SHAND, JAMES (1835-89) was born in Aberdeenshire and came to Otago as a lad with his father, who died in the following year. Working hard on his mother's farm at Green Island, and carting to the diggings, he saved sufficient by 1858 to buy from the Government what became the Abbotsford property, which he cleared and improved, making it one of the model farms of the Taieri. He increased the area to 1,200 acres, and in 1866 purchased Centre Bush, near Winton, and later Mount Hyde and Traquair, all of which proved fairly remunerative. He also bought and developed the Otokia station near Henley and took an interest in promoting the frozen meat trade. In 1881 he established a large butchery business, which proved a financial failure; his purchase of the Edendale estate in Southland was also unfortunate. Shand was a member of the Otago Provincial Council for Taieri (1869-75) and was one of the Otago representatives in the negotiation of the reunion with Southland, where he had considerable interests. He was active in the conservation of the Taieri plain against flooding and was a member of the board of conservators, the Taieri county council and the local road board. He married a daughter of George Duncan, and died on 18 Sep 1889.

Parltry Record; Otago P.C. Proc.; Critchell and Raymond; Otago Daily Times, 16 Jul 1880, 20 Sep 1889

Reference: Volume 2, page 148

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