Selig, Phineas

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SELIG, PHINEAS

SELIG, PHINEAS (1856–1941), New Zealand journalist and newspaper proprietor. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Selig was the son of Rev. B.A. Selig (formerly of Penzance), reader and shoḥet to the Wellington community, who had emigrated there in 1862. After a career as a reporter and correspondent, he founded (with A.E. Bird) the New Zealand Referee (1884) and was manager of the Christchurch Press (1901–23). During the 1920s and 1930s he was the outstanding figure in the New Zealand press. For 20 years he was president of the New Zealand Newspaper Proprietors' Association and Canterbury Master Printers' Association. A leading administrator of athletics and boxing, he was president of the New Zealand Trotting Association for 25 years. He played an influential role in the Jewish community and was president of the Canterbury Hebrew Congregation in Christchurch from 1917 to 1941 and supported Jewish and Palestine appeals.

add. bibliography:

R. Harvey, "Phineas Selig," in: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

[Maurice S. Pitt]