James Mills (New Zealand)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir James Mills (1847 – 1936) was a New Zealand businessman and politician. He founded the Union Steam Ship Company in Dunedin in 1875.
He started as clerk to Johnny Jones, and after Jones’ death floated the Union Company with backing from Peter Denny in return for orders for his Dumbarton shipyard in Scotland. The Union Company became a major shipping line, with a near-monopoly on trans-Tasman shipping, and was referred to as the Southern Octopus.
The Union Company was sold by Mills to the P&O Line in 1917. Mills, who was born in Wellington, was knighted in 1907 and made K.C.M.G. in 1909. He was a UK resident from 1907, and died in London.
Mills represented Waikouaiti on the Otago Provincial Council from 1873 to 1875, and Port Chalmers in Parliament from 1887 to 1893, when he retired.
[edit] References
- Biography in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
- Ships of the Union Company by Gavin McLean (1989, GP Government Print, Wellington) ISBN 0 477 00016 9
- New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984 by J. O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)
