Thomas Ronayne
{{Short description|New Zealand railway manager}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
Thomas Ronayne {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ISO|size=85%}} (1849 – 7 September 1925) was a New Zealand public servant involved in railway management. He was the general manager of New Zealand Railways from 1895 to 1913. He was a member of the New Zealand Railways Board, and was accidentally killed while inspecting the Clydevale mine near Westport on the West Coast.
Biography
Ronayne was born in Youghal, County Cork, Ireland, in 1849, and was apprenticed in Manchester and Dublin. He arrived in New Zealand in 1875, and was put in charge of railway works at Helensville in 1875, Greymouth in 1876, and Addington in 1878. In 1890, he organised the Greymouth–Brunner Line.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19250908.2.88 |title=Mr. Ronayne killed |date=8 September 1925 |work=Auckland Star |volume=56 |issue=212 |page=9 |access-date=18 May 2023}}
Ronayne was appointed the general manager of New Zealand Railways from the start of 1895,{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP18941222.2.39 |title=Wellington notes |date=22 December 1894 |work=The Press |volume=51 |issue=8983 |page=8 |access-date=18 May 2023}} and in 1906 he represented New Zealand at the International Railway Congress. He was succeeded as general manager by Ernest Hiley in September 1913,{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FS19130925.2.9.12 |title=Old people's home |date=25 September 1913 |work=Feilding Star |volume=8 |issue=2180 |page=2 |access-date=18 May 2023}} and was appointed a Companion of the Imperial Service Order in the 1914 King's Birthday Honours.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19140622.2.128 |title=Honours |date=22 June 1914 |work=Evening Post |volume=87 |issue=146 |page=8 |access-date=18 May 2023}}
Following World War I, Ronayne served as a director of a number of small coal-mining companies on the West Coast.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19250909.2.41 |title=About people |date=9 September 1925 |work=Southland Times |issue=19651 |page=6 |access-date=18 May 2023}} In that capacity, he visited the Clydevale mine at Seddonville with other directors on 7 September 1925. They travelled in one of the tubs of the aerial tramway, and heavy rain started; Ronayne covered his head with a sack, despite warnings from the mine manager. The sack dislodged the tub pin, causing the tub to tip, and Ronayne fell to the ground 25 feet below, dying from a fractured skull. An inquest at Seddonville returned a verdict of accidental death.
== References ==
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Category:Irish emigrants to New Zealand
Category:New Zealand engineers
Category:New Zealand people in rail transport
Category:19th-century New Zealand engineers
Category:20th-century New Zealand engineers
Category:20th-century New Zealand public servants
Category:19th-century New Zealand public servants
Category:New Zealand Companions of the Imperial Service Order