Otago leading lights inducted
The Sew Hoy family name and Methven tap company have for generations been synonymous with Dunedin business interests, and yesterday Choie Sew Hoy and George Methven were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Otago’s Sir Eion Edgar, a Business Hall of Fame laureate and also head of its selection panel, said the contribution by Methven and the Sew Hoys to New Zealand had been significant.
While Mr Methven and Mr Sew Hoy were born in the same year, Mr Sew Hoy immigrated to New Zealand in 1868 at the invitation of the Otago Chamber of Commerce with other Cantonese gold-seekers, and Dundee, Scotland-born Mr Methven emigrated six years later as an assisted migrant in 1874, bringing with him a strong engineering background.
Mr Sew Hoy opened a Dunedin store in 1875 and developed a successful importing business, delivering Chinese goods to the goldfield stores.He became a prominent leader of Otago’s Chinese miners and had 11 known mining interests, most notably in gold dredging.