shows. Southdowns, Lincolns and Border Let. cesters were all bred to a particularly high standard. FARMS IN SEVERAL PARTS. From sheep Mr. Corrigan turned to cattle, buying farms in several parts of the district. Grade cattie were usually milked, but he bred pedigree stdck well, importing Jerseys from the United K The °fact that dog trials to-day are a feature of the Taranaki, summer is largely due to his enthusiasm. In 1913 he returned from a trip to England with a great strain of working dogs, and when, with several others he tetabhshed dog trials, Marvel, Tam and Swift, hfc own dogs, were reckoned unbeatable. He was a well-known judge at trials and a member of the executive bf the New Zealand Dog Trial Association as well as a foundation member of the EgmOnt Dog Trial Club, which to-day is handsomely endowed with awards made possible largely by his own generosity • As a breeder and owner of trotters Mr. Corrigan was a leading figurem New Zealand for years. Man O War, twice Auckland Cup winner, Great Hope, New Zealand Cup winner, First Carbine, Worthy Queen, Kohara, Sister Beatrice and Rose Bingen were all first class performers. Mr. Corrigan became a life member of the Waimate Plains Trotting Club, now known as the Hawera Trotting Club. One of his won the Christchurch Derby one Easter Saturday and the main event at■ the following Easter Monday, the kmd connections to and from the boat being made by motor lorry.

SERVICE TO DAIRY INDUSTRY. Mr. Corrigan gave long years of service -to the dairying industry in which he appeared as an outstanding For 28-years-he "was a member of the board of directors of the Hawera Dairy Company, of which he was chairman for 10 years -until his retirement m April last year. During his chairmanship new factories in concrete were built and, largely,due to,Mr. Corrigans initiative, a levy of id per lb butterfat was introduced, whereby the company since has managed to reduce its Wa®btedness incurred in the undertaking from £26,000 to the present sum of just over £7OO. . , , , While his efforts during the last 30 years until April of last year had been directed mainly towards serving the interests of the Hawera Dairy Company, Mr. Corrigan held other offices closely allied to dairying, including chairman ox directors of the Eltham Box Company, director since 1911 and chairmans same 1922 of the South Taranaki Winter Show Company; director and former chairman of the New Zealand Rennet Company, Elfham; chairman of the West Coast Refrigerating Company, Patea; director of the South Taranaki Shipping Company, Patea; member of the executive of the Taranaki Dairy Factories Employers’ Association; foundation member of the executive of the Taranaki Federation of Co-operative Dairy Companies and a foundation director of the Farmers’ Co-op. He is survived by his widow and a family of one son, Mr. A. J. Corrigan (Hawera), and two daughters, Mrs. H. Nowell (Ngaere) and Miss Dorothy Corrigan (Hawera), and Mrs. S. A. Chisholm (foster daughter). The funeral will leave “The Oaks” this afternoon at 2.30 o’clock for the Hawera cemetery.