Crowded Century, A – The Daily Telegraph Centennial Number 1971
NAPIER – 100 years ago . . .
Town and around, 1871
Climb on to a buggy for a jaunt through the dusty streets of Napier on the mild summer evening of February 1, 1871.
Starting point: The Post and Telegraph Office at the foot of Shakespeare Road (where the Government Buildings now stand).
It’s the centre of the budding township. Nearby (on the present telephone exchange site) is the two-storeyed Provincial Council Building, administrative centre of the separated Province of Hawke’s Bay, and around it are trim lawns.
Shakespeare Road, silhouetted against the setting sun, has a number of cottages and two hotels, the Settlers’ and the Empire (now Cabana), and a few stores, including the grocery of Mr E. W. Knowles, later to become the sole proprietor of The Daily Telegraph.
Opposite our starting point is the Clarendon Hotel, focal point of much social life and meeting place of the Napier Rifle Club, the 43-member Clarendon Cricket Club, and other institutions.
Inside, the issues of the day – perhaps the appearance of the province’s new daily newspaper – are debated.
A tug on the bridle and off we move. Browning Street heading toward the beach is soon a mere path leading to the Napier Athenaeum standing alone (on the present museum site). On the Marine Parade, construction of the present courthouse is soon to begin. The site is levelled and fenced. The only building on the Marine Parade is the Hawke’s Bay Club.
In Hastings Street, stores line each side of the dusty thoroughfare as far as Tennyson Street. The two-storeyed Bank of New Zealand rises like a sentinel on the site of the present Cathedral fountain.
The original Masonic Hotel (on the present site) offers service “second to none in the province” and the proprietor, Mr S. C. Caulton, in his advertisements describes the locality as “cheerful and salubrious”.
Tennyson Street has the printing office of The Herald and a few other buildings. Emerson Street is little more than a well-used track. The “sunny side” has but half a dozen modest buildings. The premises of Mr Robert Holt, a Lancashire-born joiner, builder and undertaker, are on the site now occupied by Haywrights’ department store.
The fern-clothed hills, almost bare of trees, are dotted with a few homes, Barracks of the departed 65th Regiment remain on the present hospital site. The town’s first Grammar School for Boys is located on the present Central School site (the school building is now the Anglican Ormond Chapel).
The Ahuriri Lagoon almost surrounds Napier. Clive and Havelock North are thriving villages, Hastings is not envisaged among the swamps.
Beyond, pioneer farmers live in near isolation, with few roads and no railway. Waipawa (three hotels) is the largest settlement. The sites of Dannevirke and Norsewood are undisturbed in the Seventy-Mile Bush.
The setting sun casts a red glow on the lagoon stretching to the Poraite hills, broken by a gravel spit fingering its way north to Petane.
Port Ahuriri, with its inner harbour, is a lively shipping and merchants’ centre during the day. There are wool stores, shops, stables and four hotels in the vicinity of the Iron Pot.
Yet as our buggy trundles back to town there is little hint of the transformation man and nature will bring in the century to come . . .
. . . the scene today
The Daily Telegraph Centennial Issue, February 1, 1971
A Crowded Century 1871 – 1971
From Victoriana to the space age. From creaking, sea-lashed sailing ships to the lunar module. A giant’s leap, indeed, and all in the space of The Daily Telegraph’s crowded century.
On Wednesday, February 1, 1871, The Daily Telegraph was born of optimism and faith in the future of Hawke’s Bay, a 12-year-old independent province in the most far-flung colony of Victoria’s Empire.
When the first issues sold (for twopence) to an inquisitive populace, the province stood at the threshold of a telling decade and the most exciting century in man’s history.
The subsequent 10 years produced significant social reforms in New Zealand, lasting public works and a rate of population growth in Hawke’s Bay unequalled to this day.
In the inflationary decade of the 1880s, thousands of Hawke’s Bay settlers came from diverse backgrounds. From Lancashire’s dreary cotton mills. From the bleak crofts of Scotland. From the wealthy homes of rural England. From Scandinavia’s rugged forests. From scholarly public schools and scruffy back streets.
Yet most had a common purpose. They sought fresh air, hard work, their own homes, independence and a less fettered life. They endured sea-tossed weeks, survived disease, hardships and privations to become the backbone of a growing province,
Many Ships
Immigrant ships arrived frequently at Napier in the 1870s. The population of Hawke’s Bay leapt about 7000 to more than 21,000 by the decade’s end. In 1871, the New Zealand Government was offering free passages to selected British immigrants, mainly farm labourers, navvies, mechanics, female servants and dairy maids.
Farm labourers, fed and housed in crude bunk-houses, were paid $1.80 weekly. Sheep musterers earned up to $4 a week in the season. Domestics were lucky to get $1 a week, Skilled men in towns earned more, mechanics getting about $1.20 a day.
A tailored tweed suit cost $7. Oxford laced shoes were 75c. Two-pound loaves of bread were 3c and a pound of farm butter 10c. Eggs sold for about I5c a dozen and a ham for 12c a pound.
On February 1, 1871, Colonial Treasurer and future Prime Minister, Sir Julius Vogel, was overseas, implementing his policy of extensive borrowing for road, rail and telegraph construction in a bid to encourage immigration and land developments.
Going Ahead
The House of Representatives was in the process of an election. The Daily Telegraph’s first issue reported that the Hon. Donald McLean, Minister of Defence and Minister of Native Affairs, was returned unopposed for Hawke’s Bay, and, at a Waipawa meeting, the Hon. John Davies Ormond, who became Minister of Works, was re-elected unopposed for the Clive district.
The province was administered by the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council, The Superintendent. Mr Ormond, called for tenders for further work on the Napier-Taupo road in his capacity as general Government agent.
In Napier, citizens were urging the provision of public baths – but had to wait another 30 years before they got them. They also sought a bridge to replace the ferry service between the Eastern and Western Spit at Westshore. Wool exports were increasing. A flax industry was prospering. Frozen meat was unheard of.
Overseas, the Crimean War was over but not forgotten. War between England and Russia still threatened. Newspaper editorials feared that beyond a declaration of war with Russia loomed the possibility of war with America which had agreed to harbour Russian vessels. Charles Dickens’ grave had just been completed. Lenin was an infant.
It all seems another age. Other people, other problems. Yet this is our community, our beginning. The crowded century embraces their lives and ours, spans the brave deeds of many yesterdays, the achievements of today and the hopes of tomorrow.
CONTENTS
Pages
1- 5: The early years.
7-19: Places – their names and history.
21-33: People who make a province.
35-59: Hawke’s Bay men and women in action.
49-52: Earthquake disaster.
60-73: The prizes we sought are won; achievements of a century.
75-81: Social order; Government, law, church and education.
82-89: Ourselves.
91-95: From our files.
97-99: Those were the days.
100: Royal visit flashbacks.
Most of the pictures reproduced in this publication are from The Daily Telegraph’s own picture library. They include some submitted by readers for the History in Focus series in 1964. Others are from various sources including the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, and the Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery and Museum whose co-operation has been most valuable. Coloured earthquake pictures are from the Berry family collection, Napier.
Photo caption – An early Hawke’s Bay homestead.
Pages 2 and 3
Voyages of discovery
A new, raw land
Missionaries, adventurous pioneers, whalers and runaway seamen – for the most part a motley incongruous assortment. Rough-hewn men, inspired by a sense of duty, adventure or fear, sought fulfilment, excitement or refuge in a raw land.
These were the first European inhabitants of Hawke’s Bay, the forerunners of our community. Some were transient rogues and opportunists drawn to these shores during the century following James Cook’s voyage of discovery in 1769. But others remained in Hawke’s Bay to contribute to the founding of European settlement.
When Cook sailed across Hawke Bay in mid-October 202 years ago, he saw an untamed land that had altered little for centuries. The intense writhing of the island over long periods of geological evolution had subsided to spasmodic fault movements.
The mountains, valleys and alluvium plains of Hawke’s Bay, where the giant moa once grazed, had long been shaped, clothed and inhabited.
Beech bush, subalpine scrub covered the snow-capped high country. High inland plateaus carried snowgrass, tussock and small scrubby plants. Thick bush, ferns, lakes and swamps supported myriads of native birds. Parrakeets, pigeons, pukekos and tuis abounded.
Long-tailed bats flew where once the earliest Polynesians to come to New Zealand, known as the tangata whenua (people of the land) hunted the moa as a source of food and utensils. There was an abundant, colourful insect life.
The advent of the Maori several centuries before Cook scarcely tilted the balance of nature. The inferior aborigines were either killed or absorbed in intermarriage, Some fairly large areas of forest, burnt by accident or design, turned to fern, and small places were cleared for cultivation of kumera, taro and yam. But the Maori animals, the rat (kiore) and the listless Maori dog, made little change to Hawke’s Bay’s natural flora and fauna.
Apart from the disruption of cannabalistic tribal warfare, Hawke’s Bay existed in tranquil isolation.
Captain Cook, the first European to set eyes on Hawke’s Bay, began the transformation. His pigs multiplied and made steep tracks, the English rats drove away the native variety. With fire and axe, the early European settlers markedly changed the Hawke’s Bay scene and its animal, bird and plant life.
Cook, of course, gave the first English names to the province’s geographical features, Hawke Bay and Cape Kidnappers.
He named the bay after the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Edward Hawke. Cape Kidnappers, then apparently devoid of gannets, was so named after a Maori attempt to kidnap a Tahitian boy, Taiata.
A number of other European explorers followed Cook to then antipodes during the following decades. Of these, the Frenchman, Captain Dumont D’Urville, of the Astrolabe, was deeply impressed with the appearance of Hawke’s Bay.
After passing Bare Island (L the Sterile) [L’elleSterile] which was then occupied by a Maori fortress, and upon entering Hawke Bay, he wrote in his log of February 3, 1827: ” . . . in all New Zealand this part is without doubt the richest and most attractive that has been offered to my gaze”.
The Maoris encountered by Captain Cook in Hawke’s Bay were of the Ngati-Kahungunu tribe. Kahungunu was a descendant of the great voyager, Toi, who, according to legend, landed in New Zealand in the 12th century searching for his lost grandson, Whatonga. The Ngati-Mamoe, Ngai-Tahu and Rangitane were earlier occupiers of Hawke’s Bay, but each in turn was driven out in tribal battles.
The Ngati-Kahungunu also trace their ancestry to the Takatimu canoe of the great Maori migration of 1350, which made landings at Mahia Peninsula and Wairoa. The tribe became the largest and most powerful in the country.
After the period of the explorers and early whalers, the Maori population was thinned by increased tribal hostilities and, by the time European settlement began, most Hawke’s Bay Maoris had retreated to the Mahia Peninsula.
An estimated 12000 Maoris, led by the influential chief, Te Hapuku, had gathered at Mahia, though a few other settlements, mostly small, were still dotted along the coasts and rivers.
A possible visitor to Hawke’s Bay after Cook, was a retired naval officer, Lt. Thomas McDonnell, who had set up a trading station at Hokianga. The theory is based mostly on an admiralty chart of Ahuriri showing the lagoon named McDonnell’s Cove. The theory waits proof.
In 1836 a Northland trader, Mr Joel Samuel Pollack, described Hawke’s Bay as “the most fertile land that can be imagined”. A year later, Thomas Wing, master of the schooner Trent, charted Ahuriri Harbour (which he called “Hau Ridi”) and, by some historians, he is regarded as possibly the first European to set foot in the Napier district.
However, by that time, whaling stations had begun to appear at other points along the Hawke’s Bay coastline. Whakamahia, Moeangiangi, Te Awanga, Clifton and Waimarama were established as whaling stations in the years that followed.
By 1850, whaling had reached its zenith. About 50 boats were operating from the Hawke’s Bay coast, employing some hundreds of men, many of low character.
At the height of the whaling industry, Ahuriri was a noisy centre of taverns and “grog” shops where the whalers, British and American, sought rowdy pleasure to the despair of the missionaries.
Many whalers married Maori women and had half-caste children. But, by 1860, the supply of whales petered out, and the whalers drifted elsewhere.
Missionaries, who struggled against great personal hardship and danger, played an important role in the history of early Hawke’s Bay and in the introduction of European customs to the Maori.
Paradoxically, they strove to teach the Maoris ideals and a way of life extremely different from those followed by most other Europeans in Hawke’s Bay, particularly the drunken, immoral whalers and seamen.
The first missionary in Hawke’s Bay was the Rev. William Williams (later Bishop of Waiapu), who conducted Christian services at Mahia, Wairoa and other parts of Hawke’s Bay in the spring of 1840, 26 years after the Rev. Samuel Marsden brought the first missionaries to New Zealand.
In November 1842, Bishop Selwyn, accompanied by Chief Justice Martin and 30 Maoris, made the first overland journey through Hawke’s Bay, finding to their great joy “a vast area of fertile land”.
Bishop Selwyn, penetrating Hawke’s Bay from the Manawatu, crossed the Takapau plains and described the Heretaunga Plains as “very noble”. He visited Ahuriri where he met the Rev. William Williams for a large service with natives in November 1842.
Continuing his overland journey, Bishop Selwyn reached Wairoa where the Rev. W. E. Dudley had established a mission station. The bishop described it as “a very pretty station with a beautiful river”. Nuhaka he described as a “remarkably nice native settlement with the most civil and intelligent natives”.
Two years later, in December 1844, the Rev. William Colenso with his wife and child established his mission at Waitangi near Clive and the Rev. James Hamlin took over the mission at Wairoa.
Hawke’s Bay’s first visit by a Roman Catholic missionary was in 1841 when Bishop Pompallier celebrated Mass at Mahia. Father Claude Baty, S. M., stayed a year in 1841-42 making converts among the
Photo captions –
A strange and colourful early European visitor to Hawke’s Bay was Barnet Burns (above). According to a pamphlet published in Britain in 1843, he lived on Mahia Peninsula in 1829 and was accepted as a Maori chief. His face was tattooed and he later returned to England where he toured the country as a showman.
Recent archaeological work by Mr T. R. Price, (left) of Hastings, at Poukawa, 13 miles south of Hastings, has thrown new light on the earliest inhabitants of Hawke’s Bay. Various samples, including moa bones chopped or sawn by man, have been discovered and carbon dating indicates the area was inhabited 3000 years ago.
John Greening, known as “Happy Jack”, caught the first whale off Waikokopu, Northern Hawke’s Bay on June 24, 1838. He survived a shipwreck aboard an English man-o’-war in the West Indies to sail out to New Zealand and take up whaling at Mahia.
Large war canoes were among the Maori craft which visited the Endeavour as she sailed into Hawke Bay on Captain Cook’s first voyage of discovery in 1769. Hostile warriors performed hakas and Cook found it necessary to divert their attention by firing wide a series of four-pound cannon shots. Left: a drawing of one of the canoes by Sidney Parkinson, an artist on the Endeavour.
Other craft which visited the Endeavour (below) in Hawke’s Bay included fishing canoes whose occupants traded their catch. Inset: Captain Cook. Previously, New Zealand’s first human inhabitants were considered to have arrived only 900 years ago.
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Page 5
WEALTH UNLOCKED
Ngati-Kahungunu at Mahia, and Father John Lampila is said to have converted Maori to Christianity in the Heretaunga district, notably Pakowhai, in October 1844, several weeks before Colenso established his mission at Waitangi.
Eventually, and gradually, Europeans of another category began to appear in Hawke’s Bay – the settler. These were the farmers, tradesmen, businessmen and labourers whose pioneer spirit led them to seek a new life in a far-flung colony.
But European settlement of Hawke’s Bay had an uncertain beginning. Unlike six other earlier provinces of New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay was not founded on an organised basis.
At the outset there were no immigration schemes to bring British pioneers and their families to an already planned city, as was the case of Auckland and Wellington and some other centres.
So land settlement did not get under way in earnest until after 1850 and, during the 1840s, the only European inhabitants of Hawke’s Bay were the shore whalers, the missionaries and a trader or two.
The first European to make a permanent home in Hawke’s Bay was an Austrian naturalist, F.W.C. Sturm. Mystery surrounds his arrival in Hawke’s Bay, but he lived at Nuhaka as early as 1839 and acted as an arbitrator and accountant for the whalers. He later moved to Napier and died at Clive in 1887, aged 84. He was a greatly respected horticulturalist and is remembered in Napier by Sturm’s Gully.
Another early permanent settler was William Edwards, a whaler, He is believed to have settled south of Cape Kidnappers shortly after 1839. He later moved to Tangoio where, in 1849, William Colenso legalised his marriage to a Maori. The missionary recorded that Edwards was “a quiet Englishman who has lived on these shores for nearly 10 years”.
In January 1841, land purchase from the Maoris had a false start. A partner in a number of whaling operations, Mr W. B, “Barney” Rhodes, an influential Yorkshireman, arranged to buy a huge area of Hawke’s Bay land – about half the size of the present province.
He made the arrangements, however, before he knew of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the deal was ruled invalid, though he was given some land in compensation.
Though he never settled in Hawke’s Bay, Rhodes subsequently shared with his brothers, Robert and Joseph, ownership of a number of large Hawke’s Bay sheep stations, including Clive Grange, Rissington and Springhill.
Joseph Rhodes was active in early Hawke’s Bay politics, and he moved the resolution, at a meeting in Napier’s “Golden Fleece” Hotel, on Monday, September 20, 1857, which eventually procured the separation of Hawke’s Bay province from Wellington
A Scot of strong physique, Mr Alexander Alexander is recognised as the first European farmer and businessman in Hawke’s Bay. In 1846, when about 26, he began farming the foothills of Wharerangi and is believed to have opened Napier’s first building, at Ahuriri, where he kept a schooner and traded with Maoris and whalers.
He married a high-ranking Maori in romantic circumstances and years later his daughter married an Australian settler, Mr William Burnett, who eventually became Mayor of Dunedin.
Alexander remained an influential figure in the young Hawke’s Bay settlement till his death on July 25, 1873. His gravestone at Wharerangi reads: Alexander Alexander, born May 20, 1820. Arrived New Zealand May 20, 1840. Died July 25, 1873.
It bears the epitaph: “He was a man, Horatio,”
It was not until 1849 that any definite step was taken to organise the settlement of the district -10 years after the founding of the cities of Auckland and Wellington.
Governor Grey appointed Donald McLean (later Sir Donald) to visit the Ngati-Kahungunu to negotiate the purchase of land. He left Wellington on November 18, 1850, to negotiate with the Maori chiefs, notably Te Hapuku.
McLean returned the following year with £3000 to complete the purchase of large blocks of land. His deals unlocked the wealth of inland Hawke’s Bay. Pioneer homesteads were soon to appear on the isolated hillsides. Sheep in their thousands were soon bound for Hawke’s Bay pastures.
Within six years, a network of more than 30 stations spread across Hawke’s Bay, mainly in the first two blocks purchased by McLean.
Townships germinated at Port Ahuriri and in the country districts. In 1854, Alfred Domett, appointed Hawke’s Bay’s first Commissioner of Crown Lands, named the town of Napier, and, on November 13, 1856, the purchase of Scinde Island (Mataruahou), the site of Napier, was completed, for £50.
People arrived, facilities appeared. The determination for advancement and the regional pride typical of the pioneer New Zealand settler, manifested themselves in the political movement towards separation from Wellington province.
Disgruntled settlers, far from the seat of Wellington based provincial government and, with little voice in it, protested loudly that only a small fraction of money taken from sales of land found its way back for district development.
On November 1, 1858, Hawke’s Bay was proclaimed a province, with Napier its capital and, under the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council, a wide range of development works was undertaken in the 1860s.
Budding Hawke’s Bay readied itself for a rate of population growth during the 1870s that it has not again achieved.
Photo captions –
Dr T. Hichings, Hawke’s Bay’s first medical man, arrived in 1856 and began work in primitive conditions, In 1859, he was appointed provincial surgeon in charge of the first hospital in Napier, a two-ward building at the corner of Sealy and Harvey Roads.
Ahuriri almost a century ago. The lagoon stretches to the hills, over the site of the present Hawke’s Bay Airport. At right can be seen the masts of sailing vessels and the old Ahuriri Hotel (extreme right) situated on the site of the present Rothmans Tobacco Co. factory. The Westshore bridge (left) ended the ferry era.
Te Hapuku, chief of the Ngati-Kahungunu, whose negotiations with Donald McLean for the sale of large blocks of Hawke’s Bay land led to the peaceful European settlement of Hawke’s Bay.
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Page 7
Places
Names from far and near . . .
Maoris, explorers, settlers and administrators – diverse sources bestowed the Hawke’s Bay place names which, today, we take for granted.
In many instances the province’s founders were content to retain Maori place names. Many of these survive today – except where too long or too coarse (William Colenso chased at least one Maori name into obsolescence because of it crudity). Other names reflect the associations and the origins of the early European settlers.
In the north, Mahia (which means “indistinct sound”) has roots deep in ancient Maori history. Perhaps it was the first Hawke’s Bay place name, given when Whatonga landed about 1150 A.D.
Wairoa (“long water”) took its name from the Maori pa which existed alongside the river long before European settlement.
Napier remembers Sir Charles John Napier, distinguished British soldier in India, who died shortly before the first District Commissioner, Alfred Domett, arrived to plan and name the settlement in 1854. It is thought Domett was asked to commemorate the Indian campaign by Napier settlers who had served there.
Taradale and Greenmeadows were named when the areas were bought from the Government in 1858, Tara being an early Maori in the area.
Clive, Havelock North, Meeanee continue the British-India association. When Hastings was founded some years later, in 1873, it, too, followed the trend. As an alternative to the embryonic name, “Hicksville”, settlers chose to honour India’s Governor – General, Warren Hastings.
Waipukurau perpetuates the name of a Maori settlement named after a fungus, pukurau, edible when soaked in water (wai). Waipawa, a name bestowed by European settlers, means, in Maori, “dead or stagnant water”, but is locally regarded as meaning “meeting of the waters”.
Norsewood and Dannevirke maintain a link with their Scandinavian founders. Norsewood, like Dannevirke, was settled by Norwegians and Danes who cut a clearing in the Seventy-Mile Bush – hence its name. Dannevirke means “work of the Danes” and is thought to be named after the old fortification at Schleswig, which the Danes lost to Germany in 1864.
The names themselves sketch a story – a story of the development of a province, and its places, by influence from far and near.
Hawke Bay was named by Captain Cook in 1769 in honour of the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Edward (later Lord) Hawke. Cook also named Cape Kidnappers after a Maori attempt to kidnap a Tahitian cabin boy, Taiata, from the Endeavour while the barque was anchored near the headland.
Photo captions –
Alfred Domett
Lord Havelock Lord Clive Sir Charles Napier
Lord Hawke
Lord Hastings
Places
NAPIER – a gift from the sea.
From swampy, unplanned beginnings, Napier grew
Napier – 1971 – stands tall. It’s a shining city of the 1970s, a product of man’s faith and nature’s force.
Napier was flattened and desolated by earthquake and fire exactly 40 years ago this month. Now the population nears 40,000, multi-storeyed buildings soar, a cathedral’s pinnacle reaches symbolically skyward where ruins once covered death and desecration. Swelling, tree-lined suburbs spread where swampland lay.
Napier people overcame the upheaval of New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, and, given thousands of acres of uplifted marshland, planned progress on a scale previously unimagined.
Dressed in the wrappings of terror and destruction, the 1931 earthquake was, for Napier, a gift of the sea. In moments, it released the watery bonds that from the outset had constricted the town’s development.
But, in the earliest days, back in 1854, there were few prospects for the primitive settlement. On limited, shingly terrain, it clung for its existence to the shallow harbour of Ahuriri.
In January 1854, Alfred Domett, brown-eyed poet, administrator and future Premier of New Zealand, foresaw little promise when he settled in a crude shanty on the rocky foreshore (now Napier’s Battery Road).
As Hawke’s Bay’s first District Commissioner, he had been sent to evaluate, plan and name the settlement.
On March 20, 1854, he wrote: “I am inclined to think the principal town of this district can never be at the port itself. There is no wood and no water and the nearest suitable land is some miles distant from the port”.
He concluded that the port was so “singularly defective” that only a subordinate town should be laid out, and the district’s principal town should be sited at Pakowhai.
Domett reported that inhabitants had requested the principal town be called after “the great founder of our Indian Empire, Lord Clive”.
“As it appears that the port town can only be subordinate, I would propose the latter should be named in commemoration of one of our greatest and best Indian captains just dead: Sir Charles John Napier.”
After using the supply of names with Indian associations, Domett gave many Napier Streets their literary nomenclature.
Napier’s early course, then, was unplanned, unorganised. Ahuriri’s earliest inhabitants were the one or two adventurous traders and the whalers, a grog-soaked mob. attracted by the taverns, the excitement and Maori women.
But, during the 1850s, as the whaling industry waned, land settlement got under way in the country. From the sea, the source of Ahuriri’s existence turned inland, to the sheep stations.
By the time Domett arrived, a few men responsible character, the true Hawke’s Bay pioneers, had appeared at Ahuriri. Averse to the noisy rabble of the port, they favoured building sites on the other side of the “elevated mass of hills” which Domett named Scinde Island.
From turmoil, anguish and rubble, it rose again
Early Napier did not take shape until after Domett’s arrival – four years after inland development started, and some 14 years after the establishment of Auckland and Wellington. Unlike other New Zealand provinces, Hawke’s Bay settlement did not begin in a planned city and spread to the country. Rather, it took the other course.
By 1855, about 20 Europeans and their families had settled in the locality. Town sections were offered for £5 and suburban sections for £3. Quarter-acre sections at Ahuriri, then still the trading centre, sold for £30.
Hill allotments brought £30 an acre, At the second sale on February 9, 1856, two quarter-acre sections at the foot of Shakespeare Road, the most desirable location in the town, sold for £100 each.
Despite a pessimistic description in 1850 as “a hopeless, barren spot for a town site”, Napier picked up. The trickle of pioneer immigrants in then 1860s surged during the 1870s and continued as a steady flow.
Mostly working class from Britain’s industrial centres, they were still a diverse lot. The port bustled with ships as immigration stepped up and trade grew. Despite their diversity, immigrants grew together in community interests.
Churches, societies, committees came into existence. Demands for services, food and wares gave Napier its banks, shops, churches, streets and transport.
Napier was administered by the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council till 1875. Divergent interest of town and country led to the declaration of Napier borough on November 26, 1874, and the first council, with a leading merchant, Mr Robert Stuart as Mayor, first met on February 2, 1875.
The borough’s first electoral roll totalled 493 electors. Town evaluation was £45,000. A rate of 1s was estimated to produce £2000 annually.
The council tackled the problems of water supply, sewerage system and the health hazard of the foul-smelling swamps (where Wellesley Road is now situated).
A road was built to Taradale. A result was the trapping of silt carried by the Tutaekuri. Waterways turned to muddy flats and some, eventually, to dry land.
Taradale district was bought from the Government in 1858 by Messrs Alley and H. S. Tiffen. Mr Alley built the first house, at the Taradale end, in 1860, and Mr Tiffen built at Greenmeadows.
Town sections were first sold at Taradale on April 28, 1873, and it was declared a town district in 1886. First Greenmeadows land sales were held in the 1880s.
None of the local bodies had sufficient money to reclaim the area south of Napier. The challenge was accepted by private enterprise.
In February 1900, Langland and Company, engineers (a syndicate which included Messrs C.D. Kennedy and George Latham) obtained sanction from the Napier Harbour Board to embark on a scheme and in April 1908 the first part of Napier South was put on the market. A total of 120 sections, covering 30 acres, sold for £20,000.
Under the 16-year administration of Mr G. H. Swan – one of a line of well-bearded early Mayors – the Marine Parade was constructed and the wall built to protect properties from high seas. The Edwards Street – Coote Road section was finished by June 1887 at a cost of £8500. Norfolk pines added the distinctive touch in 1890.
In 1924 Napier gaily celebrated its jubilee, but could not sense the approaching disaster which re-shaped the town’s course seven years later.
In the 40 years since Napier rose from the ashes, it has achieved city status (1953), and progressed on many fronts. Under the 15-year administration of Mr Peter Tait the city has enveloped Westshore, Taradale and Greenmeadows and crept across thousands of acres of reclaimed land.
Napier has surmounted disaster. The “hopeless spot” is still growing – and full of hope.
Photo captions –
Flags were set out in this Marine Parade scene early in the century, perhaps to mark the coronation in 1911. Inset: Long – serving Mayor, Mr G. H. Swan, who advocated Marine Parade improvements, including the wall and Norfolk pines.
About 9000 acres were bequeathed when the 1931 earthquake raised tidal swamps around Napier by eight feet, making sites for new suburbs and industrial areas at Onekawa (right) and Ahuriri. Inset: The Mayor during recent city expansion, Mr Peter Tait.
Quaint picket fencing protects young trees in Clive Square during the 1890s. The Main School (left) and the Theatre Royal (right) are prominent buildings at the foot of Milton Road.
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Places
SWAMPS gave forth plenty
A century ago only a few scattered settlers and native fowl inhabited the swampy acres where Hastings – Hawke’s Bay’s Prosperous “twin city” – stands today.
In 1871, The Daily Telegraph’s earliest subscribers read how Thomas Tanner offered Heretaunga block land (the best area of the present city) at £4 an acre, and failed to get a buyer.
It wasn’t even news. Everyone knew the acres of swamp, bristling with raupo, scrub and fern, were near useless.
Tanner even offered to give away an acre for every three acres ploughed. One of the few takers was Francis Hicks, a man of foresight, who became the founder of Hastings.
Then, in 1873, came talk of the railway, with its promise of progress and change. On June 7 Hicks offered a 1½-acre site free to the Government on condition the contemplated railway passed through his property.
He cut up 100 acres into town sections around the gift site – and today they comprise the city centre.
Hicks offered 144 sections for sale. Buyers realised the potential of his scheme. Prices reached £56 an acre. The town was born.
Earlier, the first European settlement of the Hastings area took place about 1864. Tanner and William Rich leased the Heretaunga block of about 16,500 acres from the Maoris.
A few years later, a syndicate known as “The Twelve Apostles” bought the block for £1 10s an acre. The syndicate paid £16,000 in cash and the balance was paid on behalf of debts incurred by the Maoris.
The land was cut into 12 portions, but, in fact, there were fewer than 12 members of the syndicate. Most had more than one share. The members were Tanner, J. N. Williams, Capt. W. R. Russell, J. G. Gordon, J. D. Ormond, Purvis Russell and J. B. Brathwaite.
After Hicks’ land sales, houses quickly took shape. The first hotel, the Railway, rose on the site of the present New Grand Hotel. The 22-roomed kauri building served the expanding community well till destroyed by fire.
The railway track reached Hastings in 1874. Drainage schemes worked. Orchards grew. Within 12 years, Hastings outstripped long-established Havelock North. In 1886, it was constituted a borough, and it became a city in 1956.
Men of vision like Hicks have boosted its economy. Two such are the late Mr William Nelson and Sir James Wattie. As early as 1880, Nelson opened a small boiling-down factory at Tomoana. Three years later it was absorbed into Tomoana freezing works and marked the beginning of the freezing industry in the district.
In 1934, James Wattie combed Hastings for backers to launch an undertaking in a small house, around which his factory was built. Now the enterprise is huge and international, a mainstay of the city.
Today, Hastings is a spacious, expanding city of the plains. Its fruit, canned products, agricultural prowess and industrial endeavour are renowned. The swamps have given forth plenty.
But for the man who started it all, Francis Hicks, there is obscurity. Once known as Hicksville, the settlement was soon renamed. In 1938, Hicks Street became Mayfair Avenue. Today, the city’s founder goes largely unremembered.
Left; Heretaunga Street in the 1880s, Inset: The founder of Hastings, Francis Hicks.
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Page 13
Places
LEAFY CHARM
Havelock North may be called the town that missed the train but retained its soul.
In 1871, Havelock North was a principal settlement of Hawke’s Bay. A stopping place for travellers between Napier and the south, it possessed two hotels (the Exchange and the Havelock), a new Presbyterian Church, blacksmith, wheelwrights, a school and several stores.
But in 1873 the railway line by-passed the growing settlement and, instead of bringing commercial prosperity to Havelock North, gave birth to the city of Hastings.
The reason for the by-pass of Havelock North is obscure. It may have been reluctance, or apathy, on the part of Havelock runholders, or, as has been more recently suggested, the natural diversion of the Ngaruroro River after the 1867 flood which made the site of Hastings safe for the railway and a station.
Whatever the cause, the absence of rail abruptly changed the course of Havelock North’s development. Instead of becoming, over the past century, a Hawke’s Bay city of the hills, the rival of Napier, it has retained its rural beauty and “village” charm.
For decades, Havelock North remained “the village”. It was not until 1952 that it was declared a borough, with Mr J. J. Nimon as its first Mayor, and its population has steadily increased to 6500 during the past 20 years.
Apart from its fruitgrowing and nearby sheep stations, Havelock North has long held a distinction as a home of learning.
Two long-established girls’ colleges, Woodford House and Iona, draw their pupils from all parts of New Zealand and some of the country’s most notable families.
For many years it was the home of Heretaunga Boys’ School – a school which, some years ago, incorporated Hurworth School at Wanganui, and which now embodies the two under the name of Hereworth.
Commercial and industrial growth may have bypassed Havelock North. Yet otherwise it might well have lost the character that makes it one of New Zealand’s most distinctive boroughs.
Photo captions –
Changes of a century have not chased away Havelock North’s character. Hereworth School pupils today (above) and schoolchildren wending their way homeward almost a century ago in Te Mata Road (below) share the same silvan shade.
A trusty horse bus outside the Post Office in 1911 presents a typical Havelock North scene of bygone days. Horse buses plodded to Hastings for a generation till their owner, Mr J. G. Nimon, replaced them with Studebakers in 1913.
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WINLOVE’S OF CENTRAL HAWKE’S BAY
The late GEORGE WINLOVE (Founder)
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Original Premises still standing at Waipukurau.
HARRY M. WINLOVE (Managing Director)
Winloves, who have been associated with the business and community life of Central Hawke’s Bay for 106 years, congratulate the Daily Telegraph on their achievement in serving the Hawke’s Bay province for the past century.
The founder of our organisation, which is still owned and operated by the Winlove family, and was recently joined by the fourth generation, established a business in the best tradition of the pioneers.
Born at Norfolk, England, the late George Winlove arrived in New Zealand about 1860, and served as a dispatch rider on the East Coast, during the Maori Wars.
He commenced the family business in Waipukurau, in 1865.
George earned a high reputation as a building tradesman, and many buildings in Central Hawke’s Bay stand today, as a tribute to his skill and industry.
The family has also been prominent in the community affairs of the district, and two members, the late John Winlove, and his son Harry, have held office as the Mayor of Waipukurau.
Keeping abreast of contemporary trends, the firm entered a period of specialisation about 10 years ago, and has now become the largest stockist of home appliances in Central Hawke’s Bay.
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Page 15
Places
A MODEL THAT GREW
. . . and “towns” that didn’t
A century ago, Waipukurau represented an unusual development in Hawke’s Bay town planning . . . a model village.
Four years earlier, in 1867, the pioneer runholder, H. R. Russell, completed the purchase of the 207- acre Waipukurau pa site and decided to establish a model community.
He built several cottages and leased sections for 99-year terms, mostly to tradesmen and artisans he brought to New Zealand and employed. One of the first “model” residents. was a carpenter, Mr George Winlove, who arrived in 1863 and whose descendant, Mr H. M. Winlove, is a recent Mayor.
Russell planted many trees which beautify the area today and donated sites for churches. He imposed restrictions on employment in the town to provide one blacksmith, one baker, and so on.
The model era ended with the compulsory takeover of the large blocks by the Government in 1900, The breakdown of huge sheep runs into smaller farms opened the way for Waipukurau’s expansion and constitution as a borough in 1912.
Waipawa, 100 years ago, overshadowed the small village of Waipukurau. In 1871, it was the most important and largest centre between Napier and the Manawatu, with three hotels, several stores, a church and a school.
Like Waipukurau, it was not established by the Government but by the local runholder, F. S. Abbott. The first sale of town sections on January 7, 1860, introduced the town as “Abbotsford”, but the name did not stick.
A highpoint in Waipawa history was the 1888 industrial exhibition. With poultry, horticultural shows and brass band contests, it was one of the biggest events produced in the province. Exhibitors from many parts of New Zealand included 21 Auckland industrial firms.
In the past few decades, however, Waipukurau’s growth has outpaced Waipawa’s, at times creating intense rivalry, particularly concerning siting of Government department offices and other institutions.
Yet both remain sturdy, important commercial centres of one of New Zealand’s richest sheep farming districts.
Other embryo Central Hawke’s Bay towns of 100 years ago did not fare so well. By 1871, several towns were laid out and sections sold in places such as Hadley, between Waipawa and Tikokino, Blackhead, Porangahau, Wanstead and Tautane. Wanstead, initially, consisted of 163 town sections – more than Hastings.
But most land sales in these towns were to speculators who had no intention of taking up residence, and the century passed them by.
Photo caption – Waipawa High Street in 1860 (above) when the township was emerging as the most important centre between Napier and Manawatu. Below: The official opening of the first traffic bridge in 1889, a landmark in Waipukurau’s progress.
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Page 17
Places
“How’s the bar today?”
The three Rs – river, road and rail – have played vital roles in the development of Wairoa during the past century.
Each has contributed to Wairoa’s position as an important, growing focal point of Northern Hawke’s Bay – and helped banish the bugbear of isolation.
Initially, however, poor access and reluctance to of the Maoris to sell land delayed European settlement in the pre-1871 period. The only Europeans in the district were a handful of whalers, traders and the occasional missionary – daring men willing to face the dangers of isolation and native hostility.
Using the river, traders eventually developed a trade with Napier in flax, fruit and timber. In 1865, the first Crown purchases of land included 4750 acres for a town to be named Clyde – a name that lingered for many years but never replaced Wairoa, the name of the original Maori pa.
In 1871, settlement was just beginning on an organised basis. The Clyde Hotel was five years old. A police station and courthouse had just been built and town sections offered for sale at between £5 and £9 a quarter-acre.
Descriptions of the period stated: “The Marine Parade straggles all over the place, with toe toe to and manuka growing along much of it”. . . “Street alignment exists not” . . . “Scrub covers much of the township” . . . “There is no newspaper”.
Wairoa had a fruit-growing reputation long before the Heretaunga Plains. it possessed many larger orchards but, with the clearing of land and the stocking of the sheep stations, most disappeared.
The unreliability of the river port, which was often made useless by bar conditions, retarded early development. The Wairoa Harbour Board set out in 1872 to improve the port, but failed, and the port was closed in 1939.
Improvements to the Napier-Wairoa road, however, gradually boosted prosperity. Harbour works also began at Waikokopu (25 miles east) in 1924-25, but, with the advent of the Napier-Wairoa railway in 1939, port trade declined and the port was last used in July 1942.
Wairoa has been served by a number of progressive, public-spirited citizens. A forerunner was Mr Joseph Corkill, first Mayor, chairman of the town board and chairman of the harbour board, who, early in the century, was one of Waiora’s most energetic businessmen.
He even found time to form the Wairoa brass band, and was its conductor for many years. In 1896, the band earned fame other than musical for travelling to Napier on horses to take part in the Brunner Relief Fund Campaign.
The journey became known as “Corkill’s Ride” and was quoted as a triumph over the difficulties of travel in the olden days of Wairoa.
Other go-ahead citizens have inherited the Corkill drive and initiative and, in recent years, have kept Wairoa on a steady path of progress.
Photo captions –
Shovels and manpower open the Wairoa River bar in 1911. The state of the bar, which often cut Waiora’s steamer contact with the outside world, was of daily concern till the advent of adequate road and rail links.
The rail era arrived in the late 1930s. Right: At Wairoa station for the opening of the Napier – Wairoa – Waikokopu section on July 1, 1939, the Minister of Railways, Mr D. G. Sullivan (front), the Minister of Works, Mr R. Semple (front right), Sir Apirana Ngata (back row, third from left). Below: A view from North Clyde of the old Wairoa traffic bridge which replaced the ferry.
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Page 19
Places
Blond hair, blue eyes
Dannevirke, the principal town of Southern Hawke’s Bay, reaches its own centenary next year – 100 years after 21 hardy Scandinavian families founded the township in the primitive bush clearing.
In the span of a century, the town had endured great initial hardships and passed through a prosperous phase as a sawmilling town, to emerge as a growing servicing centre for an internationally know beef, dairying and sheep farming district.
Originally, the site of Dannevirke lay within the Seventy-Mile Bush on an ancient Maori trail linking Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay. It was bought from the Maoris jointly by the Wellington and Hawke’s Bay Provincial Councils and arrangements were made to open up the thick bush country with assisted immigrants from Scandinavia.
By June 1872, a bridle track linking Napier and Palmerston North had been surveyed by Charles Weber and place in fair condition.
In September 1872, the vessels Hovding and Ballarat arrived at Napier with the pioneer Scandinavians. By October 15, the families occupied sections cut from the bush.
The nearby site of Norsewood was also cleared and settled. But high transport costs, hardships and privations of isolation and bush fires threatened both settlements with abandonment.
” . . . green sward where bush once soared’
The Norsewood pioneer museum established in 1965 provides a glimpse of the harzardous way of life.
Only Government employment schemes on road making, and splitting of railway sleepers, kept the pioneers in work. Yet the settlements survived till road improvements and the advent of the railway in 1884 developed the sawmilling industry with great rapidity in Southern Hawke’s Bay.
Norsewood settlers had striven for years to over come privation – always comforted by the knowledge that the railway would eventually pass through their village, bringing prosperity at last. But for them, the railway never came. It was re-routed six miles east of the settlement. Norsewood settlers grimly worked on to overcome this great setback to their hopes, but never did they forgive the authorities responsible for the decision to by-pass their village.
In the centre of the finest milling bush, Dannevirke – through which the railway did pass – supported more than 20 mills within a few years. It was constituted a borough in 1892 – only 20 years after its establishment.
In the 20th century, bush has made way for pastures. Dannevirke’s economy has changed. Other industry has appeared and, now, beef cattle breeders from overseas visit the town each year to buy stud cattle from the district’s stud farms.
Against the backdrop of the towering Ruahines, the green sward, where the bush once soared, supports some of the country’s finest livestock.
An impressive parade of Aberdeen Angus bulls at a Dannevirke fair.
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Page 21
People
Old net laid aside
New net goes afishing
The century of The Daily Telegraph has also been the century of the Maori – a century of Maori renaissance.
When The Telegraph began to serve its first readers in 1871, the Maori race throughout New Zealand was at its lowest ebb. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 population in 1840 had been reduced to a dwindling 40,000 by the advent of the musket and European diseases to which the Maori had little resistance.
By 1871, the deadly conglomeration of inter-tribal warfare, land wars with the European and, particularly. tuberculosis, threatened extinction. The Maori was a dying race.
Inevitably, aspects of the mid-19th century Maori disaster spread to Hawke’s Bay, even though the province’s early Maori-pakeha relationships generally had been good, due to the wisdom of early pioneers like the Rev. William Colenso and Donald McLean, and the Maori chiefs, notably Te Hapuku.
Te Hapuku realised he must prepare his people for life in a new civilisation. and, despite opposition from elders, engaged peaceably in land deals. Consequently. the full bitterness of the Maori wars did not reach Hawke’s Bay.
The biggest threat to pakeha settlers was the hostility of Te Kooti and the marauding Hau Hau fanatics. It culminated in the 1866 Battle of Omarunui, a 1 hour 40 minute engagement in which Hau Hau rebels, whose advance threatened Napier, were routed by the Militia and friendly Maoris including Renata, Tareha, Ihaka and Kopu.
Other degenerative influences. however, had considerable repressive effects on the Maoris in Hawke’s Bay. Having broken the power of Maori chiefs by war in many areas, the Government, in 1871, attempted to hasten the extinction of the race by breaking its culture.
The Native Schools Amendment Act ruled only English would be spoken in schools. In fact, the Government, through the Education Department, declared war on the Maori language.
Yet, in spite of these pressures, the Maori revival began. Maoris never succumbed to the language legislation and, subtly, gained their traditional revenge. They have never elected to Parliament a representative who could not speak Maori.
By the 1901 census, improved medicine and hygiene had halted the downward population trend. By 1920, the Maori was the fastest growing sector of New Zealand’s population. Today, statisticians estimate that, but for the mid-19th century repression, the Maori population would now approach three million – equal to New Zealand’s total population.
The 20th century heralded the emergence of new Maori leadership. Hawke’s Bay, and Te Aute College in particular, figured in the appearance of capable Maori mediators versed in the ways of both races.
These new leaders included Sir James Carroll, son of a Ngati-Kahungunu chieftainess, and the first Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt. Rev. Frederick Augustus Bennett (father of the present bishop, the Rt. Rev. M. A. Bennett).
From Te Aute College Old Boys’ Association stemmed the influential Young Maori Party, led by Sir Maui Pomare, Sir Apirana Ngata, Sir Peter Buck, the Rev. M. Kohere, Dr T. Wirepa, and others.
These men represented a new breed of Maori – leaders, politicians, scholars. They transplanted new heart into an ailing race. In two world wars and on the sportsfields, the 20th century Maori emerged with honour and confidence.
In the 1960s, the Maori was rediscovered by the educationists, the economists and the statisticians. Reports were produced, new institutions established, including the Maori Education Foundation.
Today, the Maori lives on, holding the riches of tradition, noble ancestry and culture. The problems of a dying race have been overcome. Yet as he moves alongside the pakeha at the workbench and in the suburban street, the Maori faces new problems, further challenges.
But now the Maori race does not stand alone. No longer is New Zealand attempting to shed an unwelcome appendage like a small boy casting off warts. Rather, it is facing up to the challenge of producing a truly multi-racial society, rich in diversity yet equal in opportunity, education, income and welfare.
Ka pu te ruha
The old net is laid aside
Ka hao te rangatahi
The new net goes afishing
Photo captions –
A Urewera chief and daughters at their whare – an old study photographed when problems of survival faced the Maori race.
The Maori of another age. – Top right: The first Bishop of Aotearoa, the late Rt. Rev. F. A. Bennett. Left: Construction worker. Above: Award – winning architect, John Scott, of Hastings, in front of a luxury Havelock North residence which embodies a suggestion of the classical whare design.
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The “Frank Guy” at anchor at Ahuriri, Williams and Kettle Ltd’s original store on West Quay
Marked in background
FAR AWAY DAYS . . .
. . . A Sincere Tribute . . .
At this Centenary of The Daily Telegraph, we desire to pause, to give thought and due acknowledgement. We would pay homage to the founders of this worthy paper and to the pioneers of our farming industry on which town and country depend . . . our grandparents and great grandparents.
We acknowledge their great labours under constant hardship and frequent adversity, and rejoice in the magnitude of their achievement in so few crowded years.
Determination, enterprise and honest endeavour have made our nation great colonisers and successful pioneers.
It is our sincere hope and wish that we may be able to match their advance by carrying the torch still father, that these traditional characteristics may be handed on by us to our children that they in turn, generations hence, will look back and think of us in terms of grateful affection.
We Recall –
One memorable day in October 1880 a young man full of ambition and dreams, left his relatively secure job to start a business of his own.
In a galvanised iron shed at Port Ahuriri, Napier, leased with his meagre capital, Mr F. W. Williams opened his first office and store.
In July 1885 Mr Williams was joined in partnership by Mr Nathaniel Kettle from Dunedin.
They traded under the title of F. W. Williams and Kettle until July 1, 1891 when the partnership was formed into the limited liability company Williams and Kettle Ltd.
With ten years to our own centenary, we dedicate ourselves to the furtherance of the aims of our founders – honest trading and high emphasis on service to to our clients.
W&K WILLIAMS and KETTLE LTD.
FOUNDED 1880
Mr F. W. WILLIAMS
Founder of Williams and Kettle Limited at Port of Ahuriri, Napier, in 1880.
Mr N. KETTLE
Who joined Mr Williams in partnership in 1885.
Page 23
People
They gave HEART to the hills…
Hawke’s Bay’s pioneer farmers were mostly men who counted their acres before they counted their sheep.
The explanation is their opportunism, A century ago, acquisition of huge tracts of land was not frowned upon. Aggregation was a clean word.
The explorer, the trader, whaler and missionary had lived their lives of adventure and avarice, and, for the most part, had, by 1871, left Hawke’s Bay to the settlers and squatters – men of fixed abode, home and family, spade and plough, sheep and cattle,
Some were rich. Some were not. Some were reckless. Others just plain lucky. History has sorted them into their categories – the opportunists, the diligent, the dedicated.
Flick the clock back 100 years and many pioneers would be found in circumstances that this generation would say were humiliating. Some were in thick bushland where deep-rooted forest lay between impecuniosity and solvency. Others, if tracked down in vast unfenced tracts of fern and scrub, had little to bless them other than good health and high spirits.
In those days Hawke’s Bay was young and green, too. Providence gave it a kind climate and fertile soil. These young men gave it heart.
Even before Donald McLean’s purchase of large blocks of Hawke’s Bay land for the Government in the 1850s, squatters had moved up the coast from the Wairarapa, past Castlepoint, into Hawke’s Bay.
It was illegal under Sir George Grey’s land regulations for private individuals to purchase direct from the Maoris, but many obtained land on lease from the chiefs and toiled uneasily on land of insecure tenure.
The trend began in 1847 when, despite opposition from the missionary, the Rev. William Colenso, Captain James Northwood and Henry Stokes Tiffen succeeded in leasing about 60,000 acres at Pourerere from a chief named Morena.
A flock of 3000 Merino ewes from Australia was driven by Edward Davis and Fred Tiffen through the Wairarapa and up the coast to Pourerere where they arrived on January 30, 1849, to establish the first sheep station in Hawke’s Bay.
After the spring of 1850, Fred Tiffen moved inland and H. S. Tiffen dissolved partnership with Northwood, who apparently took Charles Nairn, once a runaway cabin boy, as a new partner.
In the next few years scores of settlers drove sheep on to Hawke’s Bay land. Impatient and annoyed at Government policy, many obtained illegal leaseholds from Maoris. Others waited to obtain rights to properties from the Government after Crown purchases bad been made.
In other parts of the country there was blood shed because settlers failed to appreciate that, according to Maori lore and custom, the mere exchange of money did not authorise the transfer of land titles. Early settlers in Hawke’s Bay were lucky that Maori chieftain land-owners soon saw the case for updating this technicality.
In 1851, the influential Hawke’s Bay chief, Te Hapuku, who had probably visited the growing township of Wellington, expressed his willingness to part with land, in a letter to the Governor Sir George Grey.
On May 3, 1851, Te Hapuku wrote: “. . . This is from your loving friend who has agreed to give Mr McLean the land for you that you, the Governor, may have the land and send me Europeans for my land as soon as possible at the same time with the payment, that we may have respectable European gentlemen.
“I am annoyed with the low Europeans of this place. Let the people for this place come direct from England, new Europeans to live in our lands . . . let it be a large, large, very large town for me.”
Te Hapuku was always well disposed toward European settlement and refused to join the King movement. Had he been hostile, the whole story of European settlement in Hawke’s Bay would have been different.
There were, however, incidents Involving well-known early pioneers that caused much feeling. Thomas Tanner and a well-known group of settlers, who became knows as “The Twelve Apostles”, were at the centre of a controversy for obtaining leasehold of the greater part of the Heretaunga Plain from Maoris at a time when such action was illegal.
A Parliamentary return of 1864 shows that Tanner, the Rev, Samuel Williams, Captain Russell, J. D. Ormond, T P. Russell, J. B. Brathwaite, J. G. Gordon, J. Gordon and W. Rich had previously leased 20,000 acres at £750 a year. Messrs F. Sutton, J. Watt and J. N. Williams also leased land on the plains.
A Royal Commission in 1878 inquired into the Heretaunga purchase and its report was critical of the actions of some settlers, telling how they induced Maoris to sign sale documents.
Nonetheless, acres, and the acquisition of them, meant activation for Hawke’s Bay in the early decades of European settlement.
Then came the era of subdivision. The breakdown of the huge stations was foreseen by some, including J. D. Ormond, as early as the 1870s. But Hawke’s Bay did not get its first real taste of what pastoral strongholds could expect until April 25, 1901.
On that day the large Hatuma Estate, totalling 25,737 acres, ceased – by law – to be the property of T. Purvis Russell.
Other major subdivisions soon followed, but the break-up of Russell’s domain, which stretched from the Tuki Tuki River at Waipukurau across 15 miles to the east of Kopua, was perhaps the most notable subdivision in the North Island.
Premier Richard John Seddon’s closer settlement enactments forced the sale of Russell’s block of limestone sheep country – the most magnificent in the province. Under Russell’s control the 26,000 acres had grazed about 39,000 sheep and 850 cattle.
Russell’s refusal to sink money into improvements was widely known. The average net earnings of the property were £9536 a year. The Government’s Land for Settlement Act visualised something better. A score of new farmer settlers brought new effort and vigour into the management of those acres.
The story of the subdivisions is a rich chapter in
(Continued overleaf)
Photo caption – Rolling hills of Hawke’s Bay’s coastal country (above) were an inviting prospect for pioneer sheep farmers, including F. J. Tiffen (right) who helped drive 3000 Merino sheep through Wairarapa and up the coast to establish the first Hawke’s Bay sheep station in 1849.
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Page 25
People
Through surf to ship
the province’s history. It includes the breakup af Colonel J. B. Herrick’s Forest Gate on the Ruataniwha Plain and of J. Harding’s Mount Vernon property, with its strong overtones of feud between Harding, Russell and F. J. Tiffen.
The Stokes brothers were responsible for one of the largest subdivisions, that of Milbourne, which covered 33,000 acres between Waipawa and Maraekakaho. The property adjoined the Maraekakaho Station of R. D. D. McLean and Gwavas, owned by A. S. G. Carlyon. The Napier Public Hospital benefited from one of the Stokes brothers, and one of the wards bears his name.
Gradually the little empires in Hawke’s Bay were carved up. There were the vast holdings of the Rhodes family, and that of Colonel Sir George Whitmore, who boasted that his “farm stretched from the top of the Kawekas to the sea.
The Tuki Tuki block – once a famous station – is now farmed by more than a dozen sheepmen along the Waimarama Road. Mangatoro, first owned by Captain Douglas Hamilton, stretched from Norsewood almost to Woodville and was cut into 22 farms in 1902.
Lesser lights are such names as Fairfield, Mangatarata and Arlington in Central Hawke’s Bay. Mangatarata is a truly historic property adjoining Olrig and Ben Lomond. Mangatarata is perpetuated by the name Gollan. Spencer Gollan was twice golf champion of New Zealand. His father, Donald, won one of the wealthiest men ever to live in Hawke’s Bay.
Gollan’s manager was de Pelichet, who, with J. S. McLeod, was associated in the formation of the mercantile firm which still bears their name.
Government intervention was a spur to subdivision, but there were other incentives. Indeed, many settlers subdivided by choice. One such pioneer was Thomas Lowry, of Okawa, the grandfather of Mr T. C. Lowry and his two brothers, Messrs J. N. and R. H. W. Lowry.
An enigmatic was Algernon Tollemache, who moved behind the scenes in the early period of Hawke’s Bay development and left a string of estates and interests to be administered by Napier solititors, Messrs Cotterill and Humphries.
Photo caption – Wool loading through surf only ceased relatively recently as roading improvements reached the most distant coastal stations. Right: One of the “Twelve Apostles”, Thomas Tanner, whose Riverslea homestead (below) was a showplace of colonial grandeur on the Heretaunga Plains.
Pages 26 and 27
THE LONG WHITE CLOUD
Record of integrity
The period of subdivision on Hawke’s Bay was a major development. But there were other landmarks in the past century. One was the development of the freezing industry.
The Hawke’s Bay pioneer, William Nelson saw that the departure of the Dunedin from Port Chalmers, with the first consignment of export frozen lamb in 1882, would change the face of farming, particularly in Hawke’s Bay.
He was the prime mover in the establishment of the first freezing works at Tomoana on the present site in 1883-84. In 1905, Thomas Borthwick and Sons began operating their own works at Paki Paki. The building was destroyed in the 1931 earthquake and not rebuilt.
The advent of the freezing works synchronised with the advent of the decline of Merino sheep. John Harding, Charles Nairn and J. N. Williams, with others, had already introduce the Romney breed decades earlier, and later breeders, such as Tod, of Otane, improved the breed.
In time, Hawke’s Bay-grown crossbreed wool came to be amongst the most sought after by Bradford Spinners and the Continental Houses. But the freezing industry called for a sheep of a different calibre – representative of the Downland, short-woolled breeds. The Southdown was introduced and has given yeomen service ever since.
In the cattle-raising sphere, farmers like H.B. Stuckey introduced the Herefords, Nairn the Shorthorn, and Handyside, Armstrong and others the Angus. All three breeds flourish still and have created reputations for the stud properties such as Brooklands and Mangatoro.
Page 27
Among the many breeders who achieved success are W. I. Matthews, L. E. Harris, P. S. Plummer, Donald Grant, J. L. Herrick, C. E. Nairn, the Powdrell brothers, M. Knight, W. Philip, John Macfarlane, Andy McGaffin and M. Marshall.
Farming in Hawke’s Bay owes much top the Ormonds, the McLeans, the Tiffens and the string of prominent settlers whose careers are documented in the history books.
But credit accrues too, to the thousands of other settlers who gave themselves to the land. Men and women who did not achieve prominence but, nonetheless, formed the backbone of the province.
These people toiled to tame a bleak environment in the hinterland. Some were gentlefolk who had never peeled a potato before coming to New Zealand, and had not washed a soiled garment or handled a broom.
Their introduction to Hawke’s Bay was a bumpy ride in a bullock wagon over rough terrain, or an uneasy journey on horseback or on foot to lonesome destinations that offered neither comfort nor convenience. Even when the fear of molestation by the Maoris subsided, other trials lay ahead.
Bush had to be felled, land burnt, grassed, fenced and stocked. No shearing machinery in those days, no milking plants. No roads and no regular mails. Stores were ordered in bulk and paid for in debits in the books of stock and station agencies – debits that in lean times kept creditors waiting and gave settlers sleepless nights.
Improved roading, the railway, schools, the rabbit menace, the freezing industry, the South African War, the telephone, the watersiders’ strike of 1913, the great War, the depression, war again…..all these events and developments were reflected in the Hawke’s Bay hills.
The motor car, the machine age, electricity, the 1931 earthquake, the post-war wool boom – the greatest the country has yet known – combined to change the methods and customs of the farming community.
Fast-moving trucks, with huge crates in tow, banished driven stock from many highways. The farm hack followed the draught horse into redundancy as technology produced farm tractors – and a new word, superphosphate.
From the horrors of war came the realisation that the aeroplane had a place on the farm. Thus, in time, every farm had a landing strip. Aircraft adapted for the task spread fertiliser from the sky. The long white cloud settled on the hills and valleys of the province.
Giant discs ploughed the land. Scrubcutters were paid off. Tree-high Manuka succumbed to the blade of the bulldozer. Wastelands became productive.
In 1971, the year 1871 looks remote indeed and the Hawke’s Bay country a different place. Techniques of the bygone era seem clumsy, but how could it be otherwise? In that same span of time the world has come from the flicker of candlelight to the blinding nuclear flash. Ponderous travel by bullock at a few yards a minute contrasts with the space shot reckoned in thousands of miles to the hour.
The Hawke’s Bay landscape has been transformed. The Heretaunga Plain fruitgrower today makes more money from a handful of acres than the squatter of old made from thousands.
Hastings today is the centre of what in 1871 would be considered a cartel for processing fruit and produce. Any one of the Ahuriri woolstores has accommodation that in times gone by would have taken the province’s whole wool clip.
The story of Hawke’s Bay farm settlement is one of change, advancement and the progressive discard of old methods. It all adds up to a record of integrity and as a major industry.
Photo captions –
Amid dusty clamour, a pen of the province’s stock change hands at Stortford Lodge saleyards, a weekly hub of the farming community. Right: Mr L.E. Harris, one of the farmers who has applied modern techniques in farming with outstanding success.
Taming a hostile terrain, an aerial topdressing aircraft buzzes around the steep hills and valleys of the Tutira district. Aerial topdressing, one of the most significant developments in the history of Hawke’s Bay farming, emanated from the technical advances of the Second World War.
Mr P.S. Plummer, of Central Hawke’s Bay, immediate past Dominion president of Federated Farmers and one of the province’s most notable cattle breeders. The long white cloud settled on the hills and valleys of the province.
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DAILY TELEGRAPH AS IT CELEBRATES ITS PROUD ANNIVERSARY
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Manager: N.L. PREBBLE TENNYSON STREET, NAPIER
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Congratulations to The Daily Telegraph on the occasion of their Centennial Celebrations from the . .
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GROUP OF COMPANIES
Manufacturers Stationers – Paper Merchants – Suppliers of Machinery to the Graphic Arts and Packaging Industries
Our products, together with those of our subsidiaries and associated companies – British Eastlight” (Files) “Inca” (Carbon and Typewriter Products) “P.R.D.” (Welded Plastic Products) have made a significant contribution to the progress and economic development of the Bay for more than half this period. We are steadily expanding, developing and moulding our products and services to fill the demands and needs of society and industry as we move to the Year 2000.
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Page 29
People
LIFE WAS FUN TOO. . .
Settlers breaking in a raw province still had time for fun, tea and romance . . .
TOP: Friendly rivalry at the New Year’s Day picnic at the “Bush” near Waipawa in 1912. For many years the picnic was Central Hawke’s Bay’s most popular fixture, a welcome break from the life of isolation of many families.
RIGHT: The ever popular parish garden party, offering tea, cakes and hats galore.
FAR RIGHT: There was romance too, during those country walks on sunny Sunday afternoons.
BELOW: And there was time, too, for sport. Horse racing soon became a major sporting pastime in Hawke’s Bay and, as early as the 1860s, the three day meetings of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club were long-awaited events. The turn-of-the-century scene shows the gaily-dressed crowd at the Hastings racecourse.
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Like THE DAILY TELEGRAPH our business has grown through SERVICE and know-how.
PICTURES BELOW DISCLOSE THE PHENOMENAL GROWTH IN THE PAST 100 YEARS.
TOP LEFT: Hastings Street shop in the late 1800s.
CENTRE: In Emerson Street in 1970 with modernised shop.
TOP RIGHT: Hastings shop in Heretaunga Street.
BOTTOM LEFT: Our new Taradale shop in Gloucester Street.
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Page 31
People
Six of the best
Many notable characters have stepped down the path of Hawke’s Bay history.
Colonialism emphasised certain types of activity and in these fields most top men (and women) emerged. Churchmen, soldiers, explorers laid the way for statesmen, farmers, industrialists. The arts and cultural activities have lacked emphasis but still produced some outstanding figures.
The names are many: Bishop William Williams, first missionary and first Bishop of Waiapu, Archdeacon Henry Williams, Father E. Regnier [Reignier], Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, Bishop F.A. Bennett, first Bishop of Aotearoa, Major-General Sir George Stoddart Whitmore, William Nelson, Sir James Wattie, H. Guthrie-Smith. The list of names linked with achievement seems endless.
The rise of some figures possessed the element of good fortune. Many others would have been outstanding in any era.
Some names are already securely marked on the route of provincial progress, but time and perspective have yet to place most of our contemporaries. On this page: a biographical glimpse of six of the best . . .
William Colenso, the most colourful figure of Hawke’s Bay history, applied an unflagging zeal to varied talents as printer, missionary, explorer, botanist, educationalist and politician.
Yet his uncompromising personality and dictatorial nature robbed him of the affection of his Maori converts, and brought him into conflict on many occasions with his superiors, colleagues and neighbours.
Poignancy pitted his life. His place in history was clouded for some years by his intolerant, irascible character, but his versatile, vigorous and brilliant spirit survived.
Born in Penzance, Colenso was a 23-year old missionary-printer with the Church Missionary Society when he arrived at Paihia in 1834. Ill-equipped, Colenso improvised to produce the first book printed in New Zealand (the epistle to the Philippians and Ephesians, in Maori), other religious publications and the earliest Government proclamations.
Colenso’s authority on Maori subjects and the natural history of New Zealand was unquestioned. He was co-founder (with Sir George Grey) of the New Zealand Society for the Furtherance of Scientific Research, an active member of the New Zealand Institute and founder of the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Society. He was acting Speaker for a while of the Hawke’s bay Provincial Council, represented Napier in Parliament in 1861, and was inspector of schools in Hawke’s Bay for many years.
Throughout, he retained a religious fervour. As a white-haired but still crusty old gentleman living on Napier’s Colenso Hill, he was re-admitted to the services of the church in 1894, five years before is death.
John Davies Ormond, Superintendent of Hawke’s Bay, Minister of Public Works and member of the Legislative Council, dominated Hawke’s Bay’s early development and figured in national politics for more than half a century.
Born in Wallingford, Berkshire, he came to New Zealand as the 16-year-old protege of Lieutenant-Governor E. J. Eyre in 1848. He left the position of clerk to the Executive Council in the early 1850s to take up a run near Waipukurau and become one of Hawke’s Bay’s first settlers.
Of great mental power, cool and resolute, he entered politics during the move for Hawke’s Bay separation from Wellington and stayed in the political arena for the rest of his life. The alter-ego of Sir Donald McLean, he and McLean virtually ran the province in its early years.
Ormond became the leader of almost every important political and social body in the province, a pioneer industrialist, successful breeder and exhibitor of poultry and sheep, and noted racehorse owner before his death in 1917.
Sir James Carroll (1853-1926), son of Wairoa’s first European farmer and a Maori chieftainess, Tapuke, became the first Maori Prime minister of the Crown, twice Acting Prime Minister, and the right-hand man of Premier Richard John Seddon.
Carroll, who brought up 30 foster children, is regarded as one of the finest speakers the New Zealand Parliament has known. A gem of his picturesque language, on unveiling a memorial to an opponent and friend: “My mind is a hive to which are homing a hundred honeyed memories”
Miss Jerome Spencer, O.B.E., educationalist and daughter of Napier’s third Mayor, Dr W. I. Spencer, earned a niche in New Zealand history when she founded the Country Women’s Institute movement, still the largest organisation for women in the country (more than 1,000 institutes), at Rissington in 1921, and the Townswomen’s Guild movement in Napier after the 1931 earthquake.
Sir Donald McLean, also known as Te Makarini “chief of Hawke’s Bay”, played a significant part in the European occupation of New Zealand, during a lifetime touched with tragedy.
Still a child when his father died, the 19-year-old McLean emigrated from the Hebrides in 1839 to work as a timber agent in New South Wales and New Zealand. He quickly learned to speak Maori, which proved a valuable qualification when appointed Subprotector of Maoris, then land purchase officer, mediator and ultimately Native Minister and Defence Minister.
In 1850, while negotiating the purchase of Hawke’s Bay land, he married Miss Susan Strang, of Wellington, but their tragically brief marriage ended with her death shortly after the birth of their only son, Douglas, in 1852.
McLean himself was critically ill with rheumatic fever during the Maori war crisis in Taranaki when his knowledge, judgment and rapport with the Maoris could have eased trouble.
As a Cabinet Minister, his exercise of personal authority achieved peace, making way for the public works and development of the 1870s. But political attacks, anxiety and ill-health through early hardships led to his death on January 5, 1877.
Sir James Wattie, industrialist, has transformed the economy of the Heretaunga Plains and elsewhere in the past quarter century.
Born in Hawarden, North Canterbury, he moved to Hastings as a boy with his family and, in 1915, went to work as a 13-year old with the Hawke’s Bay Fruit, Produce and Cool Storage Company. After studying accountancy in his spare time, he eventually became manager of Hawke’s Bay Fruitgrowers Ltd and, in 1934, formed J Wattie Canneries Ltd.
His business acumen has guided the firm to international success, yet he has never lost the common touch in the past decade, he has also had popular success as a racehorse owner.
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IN THE SERVICE OF HAWKE’S BAY
– WESTERMAN’S SPECIAL VALUES –
IN HONOUR of a GREAT OCCASION!
A hundred years ago,
Marauding Hau-Hau bands
Threatened peaceful settlers
in Hawke’s Bay.
There was loss of life and land
Till Whitmore took his stand
And in deciding battle –
Won the day
Life then took more settled form;
“The Daily Telegraph” was born –
To spread the news of life
From day to day.
‘Twas a journal of renown
With lofty hopes for man:
And it functions so
In service still today.
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Boxed from 75c Loose from 15c
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From $1.20 pair
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LARGE PRINTED BEACH TOWELS, good driers in knockabout quality, 30in x 60in. $1.35
INDIAN BINNEY TOWELS, in nine fast-dyed colours, absorbent and durable. Size 25in x 48in, hemmed, this will be the last bale. Special $1 each.
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LINEN TABLECLOTH AND NAPKINS SETS, smart checked designs in Autumn and blue/green tones. Usually $4.95
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As we prepared this advertisement in 1970 . . .
It occurred to us that by manipulating the figures in the year 1970 you can come up with 1790, which happens to be the year when one of the first newspapers in London was produced on an all rag content newsprint. Our newsprint, of course, in these days is produced entirely from ground wood pulp. The main source of supply being from Tasman Mills in Kawerau.
The year 1790 and especially the date 17th September has produced an original copy of “The Morning Herald” from which some copies are herewith produced exactly as they appeared then.
If you remember to read ‘S’ where appears to be ‘F’ you should have some interesting reading.
[Newspaper excerpt]
Inserted by B.J. BALL N.Z. Paper Merchants
And Suppliers to the Daily Telegraph for 50 years
Page 33
People
Cutting out the frills
Fashions have frolicked from the fullest frills to the flimsiest of creations. In a century of fickleness, women have daily looked for “something new” – showing more and shedding 19th century modesty on the way.
To male delight the ‘swinging sixties” brought the mini-skirt and blew the fashion world thigh-high. Yet with the maxi-skirt now on the scene, how long will it last?
Top: Frills aplenty at the races nearly a century ago.
Top right: Too daring even for the model to reveal her face, the first harem-skirt in Napier was shown at McGruers Ltd in April 1911 and raised a storm of controversy.
Right: No fears, though, for little Miss Moderns of today as hems get higher and necklines lower. How will the “maxi” and “mini” styles fare by comparison.
HAIRSTYLES TURN A FULL CIRCLE
Men seem just as fickle. Seeking the fashionable hairstyle, the modern male has just put the clock back 100 years.
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The Printers’ Supply House
Congratulate the Daily Telegraph
For a century of valued service to the public of New Zealand and in particular to the subscribers in Hawke’s Bay.
Wimbles have served Printers throughout Australia and New Zealand for over 100 years . . .
We are the leaders in the manufacture of all printing inks and also suppliers of graphic arts equipment.
Pictured are the men who currently service the Hawke’s Bay area.
F.T. WIMBLE & CO. (N.Z.) LTD.
Malcolm Thane,
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Bob Linde,
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Jeff Cox,
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Al Chalmers,
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Page 35
Action
DEEDS OF COURAGE
Our century embraced horrifying periods of conflict the worst mankind has known.
In the fires of war, Hawke’s Bay men fought, bled and died. On distant deserts, hostile shores, at sea and in the air, they faced the enemy and death with deeds of courage, determination, perseverance.
From the most severe episodes, they emerged with honour and victory.
Hostility against Maori Hau Hau fanatics was virtually a closed chapter when The Daily Telegraph was established in 1871. Three weeks after the first issue of the newspaper appeared, the last detachment of British troops left New Zealand.
A local militia was maintained in the province, and, in 1871, Colonel G. S. Whitmore, of Rissington, a veteran of the Crimean war, was commander, with Lieutenant-Colonels C. Lambert and J. L. Herrick under him. Whitmore emerged as an outstanding soldier of the Maori wars. He was later appointed Minister of Defence and knighted.
There followed a generation of peace rocked only by the Russian “scare” of 1885, and, at the turn of the century, Hawke’s Bay fighting men were ready and willing to join the “Colonials – volunteers in South Africa.
Hawke’s Bay claimed to have sent more men a head of population to the Boer War than any other province – 386 in 10 contingents.
The glory of war in the hey-day of Imperialism was soon muddied in the trenches of France.
New Zealand contributed 10 per cent of its population to the 1914-18 war and 40 per cent of the male population between 20 and 45 saw service.
Thousands of Hawke’s Bay men were among the 100,444 Diggers who served overseas. A member of the well-known military and pioneer Hawke’s Bay family, Major-General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell, commanded the evacuation of the entire Anzac Force at Gallipoli, and led the New Zealand Division through France to Germany.
General Russell, born at Greenmeadows, returned home with many foreign decorations, served again in the Second World War as Inspector-General of Forces in New Zealand. and died in 1960.
A former Napier High School boy, Percy Valentine Storkey, became one of New Zealand’s few Victoria Cross winners for his “conspicuous bravery, leadership and devotion to duty” when in charge of a platoon in an attack on Hangard Wood, near Villers Bretonneux, on April 7, 1918. Later, he became a New South Wales judge. He died in Britain in 1969.
Photo captions –
Hawke’s Bay’s Major-General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell commanded the entire Anzac Force in the evacuation of Gallipoli after the historic landing at Anzac Cove depicted above in the Cuneo painting.
Below: Hawke’s Bay farewells its first (troops to serve overseas, the “Colonials” of the South African war of 1899-1901. Crowds cram the Masonic Hotel verandas to watch the proceedings around the band rotunda in front of Napier’s old council chambers.
Lt. P. V. Storkey, V.C.
Maj-Gen. A. H. Russell
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Page 37
Action
“Make way for the Digger flag”
“Make way for the Digger flag”, New Zealanders called as H.M.S. Achilles attacked, then trapped and helped force the scuttling of the pride of the German Navy, the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.
The Battle of the River Plate on December 13, 1939, was the first occasion on which the New Zealand Ensign was hoisted in naval action – and it introduced to New Zealanders at home the realities of the Second World War.
Ordinary Seaman C. F. Marra, of Waipukurau, wounded in the battle, was one of several Hawke’s Bay men among the 321 New Zealanders serving in the Achilles. His was among the first Hawke’s Bay blood spilled in a new war – a war that grew into a new horrifying dimension.
Battles at sea
In the 1939-45 conflict, Hawke’s Bay produced many distinguished navalmen. With bravery and skill they served in craft of many kinds – battleships, motor torpedo-boats and submarines, destroyers and cruisers – and in the Fleet Air Arm.
A notable naval contribution was made by the Herrick family of Hastings, descendants of the Napier militia officer of 100 years ago, Captain T.D. Herrick and Lieutenant-Commander L. E Herrick were both honoured for distinguished service in the Royal Navy and Miss R. Herrick became the first director of the Women’s Royal New Zealand Naval Service in 1942. After the war, Captain Herrick served as assistant Chief of Naval Staff.
By 1944, more than 9000 New Zealanders were serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy or the Royal Navy. Of 573 who died, 451 were with the Royal Navy.
Hawke’s Bay navalmen saw action in the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the North Sea and at Normandy. Around the world, they fought the battles of the sea.
Among the Few
Hawke’s Bay men were among the Few. With Europe in the Nazi grip, the Briitsh Army still recovering from Dunkirk, many Hawke’s Bay airmen in the Royal Air Force helped defend a weak, exposed Britain.
Four New Zealanders commanded fighter squadrons in the Battle of Britain and 95 fought as fighter pilots. Aucklander, Air Vice Marshal Sir Keith Park, played a vital role as commander of 25 squadrons of No. 11 Group.
The outstanding Hawke’s Bay airman was Wairoa born Air Marshal Sir Hector McGregor. In the Battle of Britain, he commanded No. 213 Fighter Squadron with distinction. He went on to a brilliant Royal Air Force career. A member of a well-known Napier family, he retired a few year ago after holding several distinguished posts, including that of Commander-in-Chief R.A.F. Fighter Command.
At least one Hawke’s Bay airman died in action as Hurricanes and Spitfires of the Few harassed and repelled the might of Germany’s Luftwaffe in Britain’s darkest hours.
About 500 New Zealanders flew bombers in action during the war, and many Hawke’s Bay pilots and other airmen served in R.A.F. Bomber Command and in the R.N.Z.A.F. in Europe, the Pacific and elsewhere. A total of 10,950 New Zealand airmen served in Britain alone, more than 6000 in the R.A.F. Casualties were 3285 killed, 138 seriously wounded and 568 captured.
Photo captions –
The scene in the River Plate estuary as the German pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, is scuttled after having been trapped by Allied ships, including H.M.S. Achilles (right) in which a number of Hawke’s Bay navalmen saw their first action of the Second World War. – A.T.L.
Sir Hector McGregor and (right) Hurricanes in formation.
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Page 39
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Dust, sweat and cheers
Two out of every three Hawke’s Bay men between 18 years and 45 entered the Services during the Second World War. Most were among the 104,988 New Zealand Army personnel who served abroad.
Their resourcefulness, spirit and aptitude for the outdoor life earned high praise and respect in all theatres of war – the Desert, Europe and the Pacific.
Maoris whose ancestors fought alongside Hawke’s Bay pioneers against the Hau Hau rebels a century earlier joined in action overseas.
Hawke’s Bay tribes, which were represented in the Maori Pioneer Battalion of the 1914-18 war, again contributed skilled officers and men to the 28 (Maori) Battalion of the Second World War.
The Ngati-Kahungunu formed a large section of D Company and went on to serve with distinction.
In the dust and sweat of North Africa, Hawke’s Bay soldiers in the Second New Zealand Division faced Rommel. In Italy, they slogged on to Cassino and beyond.
Many Hawke’s Bay soldiers served in the 22nd and 25th Infantry Battalions, but large numbers also served in the Artillery, the Engineers and the whole range of Army units from the specialised Long Range Desert Group to the medical and educational units.
Throughout the war, New Zealanders at home, particularly many women, added a priceless contribution to the effort.
As hostilities dragged on, more Hawke’s Bay soldiers saw service in the growing New Zealand Third Division in the Pacific. They persevered on the hot beaches and in the jungles of the Pacific till their withdrawal in 1944.
Restive prisoners
When captured, the New Zealander was a restive prisoner. The spirit of escape rose high and often in a number of Hawke’s Bay men. Among them was Sapper Roy Natusch, of Maraekakaho, taken prisoner on April 28, 1941, and who escaped on September 12, 1944 – after nine attempts.
Napier-born Brigadier George Clifton, who died at Taupo in 1970, turned his extraordinary escapades into an exciting book, “The Happy Hunted” He made nine attempts to break from German and Italian hands. Five times he escaped from confinement, and twice he returned to Allied lines.
In more recent decades, Hawke’s Bay fighting men have fought and died with New Zealand forces in South-East Asia, notably in Korea and Vietnam. Against less easily defined enemies, they use equipment, devices and methods their forefathers could not have imagined.
In the conflicts of a century, many of the province’s men and women have endured and triumphed over the hardships and bitterness of war and confinement. Cheering crowds have rejoiced at their return. Their contribution will not easily be forgotten.
Photo captions –
New Zealanders bring down their wounded from a feature at Takrouna, Tunisia, on May 13, 1943. Below: The Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, takes the salute from units of the 28 (Maori) Battalion in Britain. – A.T. L.
Captured Brigadier Clifton (extreme left) meets Rommel (centre) on September 4, 1942. The exposure was found in a German photographer’s camera when he was killed the following month. – A.T.L. 39
Pages 40-41
Action
She’s a beaut!
Our sporting record
It’s been a champion century for Hawke’s Bay sport. Rugby, racing and . . . you name it. You’d be surprised at the champions we’ve produced.
From A to Z in the world of sport (from athletics to Zephyr class yachting), Hawke’s Bay sportsmen have had a go at most things. And in many events we have unearthed a top-notcher – the best in the country, sometimes the best in the British Empire and, on occasions, the world.
It is surprising the province’s record is so good, considering the fragmented sporting system adopted generally in Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand as a whole.
Ventures into the world of professionalism have been few. A bit of professional running in the early years. Rugby League soon faded out. The American system of university “scholarships” and the Communist method of State organisation have been spurned. New Zealanders have opted in favour of amateurism, or at least “shamateurism”, and, more recently, sponsorship.
Mostly, our individuals and teams have been left to their own devices, with relatively few facilities. Yet, they have managed to get to the top through sacrifice, determination and ability.
The American author, Emerson, said nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. In sporting endeavour, with or without “scholarships”, sponsorship, State-controlled coaching, or professionalism, the crucial ingredient is enthusiasm. It is a point that has been proven many times by successful Hawke’s Bay sportsmen.
New Zealand is a sports-conscious country. There can be no doubt about that. You can’t produce Nepias, Sutcliffes, Snells and Halbergs from a small population like ours unless there is a tremendous interest to support achievement.
Hawke’s Bay has taken to sport just as keenly as most other New Zealand regions. As soon as organised settlement got under way in the 1850s and 1860s, rifle shooting, horse races and cricket matches became great occasions.
In the early days, Hawke’s Bay men helped establish a number of sports on a national basis. The inaugural meeting of the New Zealand Racing Conference was held in Hawke’s Bay in 1883. The first New Zealand lawn tennis championships were played in the province in 1886 and the first national surf life-saving competition was swum from the Napier beach in 1915.
Private S. Gree was probably Hawke’s Bay’s first national champion. He was highest scorer in the Queen’s final of the New Zealand rifle Challenge Cup competition way back in 1874. Since then, F. H. James and L. H. Proffitt, of Napier, and more recently M. G. Gordon, of Okawa, have collected the notable title on a number of occasions.
More national champions emerged in 1888 – a good year, it seems, for Hawke’s Bay sporting endeavour. In that year, J. Foster, of Napier, became New Zealand’s first single sculls champion at Wellington. The only other Hawke’s Bay competitor to take the title was W. Turner in 1934, though the Hastings sculler, Tony Bone, has come close in recent years.
In the same season, 1888-89, Hawke’s Bay produced its first national athletics champions. T. W. Lewis became 100 yards sprint champion with a time of 10.6s and F. Ellis won the mile title at the same meeting in 5m 5s.
In the early years, Hawke’s Bay had some smart sprinters. Best was Jack Hempton, a New Zealand representative, who, according to official records, won the national 100 yards title for Hawke’s Bay in 1892 at Christchurch in 9.8s – equalling the world record.
Flashing footsteps of these early athletes have been followed by many national champions from Hawke’s Bay: W. J. Fitzsimmons and P. F. Sharpley in the 1930s, the contemporary sprinter, Craig Daly, miler E. Forne, walker I Driscoll, hurdler J. M. Holland, field men M. Roderick and D. Gilliland and the women, G. Symes, M. Stuart and C. Rivett-Carnac. These are some of the champions. Among them, they collected scores of titles.
Bowls has been a popular sport on Hawke’s Bay’s sunny, well-groomed greens. From the thousands of devotees, there have been many champions. J. A. Engebretson [Engebtretsen], of Napier, won the 1935 national ( Continued overleaf)
Photo captions –
The shield’s back: Hawke’s Bay rugby captain, Kel Tremain, holds the Ranfurly Shield aloft after the 1966 victory over Waikato. A 6-0 win brought the shield back to Hawke’s Bay after 32 years and began a three year era that recalled the proud years of the 1920s.
Tremain’s team produced many gripping moments as it retained the shield in 21 matches and thrilled a total of nearly 500,000 spectators at McLean Park (right). The unforgettable last-minute equalising dropped goal of Blair Furlong, which held Wellington to 12 – 12 in 1967, was an incredible climax. And there were many others.
It all ended in the last defence of 1969. A rampaging Canterbury side won 18-11. This time, Hawke’s Bay’s fighting second-half recovery failed to keep the shield. But fullback Ian Bishop was able to take his shield points tally to 178 – a record in the trophy’s history.
One of New Zealand’s greatest rugby administrators and personalities, Mr Norman McKenzie ( left), who died in 1960, was sole selector of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby team for 20 years and the mainspring of its recordmaking 24 defences of the Ranfurly Shield between 1922 and 1927.
The 1922 Hawke’s Bay Rugby team whose trailblazing performances began the record of 24 successful, consecutive Ranfurly Shield defences, broken ony in 1942 when Auckland retained the shield 3 – 2 against Hawke’s Bay: – Back row ( from left): W. Barclay, J. C. McGregor, C. J. Brownlie, J. A McNab, B. A Grenside, L. A. Miller , L. H. Hingston. Second row: R. L. Dine, S. Gemmell. G. I. Yates, J. H. Scott, N. J. Daley, J. K. Irwin, J. M. Blake, W. R. Irvine. Third row: W. V. Blake, C. S. Findlay (manager), A. Kirkpatrick (captain), H. E. Seed (manager), N. L. Kivell ( vice-captain). Front row: D.H. C. O’Donoghue, U. W. Batchelor, M. Wynn.
Legendary All Black captain of the 1920s, Maurice Brownlie ( above) and spectacular fullback, George Nepia ( left), who, with Kel Tremain and the captain of the shield winning 1934 team, Dick Steere, are a famous foursome from the long list of Hawke’s Bay All Blacks.
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ROBERT HOLT
Founder of Robert Holt & Sons Ltd., one of Hawke’s Bay’s greatest industries
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Page 43
Action
IT’S GREAT
singles title and W. D. Bennett, of Hastings, matched this effort three years later. Teams have had their many successes, too, but the womenfolk really set the pace in the 1950s and 1960s. Mrs S. Winstanley and Mrs M. Nichol, of Marewa, won so many national singles, pairs and fours titles that people lost count.
Think of boxing in Hawke’s Bay and you think of the Donovans and Barry Brown. But there were many other champions, particularly in the immediate post-war years when Hawke’s Bay was a top boxing province.
Hastings roller skaters, Merv Wybrott and later Dean Hayes, won world speed titles and Hawke’s Bay artistic skaters have figured at world championships.
Other individuals, unfortunately too many to mention by name, have gained national championships in a host of sports, including canoeing, chess, croquet, cycling, golf, gymnastics, horse jumping, motor racing, motor cycling, shearing, shooting, roller skating, squash, swimming, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, yachting and even draughts.
Ranfurly Shield exploits overshadow all other achievement in team sports. However, other Hawke’s Bay teams have reached a high level of performance and sustained it. The Freyberg Rose Bowl golf team in the 1960s, the Hawke’s Bay women’s hockey team in the early 1900s and again in the late 1960s, and
(Continued overleaf)
Moments of triumph for English Channel swimmer Keith Hancox, a former Napier boy, and Canadian amateur golf champion, Stuart Jones, of Hastings.
Hancox became the first New Zealander to swim the Channel (in 15 hours 33 minutes), on August 7, 1965. The previous year, he swam Cook Strait in the record time of 9 hours 34 minutes (on February 7).
Jones won the Canadian title in 1968, after having been many times New Zealand amateur champion and winning open tournaments against some of the world’s top professionals. For the past two decades, he has been New Zealand’s outstanding amateur golfer.
Inset right: The 1903 national amateur golf champion, Kurupo Tareha, of Napier.
Tom Lowry, the most colourful New Zealand cricket captain, and Hawke’s Bay’s most famous cricketer. While at Cambridge he played county cricket for Somerset, represented the Gentlemen against the Players, and toured New Zealand with the M.C.C. in 1922.
He returned to New Zealand to be appointed captain of the first team to tour Britain in 1927 and was again captain in 1931 when he scored 101 not out at Lords. He toured again in 1937 as manager and served as president the New Zealand Cricket Council. He also became well-known as a racehorse owner.
Other Hawke’s Bay cricketers who represented New Zealand are batsman H. B. Lusk, who dominated cricket in the province from the 1890s to 1916, E. L. H. Bernau, a fast left-arm bowler who toured with Lowry’s team in 1927, and the contemporary all-rounder, M. J. F. Shrimpton, a stylish batsman.
1963 was a good year for motor sport in Hawke’s Bay, Angus Hyslop (right), of Hastings, was second in the New Zealand Grand Prix and first New Zealander home in an international star-studded field. In the New Zealand T.T. open championship, A. H. Dobbs, the Napier motor cyclist, clinched the title, riding his Manx Norton.
And it’s a women’s world, too!
Among the many women to win national and international recognition are Olympian hurdler, Margaret Stuart, of Hastings (left), hockey international and tennis champion, Mrs Margaret Hiha, winner of The Daily Telegraph’s Sportsman of the Year award in 1968, and Mrs S. Winstanley, of Marewa (right) many times national bowls title winner.
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Page 45
Action
the Hawke’s Bay polo, softball and bowls teams, are good examples.
Other teams have tasted success more briefly. The Hawke’s Bay cricket team first held the Hawke Cup for only one match in 1948, regained it briefly in 1951 and again in 1968-1969. Most fleeting success story concerns the Hawke’s Bay surf life-saving team which won the Nelson Shield when it was first presented in 1915 at Napier but has failed to regain it in 55 years of trying.
Single-minded dedication has taken some Hawke’s Bay men and women to the glistening arenas of the Olympic and Commonwealth Games and they have emerged with honour and medals. Among the medallists: Schoolteacher J. M. Holland, who spent several years in Hawke’s Bay, won the 440 yards silver medal at the Auckland Empire Games in 1950 and a bronze at the Helsinki Olympics of 1952 in the 400 metres hurdles. C. Rivett-Carnac won a bronze in the women’s javelin and J. A. Engebretson a bronze in the bowls four at the Auckland Games. Boxer Paddy Donovan won two Empire Games bronze medals in the lightweight division at Cardiff in 1958 and Perth in 1962. Rona Tong, a Hastings sprinter, collected a bronze at Sydney’s Empire Games in 1938.
Apart from the deeds of local sportsmen, overseas athletes have performed memorably in Hawke’s Bay . . . the great Rugby teams, the Springboks, the Lions . . . the cavalier West Indian and classical English cricketers . . . the soccer stars of Bernard Joy and Tom Finney . . . Olympic gold medallists Bobby Morrow, Kipchoge Keino . . . top swimmers, Murray Rose and Johnny Devitt . . . the world’s golf greats, Bobby Locke, Gary Player.
The names, the memories, seem endless. These have been great performers, and great occasions in Hawke’s Bay sport. The oldtimers, cherishing and perhaps embellishing their memories, may always claim the present champions are not like they used to be. Record books argue the point. But, in any event, it is indisputable that the new century will bring new names onto the sports pages – new heroes to match the deeds of the old.
Like father, like son
Olympic boxer Paddy Donovan (above) followed the battling footsteps of his father, the “fighting fireman” of the 1920s and 1930s, Tommy Donovan (right). Tommy who died in 1968, won the national amateur featherweight championship in 1927 and Paddy won the title in 1954. Tommy turned professional in boxing’s hey-day and, in 1930, before a record 18,000 crowd, scored one of three wins over Pete Sarron, who was subsequently featherweight champion of the world. Paddy won a host of national titles in the 1950s and 1960s and represented New Zealand at Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
A great finish: The 3-1 favourite, Even Stevens, wins the Melbourne Cup in 3m 21 2-5s in 1962 for Hastings owner, Sir James Wattie. Left: Sir James holds high the gold trophy with winning jockey, Les Coles, and trainer, Mr Arch McGregor, on each side and the Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks (extreme left).
Three in a row
Hawke’s Bay’s most popular winner of the Melbourne Cup, Even Stevens, completed a treble on the Australian turf scene in 1962 by also winning the Werribee and Caulfield Cups.
The province can claim three other Melbourne Cup winners. In 1916, Sasanof, owned by Messrs W. G. Stead and E.S. Luttrell, of Hastings, scored one of the easiest victories in 3m 27¾s at 12-1.
In 1938, Mrs A. Jamieson, of Napier, was owner of Catalogue which won in 3m 26¾s at 25-1, and in 1955, Toporoa, at 6-1, Won in 3m 28¼s for Mr N, H. MacDonald, of Dannevirke.
But probably the most amazing Hawke’s Bay horse was the steeplechaser, Moifaa, the only New Zealand and the first colonial horse to win the English Grand National, away back in 1904.
Moifaa, bred by, the Ellingham family, of Takapau, by Natater out of Denbigh, won a string of New Zealand classics with as much as 11.5 up. In 1903, he was sold by Mr Alf Ellingham, to prominent Hawke’s Bay sportsman and station owner Mr Spencer Gollan, who created a sensation by shipping Moifaa to England for the Grand National with Hawke’s Bay trainer Mr Jimmy Hickey.
The legend that Moifaa’s ship was wrecked and the horse swam ashore, is not correct. But on March 25, 1904, Moifaa caused a Royal upset by winning the National, the hardest and most famous steeplechase in the world, defeating King Edward VII’s Ambush 2nd, the hot favourite.
Even staid English writers claimed Moifaa was the greatest winner in the history of the race. The King was so impressed he bought Moifaa for 2000 guineas and started him in the Royal colours the next year. Like many another big horse, Moifaa went in the wind and did not race again. King Edward hacked him and rode him on all ceremonial occasions.
In the King’s State funeral cortege through the streets of London, two animals took pride of place ahead of Kaiser Wilhelm and every crowned head of Europe – the King’s white-haired terrier Caesar, and, with a significantly empty saddle, the old horse Moifaa (below), late of Hawke’s Bay.
Boyish-looking southpaw, Barry Brown, of Dannevirke culminated a fine career with a knock-out defeat of Gerald Dreyer, South African holder of the British Empire welterweight championship, in 1953. He became the first New Zealander to win an Empire title in a home ring and was Hawke’s Bay’s first holder of the New Zealand Sportsman of the Year award.
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My personal congratulations – J. Wattie
After 100 years of steady progress, The Daily Telegraph can be rightly proud of the way it has served the citizens of Hawke’s Bay. The Telegraph was with us when New Zealand was still a colony . . . saw us become a Dominion . . . served us through two World Wars and a Depression . . . kept us up with the news even during Hawke’s Bay’s disastrous earthquake of 1931.
On behalf of my company, sincere congratulations.
J. Wattie Canneries Limited has a long time to go before it can look back on 100 years of service. Nevertheless, in its lifetime, it, too, has had to overcome its share of difficulties.
From a modest beginning 36 years ago when, in its first year of operation, it had a turnover of some $8000, the J. Wattie Canneries Group of Companies has grown to the top bracket of New Zealand enterprises with a turnover of $96,327,000.
It takes a large number of people and a vast quantity of goods and services to produce a sum of this magnitude and the figures below show how this money was used.
OTHER FACTS OF INTEREST CONCERNING THE WATTIE GROUP
(a) Staff. Almost 5000 men and women are directly employed. In addition, there are many thousands who are dependent on the operations of the Wattie Group for their livelihood.
(b) Wages and Salaries paid last year $13,802,000.
(c) Ordinary Shareholders total 20,329 and comprise 10,261 Men
8,800 Women
1,268 Estates & Companies
(d) Export Trade $4,032,912.
(e) Consolidated Tax Paid Profit for the year was 4.25% of turnover or $4,109,688.
HOW THE GROUP’S TURNOVER FOR THE YEAR WAS USED
Payments for materials, services, etc. 59.8%
Wages and Salaries 14.3%
Selling and Distribution expenses 10.2%
Administration and Financial expenses 4.3%
Depreciation of Assets 3.3%
Taxation 3.8%
Dividend to Shareholders 2.1%
Profits retained in the Group 2.2%
100%
Wattie’s
WATTIE CANNERIES LTD. . . . HASTINGS
Page 47
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In the arts, a revolution
Television has wrought a cultural revolution in most Hawke’s Bay homes during the last decade of our century.
It has projected its probing eye into the spare time pursuits of the community, beaming a glossy world of culture into our homes – a world of good and bad, in which Bernstein, Olivier and Fonteyn fight for exposure against a mass of questionable light entertainment.
Television has had a significant effect on the hobbies, habits and artistic endeavours of many people. Some doers became mere viewers, but, according to overseas experience this may be merely a phase.
For others, television has served at times as a cultural stimulant. Into our homes have come fresh artists, fresh performances, fresh ideas and techniques some of which, in turn, have been translated and absorbed by local artists performing and working within our own community.
It is inescapable that since its introduction into Hawke’s Bay in 1962, television has become part of the community and, for good or ill, influences our culture.
The days of the strolling minstrels and players, often lovable rogues of pioneer Hawke’s Bay, are long gone. The Edwardian “musical evenings” are memories largely replaced by the advance of communications, recording, radio and television.
Even though the province’s colonial character has generally laid the emphasis elsewhere, some Hawke’s Bay people have made a valuable contribution in the field of art.
In the sphere of literature, the doyen has been H. Guthrie-Smith, whose book “Tutira” the story of a New Zealand sheep station remains a literary classic not only of the life of a pioneer farmer but of the country’s flora and fauna.
T. A. McCormack and the late Rita Angus are Hawke’s Bay artists who figured in New Zealand’s emergent art. McCormack’s landscapes and beautiful watercolour still life painting have been widely acclaimed as a notable contribution to New Zealand art.
Amateur dramatic and musical productions have flourished and waned and flourished again in most Hawke’s Bay centres, at times reaching worthwhile peaks. In lighter vein, the Napier Frivolity Minstrels maintained a remarkable record over 75 years, during which Mr W. Ireland has served the organisation for more than half a century.
In the realm of music, the emphasis professionally has been on teaching. Many able teachers have set and kept a high standard over a long period. The 1871 Hawke’s Bay Directory lists the province’s first “professor of music and singing”, Mr G, Worgan, of Napier, and also a “musician”, Mr Thomas Collins, of Emerson Street.
In 1871, too, brass band concerts were a feature of Napier’s Saturday afternoons as the Volunteer Band (now the Napier City Band) performed on the lawns of the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council Building, Shakespeare Road.
According to the first issue of The Daily Telegraph, the early performances of the band met with a mixed reception. The Telegraph’s controversial columnist, Towton, noted in his first column: “It seemed to me the Volunteer Band was hardly playing up to its proper form on Saturday last; the selection from ‘Rigoletto’ was one degree worse than a regiment of bagpipes, anything but a pleasing discord.”
In spite of Towtown’s early disparagement, bands men have since served the province well, at times reaching high standards, notably in the 1950s when both pipe and brass bands earned some of the highest national honours.
On the professional scene, many of the world’s most famous artists and entertainers have performed in Hawke’s Bay. Some of them have been financially backed in the province by Napier entrepreneur, Mr J. Fairclough, The Musica Viva, the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation and other agencies.
Famous names may recall fond memories for nostalgic Hawke’s Bay concert-goers – violinist Campoli, pianist Solomon, the vocalists Webster Booth and Anne Zeigler, negro Todd Duncan, Gladys Moncrieff, Fraser Gange, Stanley Holloway, the Vienna Boys’ Choir, the Berlin Chamber Orchestra and other great orchestras, Russian ballerina Pavlova, Roger Livesey and Ursula Jeans, Dame Sybil Thorndyke, Googie Withers and other stars of stage and screen.
The bill reaches back almost a century to when the touring artist was also an adventurer . . . and programmes cost only 1d.
The Forsyte Saga
Millions of male television viewers in many countries fell in love with Napier-born ash blonde, Nyree Dawn Porter (left), for her performance as Irene in the expensive British television production of the classic “The Forsyte Saga” in the late 1960s.
It was a high point in a successful career on television, stage and in films for the glamorous, talented product of amateur theatre in Hawke’s Bay. Nyree (originally “Ngaire”) graduated from amateur drama musical and ballet productions in Napier to the New Zealand Players in the 1950s and arrived in Britain in September 1958 on a three-week trip as New Zealand’s “Miss Cinema”. Her sparkling green eyes have never looked back.
Nyree is probably the most famous of the many Hawke’s Bay expatriates who travelled overseas to attain success in music, the arts, science, technology and other chosen fields.
Photo captions –
H. Guthrie-Smith, outstanding author, naturalist and successful sheep farmer, who died in 19401, feeds a native pigeon at Tutira homestead. Guthrie-Smith spent 58 years at Tutira, and his books on natural history plead the case for conservation of New Zealand native forests, birds, fauna and flora. His works include the classic “Tutira”, one of the very few really first-class books to come out of New Zealand.
The director of the Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery and Museum, Mr J. S. B. Munro, admires one of the gallery’s proud possessions, a landscape of the Havelock North hills by Hawke’s Bay artist T. A. McCormack
AN EXCEPTIONAL RECORD
100 years of faithfully reporting the news of the district is a record to be proud of, and we join in offering The Daily Telegraph our congratulations.
For more than half that time – 58 years to be exact – George Murfitt served the people of Hawke’s Bay while a salesman at Bon Marche Ltd., in Hastings – an exceptional record of loyalty and service to one firm.
Beginning in 1905 as a 12-year old parcel boy, George – he was “George” to everybody – worked with the three generations of the firm’s management – the founder, the late Mr Matthew Johnson, his son-in-law, the late Mr James F. Jones, and more recently, Mr Jones’ four sons, Ross, Stuart, Bryce and Richard.
In his time, George outfitted hundreds of fathers, sons and grandsons. People were his life, and because of this, he loved his job as a salesman. He retired in 1963 and died last year. We miss him. His was the old tradition of service.
Happily, his example follows him. We are thrilled from time to time to receive letters of thanks from customers who have appreciated that “old time service” that little extra that Bon Marche staff seem so happy to give. We want to leave an exceptional record, too !
Pictured: George Murfitt, framed by Tui Hill and Pam Taylor, at the Hastings Blossom Festival Fancy Dress Day in 1961.
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Many happy returns
Bonne Anniversaire
Herzliche Glückwünsche zum Geburtstäg
Tanti auguri a voi
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CONGRATULATIONS
(You see, its our birthday too)
In congratulating all at the “Telegraph’’ on this Centennial milestone, we’d like to make it a double celebration. Because it’s now over a century ago that Edwards Dunlop first set up in Australia as machinery merchants to the printing industry.
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E DAY SHATTERS A PROVINCE
Fire, fear and fortitude
It was a warm, languid mid-Summer’s day. Holidays over, children had returned to school. Town centres were quiet. Then three minutes of shuddering violence jarred the course of Hawke’s Bay history.
In the worst disaster New Zealand has known, 256 people died. Today – exactly 40 years later – the Hawke’s Bay earthquake of February 3, 1931, remains one of the world’s most severe during the past 200 years.
In Napier, fire swept through the town’s heart, consuming what the earthquake had failed to destroy. A total of 161 people died in the long minutes of terror and torment. Waiapu Cathedral, the Nurses’ Home, Old People’s Home, Technical College and public library collapsed with heavy loss of life.
Hastings was also severely damaged and 93 people died. Havoc stretched from Wairoa (where two people were killed) to Dannevirke and north Wairarapa.
Photographs in this double-page feature, believed to be the first coloured pictures of the earthquake to be published, show:
Top: The blazing Masonic Hotel, with sailors from H.M.S. Veronica in the foreground.
Top right: The old Bank of New Zealand ablaze on the site of the present Cathedral fountain.
Right: Shakespeare Road, with the old Post Office building on the right.
Right centre: Rescuers searching for victims in Hastings Street.
Extreme right: Fire reaches Emerson Street.
Below: The blaze sweeps along Hastings Street.
Below right: The “bank corner” at the top of Emerson Street.
Yet faith endures
Amid death, new hope is born
Top left: Stretcher bearers carry a victim from ruins.
Top right: A baby born amid the desolation a few hours after the earthquake.
Above: Devastated Napier, with Tennyson Street in the foreground.
Below: Dr T. C. Moore’s private hospital on the Marine Parade. Right: Westshore embankment road. Below right: Sailors from vessels sent to Napier during the emergency engaged in demolition work in Herschell Street.
Page 53
Action
Other times of PERIL
If disaster creates opportunity, Hawke’s Bay has not lacked opportunity. In addition to the devastation of earthquake, fire, flood, shipwreck and storm have caused havoc and destruction.
Through history, the stark statistics of tragedy point a wary finger at public holidays in Hawke’s Bay. On a number of occasions they brought disaster. Three such were the Good Friday flood of 1897, the 1938 Anzac Day flood and the Queen’s Birthday flood of 1963. The Anzac Day flood came a few weeks after a freak rainstorm wrecked parts of the East Coast railway and killed 21 men and women at Kopuawhara railway camp.
Fire has struck at many Hawke’s Bay communities. Perhaps the worst, apart from the blaze which accompanied the earthquake of 1931, was the 1886 Napier fire. It destroyed almost the entire business section of the town, including the offices of The Daily Telegraph and The Herald.
Twenty-five offices and shops were destroyed and eight others badly damaged in the fire. It came at Christmas.
Photo captions –
Debris surges across the Mohaka river rabbit bridge on the Napier – Wairoa road during the disastrous Anzac Day flood of 1938. Right: Wreckage of the Northumberland at Petane beach after a terrific gale on May 10, 1887. Passengers and crew escaped but five men aboard a small steamer, the Boojum, drowned when their vessel capsized in breakers while assisting the Northumberland.
The torn, twisted Waitangi railway bridge at Clive after the Good Friday flood of 1897. Several settlers and a team of rescuers were drowned at Clive when the Tutaekuri River broke its banks and flooded almost the entire Heretaunga Plains. The disaster had many sequels in this century, including the flood of Queen’s Birthday, June 3, 1963. That time the river was held by stopbanks and there was no loss of life. But Tangoio and Bay View settlements suffered heavily and floodwaters washed across Napier’s new Onekawa suburb (right), where boats rescued families from their homes.
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“ONE HUNDRED YEARS”
TO A FELLOW PIONEER VETERAN there’s no occasion so stimulating as a centenary. We hasten to be among the first to congratulate our old friend and customer, The Daily Telegraph on the sterling job it has done for this sturdy province.
OUR VALLEYFIELD MILLS IN SCOTLAND have been making fine paper since 1779. Naturally the history of Alex Cowan and Sons in New Zealand cannot go back that far. Our pioneering here started in 1883, just about the time the early “Bay” farmers were laying the foundation for the thriving food, wool and fruit industry which exists today.
MR ANDREW GIVEN, who was sent from Sydney to open our first New Zealand establishment in 1883, died at a ripe old age in 1927. His successor, Mr Alexander Ferguson, pre-deceased him by several years. Our only regret about this day of celebration is that they are not here to take part in an Occasion we know they would have enjoyed to the full.
WITH THE THOUGHT IN MIND of these fine men who laid the foundations of our business in New Zealand we re-emphasise our congratulations to The Daily Telegraph on achievement of its centenary and extend the sincere hope that its life ahead will be equally long and prosperous.
ALEX COWAN & SONS (N.Z.) LIMITED
PAPER MERCHANTS – SUPPLIERS OF GRAPHIC ARTS EQUIPMENT
ENVELOPE MAKERS – Manufacturers of “CLASSIC” STATIONERY
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Page 55
Action
MEN & WOMEN AT WORK
Though primary production continues as the mainstay of Hawke’s Bay wealth, growing emphasis has shifted in recent decades to industrial activity and commercial ventures.
Most of the province’s working men now gain their weekly pay packet not directly from the land but from secondary industries.
Work force in factories increased by 50 per cent in Hawke’s Bay in the 10-year period from 1959. By the end of 1969, a total of 954 registered factories in the province (not including Dannevirke) employed more than 12,450 people, including 2375 women.
Ten years earlier, the province’s factory work force totalled only 8765, including 1502 women.
By the end of the decade, the average worker in the factory, commercial and servicing industries in the Napier industrial district worked 37.4 ordinary hours a week and 3.9 overtime hours for an average of $46 a week.
He worked about the same number of ordinary hours as the average New Zealander in the same category, but one hour more overtime.
Photo captions –
Women represent nearly one – fifth of Hawke’s Bay’s growing work force, and many are deft machine operators like these pictured (above) in a canning factory and (right) in a textile factory.
One of Hawke’s Bay’s most important industries for nearly 90 years has been meat freezing for export, mainly to Britain. Advances in technique are shown in these pictures of the North British Freezing works at Westshore 70 years age (left) and a modern chain (above).
Production of wine was one of Hawke’s Bay’s first secondary industries. It was introduced by French missionaries in 1851. The mission winemakers are pictured (right) at harvest at the Meeanee mission in 1905.
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John Dickinson’s welcome The Daily Telegraph to the Centenarian Club
On February 1, 1871, when the first issue of The Daily Telegraph was published, John Dickinson’s had been making fine paper in England for over 40 years. Since 1930, the New Zealand company has been supplying local printers with paper and board of the same high quality, while their Croxley and Basildon Bond brands of stationery have become household words. Their “Three Candlesticks” and “Churston Deckle” writing paper has become the choice of discriminating people throughout the country, and they are now the largest manufacturers of envelopes in New Zealand. They congratulate The Daily Telegraph on their hundred years of progress too, and join them in their aim to continue serving the people of Hawke’s Bay for many years to come.
John Dickinson & Co, (New Zealand) Limited
Croxley House, Wellington
Makers of fine stationery
Page 57
Action
Umbrellas, cigarettes & seafood cocktails . . .
From frozen meat to home appliances . . . fertilisers to seafood cocktail . . . canned peaches to filter cigarettes.
Hawke’s Bay’s working man of the 1970s makes a broad range of manufactured and processed products for the local and export markets.
It is remote indeed from the industrial scene of 1871. Then, Hawke’s Bay’s first industry, whaling, was already virtually extinct. French missionaries were engaged in wine production. A few blacksmiths gave impetus to an engineering industry by fashioning farm implements. Otherwise, Hawke’s Bay’s labour force toiled almost entirely on the land.
Local demands for basic domestic products gave rise to clothing, footwear and furniture manufacture, and the advent of the freezing works in the 1880s laid the foundations for secondary industry.
However, overshadowed by primary production, secondary industry developed slowly. The Husheer family, tobacco pioneers from Germany, founded the National Tobacco Co. Ltd. in Napier in 1923 and spurred New Zealand’s tobacco industry. Sir James Wattie founded his food processing empire in Hastings in 1934. Many ventures failed in the depression of the 1930s, but others survived.
Post-war industrial development led to an awakening to the possibilities of export trade in the 1960s. Boosted by devaluation and the work of trade missions, Hawke’s Bay manufacturers found new markets, particularly in the South Pacific, Australia and Asian countries.
Now Hawke’s Bay products sell in many parts of the globe: Rip-top canned beer in Australia, soap and paint in the Islands, carpet yarn in the United States, canned products in Europe, building hardware in South Africa.
Heavy-duty mowers from Hawke’s Bay cut and roll the classical greens of English parks and golf courses. Stylish Hawke’s Bay umbrellas flick open in the showers of Singapore.
Cities of Napier and Hastings – with more acres awaiting industrial development – form the nucleus of the province’s secondary productivity. Other centres, however, have also developed and sustained manufacturing and processing industries of their own.
Freezing works (Wairoa), ice cream manufacture (Waipukurau), knitwear (Norsewood), concrete production, footwear and clothing manufacture (Dannevirke) are among the activities that keep Hawke’s Bay men (and women) at work.
Diversity seems to be the trend in Hawke’s Bay secondary industry. Among the products, many of which are aimed at export markets, are cigarettes (top picture), seafood cocktails (above) and welding equipment (right).
The return of the logging export trade to the Port of Napier (left) preceded the planning for the establishment of a pulp mill near Napier. Milling is a long-established Hawke’s Bay industry. The scene from another era (above) shows bushmillers at work at Takapau in 1897.
Page 59
Action
Simple joys of living
In holidays and leisure time, Hawke’s Bay people are joined by thousands of tourists in seeking away-from-it-all relaxation and, perhaps, a snapshot for the family album . . .
The magnificent Cape Kidnappers gannet sanctuary, the only one of its kind in the world, offers rare scenic grandeur . . .
Children get plenty of fun from the Hastings Fantasyland, complete with its castle, boating lake, tree houses and slide . . .
Taupo, Lake Tutira and Hawke’s Bay rivers hold many joys for the trout fisherman . . .
For a decade, the kiwi chicks bred in captivity at the botanical gardens have been a favourite attraction, along with Marineland, in tourist-conscious Napier . . .
. . . and, year after year, the beach retains its appeal for the young and not-so-young.
Achievement
The prizes we sought . . .
. . . are won
Few major facilities in Hawke’s Bay have been achieved without a fight.
The Port of Napier at the Breakwater is the prize of a verbal war waged by outer and inner harbour factions for 60 years, from the 1870s until the post- earthquake years.
The East Coast railway linking Napier and Gisborne – taken for granted by the modern generation – took more than 30 years to complete after a long, arduous fight against natural setbacks of earthquake and flood, as well as war and resistant Government policies.
It has taken a long campaign spanning almost the whole century to produce an adequate northern road outlet – the Napier-Taupo highway. The Hawke’s Bay Airport project only became airborne after a Commission of Inquiry settled the “battle of the sites” in the early 1960s.
In the conflict of a century of achievement, The Daily Telegraph is proud to have produced the rallying cry on many an occasion. During the heat of the bitter port argument, it became known throughout the province as “the Breakwater paper’’.
These objectives – attained by men of vision and drive – were worth fighting for. If Hawke’s Bay’s farming pioneers put heart into the hills, then these facilities are the other vital organs and arteries that helped step up the province’s pulse rate . . .
BREAKWATER BOUNTY
The Garrison Band struck up. People cheered and torch bearers led an excited crowd through the principal streets of Napier . . .
As the news reached Port Ahuriri, bunting soon appeared in the streets. Flags were waved. Gay festivities continued into the night.
No, it was not the end of war. The date was January 20, 1885. The celebrations so described in newspaper reports marked victory of another sort – a victory for progress.
The most heated local body poll in Hawke’s Bay history had voted almost unanimously in favour of the £300,000 loan proposal to build a breakwater at Napier.
The poll followed many years of bitter political argument in Hawke’s Bay. Voting (1379 for and 37 against) represented a poll of 96 per cent – possibly a record to this date for local body issues. In Napier alone, of the 634 eligible voters, 631 voted.
Opinion had been divided for many years on whether more money should be spent on dredging and upgrading the inner harbour, or whether, at greater expense, a groyne be constructed to block constantly encroaching shingle and thus begin the formation of a manmade harbour.
Another hard core faction, led by Mr John Harding, urged that a breakwater port should be constructed inside Cape Kidnappers with direct rail to the budding township of Hastings, which could then be developed as the capital of Hawke’s Bay.
The topic dominated Hawke’s Bay politics for years before the poll. It was debated, sometimes with great bitterness, in the council chambers, the country halls, taverns and households throughout the province, and in the Legislative Council and House of Representatives.
As early as 1873 a £260,000 breakwater loan was approved by the House of Representatives, then thrown out by the Legislative Council. The Napier Harbour Board, formed in 1876, called for new reports as it began the controversial campaign to have the breakwater case reconsidered.
Personnel at the first board meeting on February 15, 1876, under the chairmanship of Mr J. D. Ormond, were: Messrs G. S. Kinross, A. Kennedy, J. A. Smith, A. Newman, J. Rhodes, J, Williams, J. H. Vautier, F. Sutton, H. C. Robjohns, J. Chambers and the first Mayor of Napier, Mr R. Stuart.
The 1885 poll ended the uncertainty hanging over Napier’s future and confirmed it as the site of the province’s commercial gateway.
After the result was known, the names of prominent opponents of the scheme were read to the waiting crowd. “A large dog bayed loudly and the Garrison Band played ‘The Rogues’ March’,” according to newspaper reports.
Ormond was indeed a man of foresight. In the early 1870s, he was the instigator of the first breakwater proposal. When he laid the first block in January 1887 he said: “This project will lead to prosperity little dreamed of by any of us”.
The Glasgow wharf constructed inside the breakwater was opened in 1895 by the Governor, Lord Glasgow, amid much gaiety. But the controversy over the development of the inner or outer harbours continued on, bugging progress, for another generation.
The 1931 earthquake helped end the years of wrangling. Though it severely damaged Glasgow wharf in the breakwater harbour, it completely ruined the inner harbour.
In 1932, almost a completely new board was elected under a new chairman, Mr T. M. Geddis. For the first time, the board directed its entire attention and resources to the development of a deep sea port inside the breakwater.
The great Hawke’s Bay debate was settled, at last. A new era began – an era of challenge, change and progress.
Engineers to the Auckland Harbour Board, Messrs Furkitt and Holderness, were asked to report on the development of the breakwater harbour. Following ratepayers’ sanction in 1934, the major port development was undertaken broadly along the terms of their report.
The board was fortunate to obtain for £10,500 the Wellington Harbour Board’s bucket dredge, Whakarire, which has played a major workhorse role in port development for more than 30 years.
Gradually, Hawke’s Bay’s first deep sea port took shape with the construction of Geddis wharf (completed 1939), the two-storeyed administration block (1941), Herrick wharf (1943) and the appearance of new wharfside facilities.
Wharf-loading of big freighters banished into history the more costly, inefficient lightering system by which cargo was previously carried in lighters from the inner harbour to overseas ships anchored in the roadstead.
In February 1957 the last stubborn concrete sections of the old Glasgow wharf were blasted away. In its place, in 1960, a third new wharf was opened, and, in 1967, the fourth was completed.
As the port developed, so did trade. Tonnage handled at the wharves jumped from 75,798 tons in 1939 to 424,849 in 1959 and 938,255 in 1970. Overseas ships calling at Napier increased from 76 in 1939 to 174 in 1959 and to 239 in 1970.
Over many years, the port’s progress has been aided by smooth industrial relations. The present board chairman, Mr A. Kirkpatrick, has frequently remarked that the port has long enjoyed the benefit of the “best waterfront labour in New Zealand”.
The port filled a significant role in the Pacific zone during the Second World War. Though used only once for a major embarkation of troops, it was a key port for the supply of United States Forces in the South Pacific area and won high praise for efficiency.
The 1931 earthquake was a twofold benefaction. In addition to helping settle the inner harbour question, it bequeathed huge areas of reclaimed land to the board.
As well as pointing the path of progress it helped pay for its construction – the reclaimed areas have been subdivided for residential and industrial use, with the proceeds enabling harbour development to continue without undue financial stress.
In 21 years from 1939 to 1960, the board spent more than $3 million on harbour works. Now as trade and shipping methods enter another period of change, the board has embarked on a scheme involving expenditure of more than twice that figure.
At the end of 1968 – this time without a ratepayers’ poll – Parliament passed the Napier Harbour Board Loan and Empowering Act No. 2 giving the board authority to raise $7.5 million for further harbour development.
The aim is to provide an all-weather port – a move calculated to induce shipowners to maintain frequent use of the port no matter what changes the future brings in shipping methods.
The scheme involves dredging and reclamation work of $2 million, a 1200ft extension to the existing breakwater, and wharf extension work.
It also envisages the dredging of a new channel at a cost of $150,000 and a $2 million western breakwater scheduled for completion in 1974.
By 1975 the Port of Napier – one of the world’s few wholly man-made harbours – will be in new shape to deal with the challenges of developing trade and changing methods,
Napier Harbour Board members and officials of 1934 who for the first time directed the board’s entire resources to the development of a man-made port inside the Breakwater. Back row: Messrs R. Baker (Hastings), L, Stephenson (Napier, Government nominee), Eric Williams (Napier), Captain H. White-Parsons ( harbourmaster), T. Lindsay Gordon (H.B. County), G. W. B. Lowson (engineer), R. D. Brown (Hastings), J. P. Kenny (secretary). Front row: Messrs P. F. Higgins (Napier), A. E. Jull (Waipawa), E. J. Herrick (Hastings, Govt nominee), T. M. Geddis (Napier chairman), J. Barker (H.B, County), R. McLean (Waipukurau), J. I. Cato (Taradale district), H. R. Peacock (Patangata), Absent; Mr L. E. Harris (H.B. County).
It was a great day for Hawke’s Bay: Tuesday, October 22, 1895, when the Governor, the Earl of Glasgow (wearing top hat) opened the Breakwater and the Glasgow wharf. Among others In the official party were the first chairman of the Napier Harbour Board, Mr J. D. Ormond (extreme right), the Mayors of Napier and Hastings, Messrs G.H. Swan and C. A. Fitzroy (on the dais at right) and Sir James Carroll.
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Page 63
Achievement
Iron horse helped break in a province
Gaiety, glamour and merrymaking surrounded the progress of the railway in 19th century Hawke’s Bay. The opening of sections of rail from Napier to various points south were gay occasions with an atmosphere far different from the grey image of the present day railway.
About 100 people at a picnic celebrated the opening of the province’s first railway between Napier and Hastings on October 12, 1874. The 12-mile section was the third public railway in New Zealand and the longest.
When the Maori chief, Te Hapuku, saw Hawke’s Bay’s first train he declined to take a seat, preferring to remain an astonished spectator. But he cheered loudly as the engine puffed away, with a string of decorated trucks.
Gaily festooned, a special train left Napier to mark the completion of the railway to Waipukurau on September 4, 1876. Thousands of Central Hawke’s Bay residents joined the excursionists to watch festival cricket.
“Present were the creme de la creme of Hawke’s Bay. With the youth and beauty of the province, the scene was picturesque in the extreme,” The Daily Telegraph reported. Many people “full of beer and joy” were left behind when the train returned to Napier.
Perhaps the revelry was overdone. For a “great temperance banquet” marked the completion of the rail link to Woodville in March 1887 – a function attended by about 4000 people.
The development of the East Coast railway, however, was a chequered, not-so-pleasant affair. Originally conceived as a railway from Napier to Waihi, via Gisborne and Rotorua, it got under way in January 1912 amid national political discord and local argument over the route.
The railway crept to Putorino by November 1929 but, after the earthquake damage of 1931, work was abandoned.
The first Labour Government immediately restarted the project upon its election in 1935. Two years later the Mohaka viaduct and the link to Wairoa were completed but the flood of April 25, 1938, did greater damage to the track than the earthquake. The line to Putorino was closed for more than six months.
A total of £3,275,000 had been spent on the East Coast railway by the time it reached Waikokopu in 1939. The outbreak of war further hampered progress and the section to Gisborne was not opened until February 1, 1943 – a whole generation after the hopeful first sod was dug at Westshore.
Photo captions –
Splendidly dressed passengers – complete with frilly parasol (extreme left) – alight during a special excursion to mark the opening of a new section of railway more than 80 years ago. Driver and crew pose proudly around their gleaming J Class locomotive
Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward turns the first sod to begin construction of the controversial East Coast railway on January 29, 1912. Before the ceremony, three bands led a huge procession from the Marine Parade to Westshore. It was described by reporters as “a sort of triumphal march” for a “great epoch-making event”. But 25 years passed before the rail reached Wairoa and the first railcar (above) crossed the Mohaka viaduct on July 1, 1937.
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Page 65
Achievement
GIANT strides in a shrinking world . . .
The century that reached for the moon – and left footprints on it – brought Hawke’s Bay’ close to the mainstreams of a shrinking world.
Few other developments illustrate so spectacularly the extent of man’s giant strides during the past century.
When the $800,000 Hawke’s Bay Airport was opened on February 15, 1964, travelling time between Napier and Wellington was trimmed to a mere 55 minutes.
A century ago it was an arduous overland journey of days, or, given fine weather, a 30 hour voyage by steamer.
Imagination, daring, ingenuity and bravery of undaunted air pioneers sparked the transport revolution manifested in Hawke’s Bay by the province’s modern airport. New Zealand soon became an airminded country and Hawke’s Bay air pioneers played a significant, early aviation role.
A Napier engineer, Bertram Ogilvie, was one of the country’s earliest aviation pioneers. On a 100-foot-long timber ramp built near Riverbend Road he tested a number of weird machines between 1907 and 1909, only a few years after the Wright brothers made the first flight in a heavier-than-air craft on December 17, 1903, in North Carolina.
Ogilvie’s experiments with ailerons (movable flaps) were conducted independently of similar trials by South Canterbury farmer Richard Pearse, now recognised as the inventor of ailerons. Pearse is known to have flown some considerable distance on March 31, 1904 – thus New Zealand very nearly produced the first successful aeroplane in the world.
Amazement, scepticism and admiration greeted Ogilyie’s contraptions. His supporters managed to attract the attention of Lord Kitchener, who was visiting New Zealand. Kitchener visited the trial site and promised Ogilvie assistance, and a syndicate of well-wishers paid for the inventor to travel to Britain.
Subsequently, Ogilvie made a number of flights in England in a triplane, fitted with ailerons and built by Handley Page to his design.
In 1915, “Tye” Husheer, whose family emigrated from Germany to Hawke’s Bay to pioneer the tobacco industry, made a flying machine at Haumoana and he is regarded by some as the first man to fly in Hawke’s Bay. The Husheers were, technically, aliens in the First World War and police were given instructions for the machine to be destroyed. In 1930, Mr Husheer was a founder of the Napier Aero Club with Mr Arnold Wright.
The aero club movement, which has made an outstanding contribution to aviation in New Zealand, was quickly fostered in Hawke’s Bay. The Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Aero Club in Hastings was the second formed in the country – only one day after the first. It began flying activities in a paddock at the corner of Pakowhai and Longlands Roads with Captain (later Group Captain) “Tiny” White as instructor, in 1928.
For aviation, the 1930s were exciting days of trial and error. Aero clubs began to popularise flying. Commercial airlines took their first faltering steps. Aerial mapping in New Zealand was pioneered by a young Hawke’s Bay man, Mr Piet Van Asch, now managing-director of the Hastings-based N.Z. Aerial Mapping Ltd.
Air hero Sir Charles Kingsford Smith formed the first successful commercial airline in Hawke’s Bay, Dominion Airlines Ltd., which, in 1930, offered air travel between Hastings and Gisborne in a two-passenger single-engined De Soutter monoplane to those bold enough to take the risk.
It was the second regular scheduled passenger service in New Zealand, and began operations only seven weeks after the first, a tri-weekly service between Christchurch and Dunedin.
The company’s regular pilot was the late Mr G. B. Bolt, one of New Zealand’s greatest aerial pioneers. The aircraft performed valuable communications tasks during the 1931 earthquake emergency.
But on February 8 – just five days after the disaster – the plane crashed at Wairoa, killing the relief pilot, Mr I. Knight, of Dannevirke, who was a director of the company, and two passengers.
It was the first fatal air service accident in New Zealand and the loss forced the company into liquidation.
Other bold pioneers maintained early airlines in Hawke’s Bay until East Coast Airways was taken over by Union Airways in 1937. Ten years later, Union Airways went into voluntary liquidation on the formation of the National Airways Corporation on April 1, 1947.
Installation of the Hawke’s Bay Airport, including a 4300ft sealed runway, at Napier’s Beacons aerodrome followed a voluble two-year controversy between 1959 and 1961 on the siting of the province’s jet-age airport.
In the 1970s, the sophisticated air industry, represented by the Hawke’s Bay Airport and its services, is far removed from the Ogilvie launching ramp and the balsa wood crudities of the early 1900s. Yet to the efforts of these doughty pioneers, aviation owes its existence.
Photo captions –
From Hawke’s Bay’s modern airport at Napier, a Bristol freighter takes off with produce bound for the world’s markets. A Friendship passenger aircraft and another freighter stand by. Inset: Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flies his famous three-engined “Southern Cross” into the old Napier embankment aerodrome on a demonstration flight following his epic first Tasman crossing from Sydney to Christchurch on September 11, 1928.
One of the most historic photographs in New Zealand aviation: Napier engineer Bertram Ogilvie tests one of his weird machines on a ramp erected in Riverbend Road in 1909.
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Page 67
Achievement
BUILDING OUR BRIDGES
Taming rivers and building bridges has been a major engineering feat in flood prone Hawke’s Bay. Since the devastating floods, the Catchment Board, earlier known as the Rivers Board, has led flood control work for 34 years was under the chairmanship of the late Mr Chris Lassen. Above: Seven bridges at Clive during work on the Heretaunga Plains flood control scheme. Right: The 1962 opening of the spectacular Mohaka bridge on the Napier Taupo Road
Below: The mighty Mohaka railway viaduct, standing 315 feet high – taller than a 25-storeyed building – is one of the world’s highest. In the foreground, the project engineer, Mr D.O. Haskell of Napier.
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From CARTS to . . . CONTAINERS!
One of the oldest transport businesses in Hawke’s Bay extends to the Daily Telegraph its congratulations on the attainment of 100 years of service.
Barry Bros. Ltd. Have stored and handled their paper business for more than 60 years in very happy association.
Established in 1887 from four horses and three expresses, with progressive and dynamic management, Barry Bros. have progressed through the years to the container era.
CONTAINER AGE . . . Picture at right shows the latest method of transport. A container being loaded at a Napier warehouse. Below, centre: the container arriving at the ship’s side.
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Page 69
Achievement
Roads to prosperity
Ancient
Construction of Hawke’s Bay’s northern road outlet, the Napier-Taupo highway, has been a century-long battle to tame some of New Zealand’s most rugged country.
In February 1871 the General Government agent, Mr J.D. Ormond, was letting contracts for further work on the road. Maori gangs were being enlisted to help with picks, shovels, wheelbarrows and little else.
It was reported at that time that the “first 30 miles” was “satisfactory”, but a section through the Runanga district was still only a track “not yet able to take a Cobb coach”.
and modern
Photo captions –
Road building in Hawke’s Bay has laid a two-lane path for industrial prosperity and passenger comfort. The high-speed deviation which cut through the Norsewood hill on the main south highway (above) – with its Swedish type over-bridge – gave Hawke’s Bay an early taste of modern construction in the early 1960s.
The road to Taupo was eventually opened to wheeled traffic in March 1877. For many years the Cobb coach driven by Mr Harry Hayhow (right) kept a northern link for passengers and mail. He is pictured at Runanga in September 1906.
Today giant machines carve straight, smooth highways through tortuous country for high speed traffic. Left: The first luxury bus to cross the Titiokura deviation in May 1966 contrasts starkly with the four-horse coach of a bygone era.
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Page 71
Achievement
SPINNING WHEELS
ON SOLID RUBBER
Modern traffic-jammed society has been shaped in many ways by the development of the motor vehicle – an advance that had noisy beginnings at the turn of the century.
As was the case in other countries, the internal combustion engine had a profound effect on communications, commerce and industry in New Zealand.
The huge contribution of the motor age, however, has had drawbacks that cannot be overlooked. Since 1921, more than 11,000 people have been killed and more than 250,000 injured, many seriously. The road toll is now moderately estimated as a $30 million loss to New Zealand.
Above: The horseless carriage of Mr John Chambers, of Havelock North, is reputed to have been Hawke’s Bay’s first motor car.
Top right: Driver and passengers share a common grim determination before they set out in a 1912 Cadillac – the first successful service car on the Napier-Taupo road.
Right: The motor car ousted the progress of the tramways in most New Zealand centres. In Napier, the first trams began running in 1913 (as shown in the first-day Hastings Street scene) and were still running in 1931 when the earthquake wrecked the system beyond repair.
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CONGRATULATIONS
To The Daily Telegraph
100 Years Old Today!
J. N. Anderson and Son Ltd
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since 1889
A. J. ANDERSON JOHN ANDERSON COLIN ANDERSON
The late J. N. ANDERSON
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For 82 years we have offered a service to our many clients. We assure everyone that the service and products will be of the same high quality during the next 100 years.
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Page 73
Achievement
AIMING HIGH
Yet playing safe
Going up in the world, Hawke’s Bay’s modern city buildings reach for the sky yet remain earthquake resistant.
Clean lines contrast with the heavy ornamental stonework of the pre-1931 architecture which caused many fatalities during the earthquake.
Top left: Hastings’ multi-storeyed N.I.M.U. building.
Top right; The new clinical and medical services block at Napier Public Hospital.
Right: Napier’s Manchester Unity building stands head and shoulders above its Emerson Street neighbours.
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Page 75
Society
What J.D.O. foresaw
Men of the moment
Politicians, visionaries, idealists and pragmatists have served and shaped Hawke’s Bay through various levels and eras of government – local, provincial and Parliamentary.
The irascible, the wordy, the shrewd, the able and the not-so-able have figured in phases of the province’s administration in the past century.
In times of change, stress and emergency, notably in the crucial formative years of local government and after the 1931 earthquake, there emerged men with character and ability to match the situation.
Two of the outstanding figures in Hawke’s Bay history were Sir Donald McLean and the Hon. John Davies Ormond, contemporaries and friends, whose abilities carried them into important Cabinet offices.
Other men and some women have given notable services in the many spheres of local administration, and the facilities and services provided and maintained by local bodies throughout the province are their memorial.
Hawke’s Bay’s independent political history virtually began in 1856 three years after the district was named as part of Wellington Province when the six provinces of New Zealand were first proclaimed.
The province’s first recorded political meeting at Waipukurau on June 11, 1856, under the chairmanship of Henry Russell set up the first political group in the province – the Inland Settlers’ Committee. It led to the formation of the Ahuriri Settlers’ Association which, representing only a few hundred settlers, audaciously gained separation from Wellington on November 1, 1858.
On February 15, 1859, Hawke’s Bay entered a 17-year period of independent provincial government when the first Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council was elected. Members were T. H. Fitzgerald (first superintendent), W. Colenso, Dr T. Hitchings (Napier), H. S. Tiffen, J. C. L. Carter (Napier Country), J. Rhodes (Clive), R. Riddell (Mohaka), E. S. Curling (Te Aute), J. D, Ormond and J. Tucker (Waipukurau).
The province surged ahead under the council, which, strangely enough to modern minds, was able to tackle its work conscientiously without recourse in its early years to rates or taxation. Initially using only revenue from land sales, the council steered a progressive course, firstly under Fitzgerald and later under subsequent superintendents, Captain J. C. L. Carter (1861 to 1867), Sir Donald McLean (1867 to 1869) and J. D. Ormond (1869 to 1876).
In the council’s deliberations, however, Victorian verbosity was a time-consuming characteristic. Long-suffering reporters complained bitterly about the drawn-out debates of elected representatives, with the colourful William Colenso a chief culprit.
Reporters commented acidly about Colenso’s “acting, elocution, gesticulations and grimaces”. As treasurer, Colenso produced a five-column report which, critics pointed out, could have been substantially covered in 16 words: “While Hawke’s Bay has so many rich acres to dispose of, she can never become bankrupt”.
Divergent interests of various communities developing within the province led to the establishment of Napier as a municipality in 1874 and the breakdown of the provincial system of government. On November 1, 1876, the provincial councils throughout New Zealand were abolished in favour of local government by municipalities, county councils, and roads boards the system which has led to the proliferation of local bodies we know today.
John Davies Ormond – the last Provincial Superintendent of Hawke’s Bay – views a modern embodiment of local self-government in the shape of the Napier City Council’s $700,000 civic centre.
Ormond, even though Provincial Superintendent of the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council, advocated the abolition of the provincial method of administration in favour of an “advanced form of local government”, basically the present system.
As a member of the General Assembly, Ormond voted in favour of abolition in September 1875, “because I think I see in it, for the first time, a real local self- government . . . I shall vote for it,” he said, “because I think it will lead up to a great career for this country.”
Mr J. Vigor Brown – Napier’s longest- serving Mayor and a Member of Parliament – was perhaps Hawke’s Bay’s most colourful political character.
He made Parliamentary and local body election nights unforgettable in Napier. Thousands gathered outside The Daily Telegraph offices in Tennyson Street to watch results screened on a large canvas strung across the street – before the advent of radio.
Amid the noisy, hooting and cheering crowd, “Victorious Vigor” would appear to thank electors for his re-election – a spectacular, robust figure. He used to climax his election night performance by tossing his white bell topper into the screaming crowd and leaving them to fight for it.
He lost many toppers, won many votes. His record: Four times elected Member of Parliament for Napier, and elected Mayor for a total of 18 years, from 1907 to 1917, 1919 to 1921 and 1927 to 1933.
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TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Through the Days Of our Years
Great changes there have been since 1888 when Boots and Shoes from Thorps first trod the good earth of Napier and Hawke’s Bay. Sailing ships have gone from our seas – steam from our railways and we’ve watched man walk on the moon.
Shoe styles have changed too, but it is a great satisfaction to us, at a time like this, to look back over our records and see the continuity of custom that exists in our business.
So we say very many thanks to all our clients. The days of our years have brought their own rewards – it’s like that in the friendly contacts made in a family shoe store – but it is especially rewarding to join with The Daily Telegraph at their centenary time and pay tribute to our pioneers.
THORPS
Hastings Street – Napier
THE NAPIER MEMBERS
of the N.Z. Printing and Related Trades Industrial Union of Workers extend their congratulations to
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
on attaining its centenary
The power of the printed word – for good or ill – was never more potent than it is today, so that it is more important than ever that worthy men are associated with all aspects of the printing industry.
The printing unions of this country have played their full part in upholding the traditions and skills of their craft. It is a credit to them that the standard of printing and the quality of the men who perform it are of the highest order.
Everyone who has even a nodding acquaintance with the history of the trades union movement must be aware of the great part that the members of the craft have and are still playing. Despite the fact that members of the craft were scattered in small groups of two and three on newspapers and in small printing shops all over the world, there has been traditionally a very strong sense of unity. Members of the craft have stood by one another in times of adversity and have been resolute to protect what they considered their just rights.
This might be considered, in itself, enough to be proud of, but there is more than that. It has always been a craft union and pride in their craft has been the force which cemented them together. With pride in the craft has gone a deep sense of the obligation of the craft, the obligation of the Press to keep the public informed, the obligation of the craftsman to share with the newspaper Proprietor the responsibility of getting the news through to the public.
Development of the printing industry has been greater during recent years than during any other period in the long history of “the art to conserve all arts”. Today the industry is expanding in many directions undreamed of by early news-sheet printers, its impact on the cultural, commercial and educational life of the community is so great that the modern world would not function without the assistance of the printer.
Page 77
Society
Horsewhips, hangings and horses
The Daily Telegraph was born into lively times. Society, and its customs, in 1871 were in many ways different from those of today.
People spoke their minds more forcefully and hides were tough. Early newspaper files reflect the atmosphere of a time when newspaper editors, in particular, were very plain-spoken about rival productions and individuals.
The Daily Telegraph was only seven months old when, in August 1871, the editor was horsewhipped in the street by an enraged Napier solicitor.
The solicitor was summoned to court and pleaded the horsewhipping was justified as he had been grossly insulted by the newspaper, which had described him as “a bad egg”.
The Bench ruled the solicitor had in fact suffered provocation and inflicted a fine of only two shillings, a judgment that received loud applause in the courtroom.
These were rowdy times. In 1871 there were eight licensed hotels in Napier and three years later the number had doubled.
The temperance movement reached the province in the 1870s and campaigned to banish noisy public houses. The Independent Order of Rechabites established itself first at Waipawa and, according to one report, brought about “marvellous” results in quietening hotels.
In 1874, the Ngaruroro Licensing Court was petitioned to cease granting hotel licences, but it rejected the petition on the ground that there was a doubt that two-thirds of the inhabitants had signed.
The first major Supreme Court trial in Napier recorded in the columns of The Daily Telegraph was of national and historical interest. In December 1871, Kereopa, a leader of the Hau Haus, was found guilty of the murder of the Rev. Carl Volkner at Opotiki.
He allegedly ate the eyes of the missionary. He was sentenced to death by Judge Johnston. Kereopa pleaded innocence and said: “If any of my children, Taranakis, perpetrated the murder, it was without my knowledge”.
Kereopa’s execution, the first in Napier, took place on December 5, and the Taranaki chief gave no indication of fear or contrition. The Rev. William Colenso wrote a long letter, later published as a book, Fiat Justitia, deprecating the execution on the grounds that Volkner’s death had already been fully avenged.
Ua, the founder of the Hau Haus, Patara, his East Coast leader, and Te Kooti, who was responsible for the Mohaka massacre, were all pardoned. Kereopa, however, was hanged for the murder of a man who, it has been said, would have had him forgiven.
Another execution which aroused widespread interest was the hanging of Roland Edwards at Napier jail on July 15, 1884, for the murder of his wife and children at Ormondville.
In the mid-1880s the Salvation Army’s “invasion” stirred the community. Fifteen Salvationists appeared in court charged with breaking a by-law by marching through Napier “headed by their instrument blowers and torchlight bearers”.
The magistrate, Captain Preece, upheld the view that the by-law was an encroachment on constitutional rights, but the Supreme Court subsequently ordered the magistrate to inflict a fine.
The leader, Joseph Hildreth, refused to pay even a nominal fine and chose, instead, to go to jail. Upon release, there was a triumphal march through the town by the Salvationists, who were called by The Courier “lovers of noise, disorder and convulsive religiosity”. As years went on, however, the Army became recognised as a worthwhile institution filling a need in the community.
The police in Hawke’s Bay have maintained a proud record in their dealings with individuals who put themselves on the wrong side of the law. The legal profession also has a noble history and men who have achieved national eminence on the right side of the Bench include Mr Justice Alpers (1867- 1927), a Danish-born product of Napier Boys’ High School, and Mr Justice Woodhouse, a present member of the Supreme Court judiciary and another former Napier High School pupil.
The young generation appeared to be as much a “problem” at the beginning of the century as now. In the 1870s and 1880s, Napier’s “mashers” drew caustic comment from newspapers for their Saturday night behaviour and mode of dress.
“Trousers cling with touching tenderness to shapely limbs and dandy shoes are just ‘too, too’,” said one critical correspondent.
In 1922 – the halfway stage in our century – a New Zealand Board of Health Committee discussing the high rate of venereal infection, found the reason to be:
“The great deal of laxity of conduct among young people of all social conditions, especially in larger towns.”
The main factors were: “The influence of the cinema, modern dancing and the provocative dress of young women.”
Perhaps the new morality is not so new after all.
Photo captions –
Kereopa – his execution was Hawke’s Bay’s first. BELOW: Hawke’s Bay policemen aided Police Commissioner James Cullen (on horseback) in arresting the Maori “prophet”, Rua, at a Urewera bush stronghold in April 1916. The Maori leader and his followers were arrested on liquor charges after a desperate struggle.
Hooligans challenged law and order in blatant mob misbehaviour on Hastings’ Blossom Day, September 10, 1960. The usual gay blossom parade washed out by rain, youths from Wellington, Hutt Valley and other centres sparked off brawls in hotels and streets. Police called in the fire brigade to use fire hoses to restore order in what was termed the second “battle of Hastings”.
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Page 79
Society
New Shapes express an old faith
For nearly 140 years of Christianity in Hawke’s Bay, evangelism and church building have been a continuous, dual process.
Early coastal mission stations at Wairoa and Waitangi (Clive) had modest shacks, built by missionaries, as places of worship. But the first inland church in Hawke’s Bay was built by converted Maoris at Waipukurau in the 1840s in anticipation of the arrival of the first resident missionary, the Rev. William Colenso.
Since that day in the 1840s man has prepared houses for God wherever he has settled in the province.
By February 1, 1871, the Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Churches were well established. In Napier, the United Methodist Free Church was seeking donations for a building fund which later produced the Trinity Methodist Church at Clive Square.
At St John’s Anglican Church, Napier, parishioners 100 years ago could be “Baptised free of charge, churched for one shilling, married by Banns for 10 shillings and buried for eight shillings”.
Today, the soaring steeples of city churches and the host of other church buildings throughout the province are a tangible testimony of the intervening years of Christian endeavour.
The lives of notable church people remain, too, as symbols of faith and service. Among these are Mary Joseph Aubert, a humble Frenchwoman who arrived at Napier a few days after the first issue. of The Daily Telegraph was published in February 1871.
A fellow student of Florence Nightingale and once a piano pupil of Franz Liszt, she left France to serve the Maoris in New Zealand and came to Hawke’s Bay to assist Father E. Regnier, S.M., a founder of the Roman Catholic Church in the province.
Mother Aubert soon became catechist, seamstress, organist and especially district nurse to Europeans. and Maoris from Waikaremoana to Woodville. In 1873 alone she treated 1353 poor and sick, including many Maoris, from her Meeanee dispensary.
She later moved to Wanganui, where she founded the nursing order, Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion. She continued to serve others till after the First World War and has been subsequently called “New Zealand’s greatest woman”.
The first missionary to visit Hawke’s Bay, the Rev. William Williams, was later consecrated the first Anglican Bishop of Waiapu. He published a Maori translation of the New Testament in 1837 and, 100 years ago, in Napier, he was completing the third edition of his 1844 Maori dictionary.
Coincidentally, at this time, William Colenso, then a politician, abruptly lost a Government contract for the compilation of a new Maori dictionary. Colenso, who printed the 1837 Maori New Testament, spent five years on the dictionary until public outcry over the slow rate of progress brought the termination of the contract.
The Bishop of Waiapu who has just retired, the Most Rev. N. A. Lesser, became Waiapu’s first Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand in 1961. In the past decade he has seen the completion of the rebuilt Waiapu Cathedral in Napier, which, by virtue of his office, became the spiritual capital of Anglican New Zealand
Photo captions –
Bishop W. Williams
The unusual Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic church in Havelock North was built by Marist fathers and was opened in 1960.
The bold simple lines of the new Waiapu Cathedral, Napier, contrast with the Gothic architecture of the first Cathedral (above) destroyed in the 1931 earthquake.
St James’ Anglican Church, Hastings, is one of a number of striking church buildings erected in Hawke’s Bay in recent years.
Father E. Regnier [ Reignier]
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In days gone by . . .
A man was judged by his appearance . . . He took pride in his clothes . . . Comfort was not always thought of . . . Change was essential. Fabrics changed, fabrics were blended together opening up new avenues in design, comfort, texture and all the time man was ever-conscious of style, design in the cut of his clothes . . . Call it what you may, but we at Blackmore’s call it “fashion”, the word that conjures up pictures and memories.
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Blackmore’s
H.W. BLACKMORE LIMITED, HERETAUNGA ST., HASTINGS, TEL. 84-142
D.P.M. congratulate
THE Daily Telegraph
100 years
de Pelichet McLeod & Co. Ltd. 1911-1971
Fifty-nine years of valued customer service to Hawke’s Bay and Central Hawke’s Bay. We’re the big store on Civic Square in Hastings with a modern drive-through liquor store, retail department, garage, produce department, free customer car park, and a delightful coffee and luncheon lounge overlooking the square. Shop at D.P.M’s. and you’ll know what efficient service really is !
de PELICHET McLEODS’S
de Pelichet Mcleod & Company Limited, Hastings & Waipukurau.
Page 81
Society
Changing needs bring new methods
“Is it all a matter of surprise that with such teachers the status of education in Hawke’s Bay should be low?” asked an editorial in the 1870s.
It was commenting on the fact that of the 14 teachers in the province examined under new Government legislation, only seven gained certificates of competency. The remaining seven were not eligible for re-engagement and their examination work was likened to that of lower-form pupils.
“It is something to be gained that our condition is fully revealed. The next step will be to improve it,” the article said.
For a century, educationists, politicians, teachers and parents have worked to transform the condition of Hawke’s Bay education to today’s state of competency and diversity.
In 1871, a public school system, with 15 schools, was taking shape under the control of the Provincial Council. Earlier, education was largely the concern of churches, private secular organisations, parents and private tutors.
In 1875, with the abolition of provincial government, education became the direct responsibility of central government operating through the Department of Education, education boards and school committees. The change-over presented the Government with the opportunity of examining teachers – and revealing their shortcomings.
Free, secular and compulsory education established in 1877 was followed by other educational reforms, including the establishment of high school boards.
In Hawke’s Bay, the Anglican Church’s Te Aute College and Hukarere Maori Girls’ School, the Roman Catholic schools and also the private establishments, mainly centred on Havelock North, made notable contributions.
Te Aute College was the first school in Hawke’s Bay, having been founded in 1854 (on a site obtained originally by the missionary, the Rev. William Colenso) by the Rev. Samuel Williams, with the backing of the Governor, Sir George Grey. Other early schools were opened in Napier and at East Clive, Petane and Wairoa.
Henry Hill, the province’s inspector of schools from 1878 to 1915, Colenso, who also served as a school chairman and inspector of schools, and Miss A. E. Jerome Spencer, a long-serving principal of Napier Girls’ High School and later founder of the Country Women’s Institute movement, were among the many notable educationists to serve the province.
Teaching institutions figured in the developments that kept methods abreast of changing needs. The Education Act of 1964 reflected today’s technological requirements, making provision for the establishment of technical institutions devoted solely or largely to technical and continuing education.
Hawke’s Bay’s newest educational development – the provincial polytechnic- will extend education facilities in this direction as the province attempts to keep pace with the complexities of the computer age.
Photo captions –
Pupils at Napier’s Colenso High School – one ef New Zealand’s largest – experiment (above) in aspects of modern physics. Right: Children at Nelson Park School, Napier, learn the intricacies of ‘new maths”.
A historic picture (left) of Archdeacon Samuel Williams, a founder of Te Aute College, with an early influential supporter of the institution, Sir James Carroll, in the college grounds.
The first plumbing class at Napier’s Technical College, which was destroyed in the 1931 earthquake. This undated photograph was probably taken about the turn of. the century.
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SORRY! WE HAVENT ANY 1912 MINERVAS IN STOCK AT PRESENT
These good used cars were advertised in The Daily Telegraph during the Kaiser’s war.
Ever since 1871, The Daily Telegraph has been advertising ‘Penny Farthing’ bicycles, gigs, phaetons and drays, and then these new fangled motor cars in the ‘Vehicles For Sale column. From a luxury for the rich to every man’s transport in 1971. The Daily Telegraph has spread the information so ‘Beggars can ride’ . . Telegraph readers know that the BEST USED CARS come from BAILLIE MOTORS, your Vauxhall dealers who sell over a hundred used cars a MONTH so that our stock is constantly changing and ALWAYS ‘FRESH’.
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What you want from a car?
How much you want to pay?
How many you want to carry – and how far per year?
WE WON’T SELL YOU A CAR . . . Our experts will select the right car for your use, and your pocket . . . and find very easy ways for you to pay . . . then you’ll buy.
TRY US, THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW.
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Page 83
The Daily Telegraph has been the name of the paper since its first issue on February 1, 1871. This is the front page of the four-page issue, reduced from 19in. by 13½in. It sold for 2d a copy.
Social history of 100 years can be read in advertisements such as these in the first issue. Fashions and prices, wares and services, places and people they are entrenched in the advertising as well as the news columns, to show the influence of change on our way of life.
Change has been measured also in the format of the paper – its “dress”. Pictures, display headings, full-page advertisements instead, as in 1871. of modest single-column announcements, confirm the new “image” age. The type changed, notably in 1909 from handset type, when,
With fingers long, as the hours stole on,
Keeping time with the clock’s tick-tick,
He gathered the type with a merry click
In his old rust-eaten stick.
Of all the changes in printing during “A Crowded Century”, that to the linotype was the most dramatic.
Five monolines briefly preceded five linotypes at The Daily Telegraph. A battery of 10 linotypes is now complemented by perforated tape-operated machines which set type automatically. The most modern of the four automatic machines which speed the paper’s production today is a Monarch type-setting unit which sets 13 lines a minute.
Changes in the size of the page – The Daily Telegraph once had a page size of 30in. – marked changes in the press on which the paper was printed. For many years there were flat-bed presses, many hand-fed. In the day of the rotary press. New Zealand-made newsprint and inks, The Daily Telegraph still seeks its deadlines with, as in 1871, all the news that can be fitted in. From a modest circulation counted in the beginning in the hundreds, more than 18,000 papers are now printed daily, on an average using enough newsprint in a year to reach from Napier halfway to the North Pole.
Page 85
Our first 100 years
“A Crowded Century” is not least the story of 100 years of publication by The Daily Telegraph, for what is printed in the pages of this special number appeared first in the columns of the daily paper.
Life and death, and what else makes news, have paraded the pages of a century.
Communications have quickened since the first issue in 1871, typography has improved, pictures arrived and the paper has grown bigger, but always there has been the instinct to serve.
Service was mooted when, in its first issue, the proprietors identified the paper as “the first attempt to provide the educated public of Hawke’s Bay with a journal worthy of the thoughtful community whose suffrages it desires to gain”.
Editorial policy was founded on the principles of liberalism – equal freedom, equal right and equal opportunity for all. The special spur was the land question, and the paper campaigned vigorously for the partition of the biggest land blocks in Hawke’s Bay. Editorial opinion was forthright: –
We object to any description of Crown land being sold at auction, it should be left open for free selection at a moderate upset price. The selection at auction offers a direct bonus to the speculator and to the shark and gives no encouragement to the bona fide intending settler.
“Disreputable contemporaries” of The Daily Telegraph bore heavily on the newcomer. Before the end of its first year of publication the public company which started the paper was wound up and the property was taken over by four of the principal shareholders. They were Messrs E. W. Knowles, G. E. Lee, A. Kennedy and T. K. Newton. None was a journalist.
Most active among them in the management of the company was Mr Knowles, who became the sole proprietor in 1891 and continued as such until 1908. His business experience, combined with his natural shrewdness, fitted him for the successful management and development of a progressive provincial newspaper. Advancing years caused him to sell the property in 1908 to a company comprised of the Geddis, Leys and Brett families, of Auckland.
Since 1908 the paper has been under the personal direction of the Geddis family, first by Mr W. J. Geddis, M.L.C., who died in 1926, then by his two sons (Messrs T. M. and C. S. Geddis) and in turn by their sons (Messrs B. S. and J. B. Geddis).
Mr W. J. Geddis was a trenchant writer whose conduct of the New Zealand Observer earned him an enviable reputation in New Zealand journalism. He subsequently was appointed managing-director of the New Zealand Times, Wellington.
The first editor of The Daily Telegraph was Mr Richard Halkett Lord, a London journalist with a witty and facile pen. He resigned to return to England. He was succeeded by Mr Robert Price, who edited the paper until 1893.
Third editor was Mr Richard Martin, an Otago journalist of marked integrity and strong convictions, but unfortunately he was handicapped by physical disabilities.
Then came the long reign of Mr J. W. McDougall, his 35 years being near a record in New Zealand journalism. He was an original and fearless writer whose judgment was valued by the community he served.
Mr Trevor M. Geddis took over the editorship in 1929. He had been through the ranks, first as a printer’s apprentice, then as reporter, sub-editor, and Press Gallery reporter in Parliament. He had been managing-director for 10 years. He had closely associated with him, as director and secretary of the company, his brother, Mr Clifton S. Geddis, and a number of the staff from early in the century. All their resources were to be needed when, for the first time in its history, the paper could not be published on February 3, 1931.
The earthquake and fire tragedy which struck Hawke’s Bay that day is pictured on the centre pages of this number. Less than 48 hours before the disaster The Daily Telegraph celebrated its diamond jubilee with a special issue of 32 pages recording not only its history but that of the province it served. After 10.40 a.m. on February 3, the paper was without premises, plant, paper, stocks or equipment of any kind.
In an extraordinary effort, Mr Trevor Geddis mobilised staff, searched the town for hand type and other equipment and produced, on February 4, a 14in. x 9in. one-sheet “News Bulletin” that heartened those of the stricken community who had not been evacuated from the town. It published Napier’s first roll of fatalities and gave directions on sanitation, drinking water and other matters of urgent importance.
For weeks after the earthquake the future of Napier hung in the balance. A wholesale exodus of its citizens and surrender on the part of its businessmen to the calamity might have administered a fatal shock to the town. The Daily Telegraph, by carrying on, helped to avert any such danger.
Although he retired from the editorship in 1951, Mr Geddis was at the helm of the paper until his death last year. Mr A. F. B. McCredie succeeded him as editor, after service as associate editor from 1935 and a member of the literary staff since 1930. Mr McCredie was a fine, all-round journalist with an informed and probing mind. His sudden death in 1960 at the age of 51 robbed the community and New Zealand journalism of a leader. The present editor, Mr D. G. Conly, was appointed in 1960.
Ownership of The Daily Telegraph has remained among the descendants of the three families which bought control in 1908. The present directors are Messrs G. T. Upton (chairman), B. S. Geddis (managing-director), N. K. Brett (longest-serving director) and J. B. Geddis.
The Daily Telegraph is produced by a staff of 134.
All this is past. It is the present that counts. To the best of its ability The Daily Telegraph continues to serve Hawke’s Bay and the communities with which it has been so long paired. For today it feels “100 years young”.
More than 570 years’ service is represented in the picture below, showing present members of the staff of The Daily Telegraph who have qualified through service for gold watch awards.
Back row, from left: Messrs A. M. Gibson (stonehand, 32 years), H. L. Beer (advertising manager, 41 years). B. S. Geddis (managing-director, 33 years), J. G. Glenny (commercial machinist, 32 years), A. R. Street (bindery foreman, 30 years), R. G. Rees (chief sub-editor, 41 years), D. A. Rees (deputy- editor, 43 years), A. J. McCarthy (head commercial machinist, 46 years). Front row, from left: Messrs I. H. Exeter (linotypist, 41 years), A. R. Fraser (accountant, 39 years), H. G. Taylor (stonehand, 41 years), Mrs J. I. Walch (senior clerk, 21 years), Messrs S, H. Exeter (linotypist, 47 years), R. Salthouse (secretary, 45 years), J. L. Dean (head stereotyper, 41 years).
Mr J. W. McDougall, longest-serving editor, 1894-1929.
Mr T. M. Geddis, managing-director 1919-1956, chairman of directors 1950-70, editor 1929-51.
Mr A. F. B. McCredie, associate-editor 1935, editor 1951-60.
Mr E. W. Knowles, an 1871 founder of The Daily Telegraph and sole proprietor 1891-1908.
Mr G. T. Upton, director 1950, chairman of directors 1970.
Mr B. S. Geddis, director 1950, managing-director 1956.
[Advertisement]
80 years ago we chose Napier first
Looking to the future is a Dalgety tradition. A tradition that has helped to keep us in the forefront of New Zealand’s primary industry for a very long time.
Our firm was founded in Lyttelton in 1858. Thirty years later we looked northwards and for our first bridgehead in the North Island WE CHOSE NAPIER . . .
. . . NOW over 80 years later, Hawke’s Bay has grown to be one of our strongest branches. With our branch office, sub-branches in many centres, huge wool store and many other facilities, we are part of the Hawke’s Bay life just as The Daily Telegraph is.
We feel we have helped in the growth of the province and know that the loyal support of the Hawke’s Bay people has helped us grow.
Dalgety
As one centenarian to another we wish
The Daily Telegraph
another successful 100 years
DALGETY NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
Page 89
The Daily Telegraph is the only daily newspaper published in Hawke’s Bay delivered each day to every part of Hawke’s Bay.
The map shows daily delivery routes – a total of 1620 vehicle miles; in a year, a total of almost half a million vehicle miles.
Text in map –
TAUPO
Tuai
Te Reinga
Morere
Mangopoike
Nuhaka
Mahia
Putere
Frasertown
Awamate
Cricklewood
WAIROA
Raupunga
Tarawera
Te Haroto
Putorino
Tutira
Te Pohue
Puketitiri
Patoka
Eskdale
Kuripapango
NAPIER
TARADALE
HASTINGS
Havelock North
Clive
Wakarara
Tikokino
Onga Onga
Otane
Waimarama
WAIPAWA
Elsthorpe
Omakere
Pourerere
WAIPUKURAU
TAKAPAU
Norsewood
Ormondville
Wanstead
Blackhead
Totaramoa
Whetukura
Raumati
Umutaoroa
DANNEVIRKE
Porangahau
Weber
Wimbledon
Woodville
Waiaruhe
Waitahora
Herbertville
Branch Office
Correspondent
[Advertisements]
The Oldest Established
Jewellers in Hawke’s Bay!
McClurgs Ltd., was originally founded by the late Samuel McLernon who was born in 1854 in Belfast and came to New Zealand in 1877.
About 1885 he took over the jewellery business which had been in operation in Napier for many years, conducted by Jensen and Moeller. A new building was erected in Hastings Street in 1903.
The business was purchased by the late Mr L. S. McClurg in 1917. In 1931 the earthquake entirely destroyed the building, but the business was quickly re-established in the present new premises in Hastings Street.
The firm has been carried on by Mr Allan McClurg as managing director of the company for the past 30 years. In this time branch premises were opened by taking over the old-established business of Corbetts Jewellers in Emerson Street and 1954 saw further expansion by the opening of a new branch in Taupo.
The third generation is represented by Mr David McClurg who is active in branch administration both in Taupo and Napier.
McClurgs
HASTINGS STREET, NAPIER
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Page 91
History
From our files . . .
1769: October – Captain Cook sailed into Hawke Bay.
1795: Log book of England’s Glory, a whaler, recorded passing along east coast.
1796: Whaler, Mermaid, sailed off Hawke’s Bay.
1827: February 3 – Dumont D’Urville, in Astrolabe, off Hawke’s Bay.
1829: Ship Nimrod brought Barnet Burns to Mahia.
1834: Thomas McDonnell’s chart of New Zealand showed Ahuriri as McDonnell’s Cove.
1837: Sketch made of harbour of “Hau Ridi” (Ahuriri) by Captain Thomas Wing, master of the schooner Trent.
1839: Captain W. B. Rhodes established trading stations at Ahuriri and Table Cape.
F. W. C. Sturm settled at Nuhaka.
1840: The Rev. W. Williams visited Mahia Peninsula.
1841: Bishop Pompallier visited Mahia twice in this year. Frederick Hunt visited Hawke’s Bay.
1842: November 16-17 – Bishop Selwyn at Ahuriri.
1843: December 18 – W. Colenso and Rev. W. Williams at Ahuriri.
1844: October 28 – Joseph Thomas and H. S. Harrison at Ahuriri.
December 30 – Rev. William Colenso established mission station at Waitangi.
1846: May 22 – Alexander Alexander recorded at Ahuriri.
1848: Anketell joins Alexander on Westshore Spit.
1849: January 30 – First sheep station in Hawke’s Bay established at Pourerere. (The sheep belonged to J. H. Northwood and H. S. Tiffen and were driven from the Wairarapa by E. Collins, E. Davis and F. J. Tiffen.)
1850: Port Ahuriri at this time was known as “Hourede”, or “Howreedy” as Europeans called it.
August 13 – Colenso recorded an earthquake shock in Napier.
December 10 – First families, the McKains and the Villiers, settled at what is now Westshore.
December 18 – Donald McLean arrived at Waipukurau to arrange for the purchase of 600,000 to 700,000 acres of Hawke’s Bay land, which led to the settlement of the Hawke’s Bay province.
1851: January – Catholic Mission established at Pakowhai by Father Lampila, S.M., and Brothers Florentin and Basil.
April 7 – Captain Joseph Thomas joined McLean at Ahuriri.
First public house opened by William Villiers at Ahuriri in what is now lower Carlyle Street.
June 7 – First export of wool from Port Ahuriri.
October 1 – First organised horse race meeting in Hawke’s Bay held at Waipukurau while Europeans waited for completion of land sale.
October 28 – Waipukurau block bought by Donald McLean for £2400.
November 17 – Donald McLean bought for the Government the Ahuriri Block, comprising land bounded by Puketitiri, Tangoio Awatoto, but not Scinde Island, for £1008.
1852: Napier’s first post office opened at Port Ahuriri.
Estimated that 50 boats engaged in whaling from Hawke’s Bay.
John Ormond bought 4000 acres from Maoris and named the settlement Wallingford
First resident in Waipukurau, C. L. de Pelichet.
1853: August 22 – Samuel Revans elected to represent Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay in Parliament.
August 29 – Sir Charles James Napier died in England.
Sir George Grey came to Hawke’s Bay to persuade chiefs to agree to further land sales.
1854: January – Alfred Domett arrived at Ahuriri as Provincial Crown Lands Commissioner and resident magistrate.
1855: February 22 – First official use of name Napier for Ahuriri area.
April – Streets of Napier named by Alfred Domett.
April 5 – First sale of Napier sections.
H.M.S. Pandora surveyed Ahuriri harbour and approaches.
1856: March – Domett left Napier.
November 13 – Purchase of Scinde Island by the Government completed by Commissioner of Crown Lands, Napier. George Sisson Cooper.
Loyal Napier Lodge founded, meetings being held in a lodge-room in Onepoto Gully.
1857: Shakespeare Road begun, connecting Napier with Port Ahuriri. Not finished until 1859.
May – First steamer visited Napier, S.S. Wonga Wonga.
The Southern Cross became the first wool ship to arrive at Napier.
Clive laid out as towns.
1858: January 30 – Meeting held in the Royal Hotel (Napier), at which Ahuriri Agricultural Society was formed, later to become the H.B. A. and P. Society.
February 8 – Detachment of 65th Regiment arrived in Napier, settled in Onepoto Gully.
Taradale-Greenmeadows district bought from the Government by – Alley and H. S. Tiffen at 5s an acre. Mr Alley named his purchase Taradale and built the first house there in 1860. Mr Tiffen named his area Greenmeadows.
March – Catholic Mission moved from Pakowhai to Meeanee.
August 19 – Hostilities at Pakiaka Bush, Whakatu, involved Te Moananui, Karaitiana and others against Te Hapuku, Puhara and others. Henare Tomoana was the fighting chief on one side and Puhara on the other. Puhara was killed. Series of skirmishes, which continued until March 22, 1858, led to appeal to Government by Napier people for military protection.
September 4 – Union Bank opened a branch in Napier.
European population of New Zealand, 59.413.
November 1 – Hawke’s Bay proclaimed a province.
John Ormond first Speaker, Provincial Council.
1858: January 1 – Electoral roll for Napier contained 89 names.
March 6 – First church in Napier, St Mary’s Chapel (Catholic), opened at corner of Shakespeare and France Roads.
April 23 – First meeting of Hawke’s Bay Provincial Government, in the Golden Fleece Hotel, which stood on the site now occupied by the Cathedral fountain.
Diocese of Waiapu formed.
1860: January 7 – First sale of town sections at Abbotsford (now Waipawa).
Havelock North laid out as township.
1861: April 8 – Captain J. C. L. Carter elected Superintendent of Hawke’s Bay.
June 16 – St Paul’s Church, Napier, erected.
July 31 – Chief Te Moananui died at Clive.
December – First Waiapu Synod held at Waerenga-a-hika.
1862: April 2 – The Bank of New Zealand opened a branch in Napier.
Scheme to improve Port of Napier abandoned after expenditure of £17,000.
First Money Order Office opened in Napier.
Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council decided to recommended the Government to fix a minimum price of not less than 10s an acre for all waste land sold by auction.
August 20 – Hawke’s Bay Club established.
1868: February 1 – First Anglican church in Napier consecrated.
October 14 – Ahuriri Agricultural Society became H.B. A. and P. Society and first show was held in Danver’s paddock, Havelock North. Total exhibits, 73.
Sir Donald McLean, having decided to settle here, became Superintendent of the Hawke’s Bay province, succeeding Captain Carter.
Only three public schools in Hawke’s Bay, with total attendance of 45 pupils.
First settlement at Tikokino.
1964: November 24 – Ship Strathallan, from England, arrived at Napier with immigrants.
Photo caption –
“The Den’ was the name of this room in Sir Douglas McLean’s house, Napier Terrace, Napier, showing the McLean family’s relics of Maori associations. Sir Douglas was the son of Sir Donald McLean. Most of the weapons and pictures displayed are now in the Hawke’s Bay Museum, Napier.
History
1865: February 26 – Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions arrived and first convent was in use (Napier).
December 17 – Ship Strathallan, from England, returns to Napier. White population of Hawke’s Bay, 3370.
1866: March 16 – Hawke’s Bay, A. and P. Society’s second show, held at Waipukurau.
October 12 – Battle with Hau Haus at Omarunui.
December 2 – Ship Strathallan, again returns to Napier.
1867: February 18 – First artesian well in Hawke’s Bay, at Meeanee.
March 8 – Hawke’s Bay A and P Society’s show at Meeanee.
March 27 – Ship Montmorency destroyed by fire three days after leaving Napier.
April 8 – Last of the Imperial forces, a detachment of the 12th Regiment, left Napier.
October 10 – St. Joseph’s Maori Girls’ College opened on Convent Hill, Napier (known as The Providence).
White population in Hawke’s Bay, 5175.
Only 12 schools in Hawke’s Bay, with a total of 300 pupils.
Waipukurau laid out as model village by H. R. Russell.
1868: February 27 – Barque Ida Zeigler, from London, smashed to pieces on Petane beach, Napier, during a heavy gale.
June 16 – First telegraph between Napier and Wellington opened.
July 10 – Hau Hau prisoners escaped from the Chatham Islands and, led by Te Kooti, landed at Whareongaonga, south of Gisborne.
July 20 – Engagement between volunteer forces and Te Kooti’s force at Paparutu.
Victory to Te Kooti.
August 8 – Engagement with Te Kooti at the Ruakituri River, Captain Carr and Davis Canning killed. Te Kooti escapes.
November 9-10 – Massacre of Poverty Bay settlers by Hau Haus under Te Kooti.
December 3 – Successful attack on the Hau Haus at Makaretu, north of Wairoa. Te Kooti retreated to a strong position at Ngatapa.
December 5 – Unsuccessful attack on Ngatapa by Government forces, mostly friendly Maoris (Ngatiporou) under Major Ropata and Captain Preece.
Chief Karauria Pupu killed in action against Te Kooti.
Awatoto toll gate erected
1869: January 5 – Capture of Ngatapa by mixed force of Armed Constabulary and Ngatiporou fighters under the direction of Colonel Whitmore.
March – Te Kooti raided the Bay of Plenty.
April 10-12 – Massacre of Mohaka settlers by Te Kooti’s forces, and attacks on two Maori pas. One captured with much slaughter and the other defended until relief arrived from Napier.
September 9 – Te Kooti defeated in an engagement at Tokaanu by Henare Tomoana and Hawke’s Bay Maoris.
September 25 – Te Kooti attacked Tokaanu and was repulsed by Armed Constabulary and Hawke’s Bay Maoris, including Henare Tomoana, Pene and Kaiwhata. Renata Kawepo of Omahu lost his eye in the engagement.
1870: April 3 – Final engagement with Te Kooti at Te Porere by Hawke’s Bay Maoris and Armed Constabulary, effective military defeat of Te Kooti.
The Hon. J. D. Ormond became Superintendent of the Hawke’s Bay province, succeeding Sir Donald McLean.
“F” Battery of Artillery formed in Napier, under Captain Joshua Cuff.
1871: February 1 – The Daily Telegraph established.
February 24 – Last detachment of British troops left New Zealand.
April 16 – Catholic Church built at Waipawa.
1872: February 14 – Last shot in Maori Wars fired at Mangaone, near Lake Waikaremoana.
April 28 – Tiffen sold sections at Greenmeadows.
April 31 – National Bank of New Zealand opened in Napier.
First coach run, Napier to Taupo.
Meeanee College for boys (boarding) opened.
September 12 – On this date the Hawke’s Bay Agricultural Society changed its name to the Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society.
September 16 – Arrival at Napier of ships Ballarat. and Hovding, with Scandinavian immigrants, who proceeded to and settled at Norsewood and Dannevirke.
November 16 – Ship Excelsior, from London, arrived at Napier.
Ship Chile, from England, arrived at Napier.
First Foresters’ Lodge established in Napier.
Toll gate erected on Taradale Road, dues received being for road maintenance.
1873: July 8 – First Hastings town section sold.
August 10 – Second Catholic Church built on Convent Hill, Napier. It was moved in 1910 to Port Ahuriri and opened on July 31, 1910, as St Mary’s.
October 15 – Hawke’s Bay A and P. Society’s show held in Mr Reynolds’ yards, Havelock North.
Committee set up by Hawke’s Bay Provincial Council to inquire into the possibility of constructing a breakwater at Napier.
Norsewood District School established.
1874: February 2 – Ship, Queen of the North, London, arrived at Napier.
March 8 – Ship Invererne from England, arrived in Napier.
May 24 – R. D. Maney cut into quarter-acre sections, the Taradale Block, which he had bought from William Colenso, who had bought it from Alley.
July – Hukarere Maori Girls’ School opened in Napier.
July 4 – Ship Halcione, from London, arrived.
October 12 – Railway opened between Napier and Hastings.
Barque Queen Bee arrived at Napier from London. Afterwards wrecked near Nelson.
October 22 – Ship Helen Denny, from London, arrived at Napier.
October – Hawke’s Bay A. and P Society’s show held at Hastings for first time, in yards belonging to the society.
November – Ship Bebbington from England, arrived at Napier.
November 26 – Borough of Napier founded.
1875: February 12 – Barque Hudson, from England, arrived at Napier.
February 2 – First meeting of Napier Borough Council, with Mr Robert Stuart as Mayor.
May 1 – Hawke’s Bay railway extended from Hastings to Paki Paki and declared opened.
June 8 – Ship Countess of Kintore, from London, arrived at Napier.
September 20 – Ship Helen Denny, from London, arrived at Napier.
Napier Rowing Club started. Mr Spencer Gollan first president.
Tragedy in Napier – Man killed his wife in small cottage in France Road (then Chappell Street).
1876: February 15 – First meeting of Napier Harbour Board.
May 24 – Ploughing match conducted by the Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society in Mr R. Wellwood’s paddock.
August 12 – Railway through Hawke’s Bay opened as far as Waipawa.
August 22 – Meeting of citizens held at Waipukurau, where it was decided to build a public hospital.
September 1 – First railway train to Waipukurau.
November 1 – Abolition of New Zealand provinces took effect; country divided into counties and boroughs.
December 21 – Ship Waitara, from England, arrived at Napier.
Napier Fire Brigade came into existence.
Union Rowing Club (Napier) started.
December 28 – Hawke’s Bay County Council elected for first time.
First land settlement at Ormondville.
1877: January 5 – Death of Sir Donald Mclean.
February 9 – Mr H. S. Tiffen elected first chair man of the Hawke’s Bay County Council.
March 12 – Napier connected with Takapau by railway.
March 20 – Ship Fernglen, from England, arrived at Napier.
May 22 – St Mary’s Anglican Church, Waipukurau, consecrated.
May 24 – Public hall at Waipukurau opened.
November 21 – Ship Waitara, from England, arrived at Napier.
December 3 – Barque Langstone, from London, arrived at Napier.
Free and compulsory education for children introduced in New Zealand.
Napier Working Men’s Club opened. (Name changed to Cosmopolitan Club, October 16, 1927.)
1878: January 10 – School committees elected in Hawke’s Bay for first time.
April 4 – Education commissioners in Hawke’s Bay replaced by Education Board.
April 11 – Bishop Selwyn died in England.
May 5 – Chief Te Hapuku died at Te Hauke.
May 7 – Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society held a grain and roots show in conjunction with the ploughing match at Mr William Orr’s, Clive.
October 22 – Immigrant ship City of Auckland, from London to Napier wrecked at Otaki.
November 27 – Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society purchased 80 acres from Mr T. Tanner and Messrs Knight Bros and Chapman, Hastings, for a showground. The Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club took over these grounds.
December 10 – Abercorn Masonic Lodge (Waipawa) formed.
School inspector for Hawke’s Bay (Mr Henry Hill) arrived in Napier.
Freemasonry introduced in Hastings by formation of Lodge Heretaunga.
Marist Brothers took over Catholic boys’ School, Napier.
Photo captions –
Memorial service for King Edward VII was held at St John’s Cathedral, Napier, on May 5, 1910.
Railway station farewells as the 1st Contingent leaves Napier for the Boer War.
Page 93
History
1879: January 1 – Lighthouse at Cape Mahia completed.
March 3 – Chief Karaitiana Takamoana died at Napier, buried at Pakowhai.
June 27 – Ship Celaeno, from London, arrived at Napier.
September 13 – Big sale of residential properties at Hastings.
November 7 – Ship May Queen, from London, arrived at Napier.
First patients admitted Waipawa County Hospital at Waipukurau.
1880: January 11 – Ship Adamant, from London, arrived at Napier.
Tomoana Freezing Works started.
Chief Renata Kawepo died at Omahu.
First race meeting held on Hastings racecourse.
Hawke’s Bay Lodge opened in Hastings.
1881: Licensing committees formed in Hawke’s Bay for administration of the licensing laws.
1882: April 6 – Great earthquake in New Zealand.
First cargo of frozen meat left Hawke’s Bay for London.
April 16 – Catholic Church opened in Hastings.
Patangata County Council formed.
Catholic Church built at Wairoa.
Napier Chamber of Commerce established.
1883: April 26 – Violent eruption, Tongariro.
September 17 – Ship St Leonard (Captain Todd) arrived at Napier.
December 1 – Public library opened at Waipawa.
1884: January – Waipawa Town Board formed.
January 29 – Napier Girls’ High School opened.
February 4 – Hastings constituted a town board district.
July 15 – Roland Edwards hanged at Napier jail for killing his wife and children at Ormondville.
First lawn tennis tournament in New Zealand held at Farndon (Clive).
1885: January 20 – Poll favours breakwater at Napier.
Telephone exchange opened at Napier with 40 subscribers.
St Augustine’s Church, Napier, erected.
1886: January 4 – Hastings Volunteer Fire Brigade formed.
May – Plans approved for laying out and beautifying Clive Square, Napier.
June 10 – Eruption of Tarawera. The explosions were heard in Hawke’s Bay.
August 19 – Hastings declared a borough.
August 30 – Salvationists jailed for marching through Napier.
September – Napier Cathedral erection begun.
October 11 – Ship Lairia, from London, arrived at Napier.
October 20 – First meeting Hastings Borough Council.
December 12 – Big fire at Waipawa; more than 20 buildings, including the post office, destroyed.
December 18 – Great fire at Napier; £60,000 damage.
Mr John Collinge appointed first town clerk of Hastings.
Napier Park Racing Club founded.
Taradale declared a town district.
1887: January 5 – Ship Asterion, from London, is. arrived at Napier.
January 25 – First block laid in connection with construction of Napier Breakwater.
May 10 – Northumberland wrecked off Petane Beach.
Hastings Rifles founded, with Captain (later Sir William) Russell in command.
1888: March – Waipawa Volunteer Fire Brigade formed.
North British Freezing Works built on Westshore Spit.
November 12 – Barque Langstone afire in the Napier roadstead. Much damage to vessel’s decks and cargo of wool from Hawke’s Bay.
December 14 – Waiapu Cathedral consecrated.
1889: January 14 – Ship Waimea, from London, arrived at Napier.
August 27 – Big maritime strike affected the whole of New Zealand.
September 17 – Ship Orari, from England, arrived at Napier.
October 12 – Barque Langstone, from London, arrived at Napier.
December 4 – Ship Lochnagar, from London, arrived at Napier.
Hawke’s Bay Hunt Club founded.
December 5 – General election; first on one-man-one-vote principle.
1891: January 15 – Ship Lochnagar, from London, arrived at Napier.
February 27 – Ship Pleiades, from London, at Napier- Afterwards beached at Akitio.
Napier Sailing Club established.
European population of Hawke’s Bay 28,506.
1892: May 27 – First child admitted to Hawke’s Bay Children’s Home, Napier.
November 10 – Dannevirke Borough Council formed, first Mayor, Mr A. McKay, installed in December.
November 28 – Barque Langstone, from London, arrived at Napier.
December 6 – Ship Hurunui, from England, arrived at Napier.
December 10 – Ship Soukar, from London, arrived at Napier.
December – Ship Jessie Readman at Napier.
Left some days after and was stranded at Chathams, becoming a total wreck.
Norfolk pines planted on the Marine Parade, Napier.
Samples of Meeanee Mission wine sent, at request of French Consul (Comte d’Abbans), to Paris Exposition and were awarded silver medal for excellence.
Hastings Polo Club founded.
1893: February 9 – Great fire in Hastings; 22 shops destroyed; damage estimated at £30,000.
April 17 – Death of Te Kooti, at Ohiwa.
June 12 – First vessel, Taviuni, 910 tons, berthed alongside breakwater to load a circus.
November 28 – General election; first at which women exercised vote.
1894: February 24 – Woodford House, Havelock North, established.
March 22 – First licensing local option poll taken.
April 5 – Serious typhoid epidemic at Hastings.
November 19 – St Patrick’s Church, Napier, opened.
1895: January 15 – Ship Margaret Galbraith at Napier.
October 22 – Glasgow Wharf opened inside Napier breakwater.
December 24 – Ship Canterbury, from London, arrived at Napier.
1896: January 13 – Ship Rangitikei, from London, arrived at Napier.
August 1 – Hastings telephone exchange opened.
August 6 – Mr A. H. Whitehouse licensed to exhibit a kinemascope at Hastings.
Puketitiri sawmill established.
Napier Frivolity Minstrels formed.
1897: April 16 – Disastrous flood in Napier and district; the crew of the rescue boat drowned.
July 29 – Wreck of steamer Tasmania on Mahia Peninsula, with the loss of ten lives.
October – Hawke’s Bay Kennel and Poultry Club established.
Norsewood Co-operative Dairy Factory established.
1898: March 31 – Dannevirke County formed.
1899: February 10 – Rev. William Colenso died in Napier.
October 14 – First Labour Day.
1901: March 31 – New Zealand European population 772,719.
June 2 – End of South African War celebrated in Hawke’s Bay.
October 7 – Hastings City Council took over Hastings Athenaeum for a public library.
Hawke’s Bay Employers’ Association established.
Ihaia Hutana appointed chief of Ngati- Kahungunu tribes, comprising Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa.
1902: April 23 – Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society’s first autumn show.
1903: Argylll estate cut up for closer settlement.
1904: February – Chief Henare Tomoana died at Hastings.
October – Totalisator purchased by Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club and worked by club officials.J
October – Napier Dramatic Students’ Society conducted its first play, “The Magistrate”, in Theatre Royal.
First trotting club formed in Hawke’s Bay. It later became defunct.
1905: March 8 – Wairoa Hospital opened.
November – Waipukurau Town Board constituted.
November 9 – Cornwall Park, Hastings, officially opened.
December 4 – Paki Paki Freezing Works opened.
1906: February 10 – Troopers’ Memorial on Marine Parade, Napier, unveiled.
1907: September 26 – Proclamation of New Zealand as a Dominion.
Waipukurau County Council formed.
1908: April 1 – Waipawa Borough constituted (Mr W. I. Limbrick first Mayor).
Dannevirke County Council formed.
1909: January 27 – Foundation stone of Hastings Post Office laid by Sir Joseph Ward.
September 30 – Waipawa District High School established.
October 19 – Napier Municipal Baths opened.
1910: May 5 – First photographs of Halley’s Comet taken from Meeanee astronomical observatory.
August – Waipawa Municipal Theatre completed.
November 9 – Waipawa Druids’ Lodge formed.
Lord Kitchener visited Hawke’s Bay.
1911: April 2 – New Zealand population 1,008,468
June 6 – Gaiety Theatre, Napier, destroyed by fire.
November 8 – Official opening of Mount St Mary’s Scholasticate.
1912: January 29 – Construction of East Coast railway begun at Westshore.
February 6 – Havelock North constituted town board district.
February 29 – Work on East Coast railway started at Waihi end.
June 20 – Windsor Park, known as Beatson’s Park, Hastings, bought by city council for £4000.
November 13 – Napier Municipal Theatre opened.
1913: August 28 – Dr Averill, Bishop of Waiapu, became Bishop of Auckland.
September 13 – Napier electric trams began running.
September 24 – Death of Sir William Russell, ex-M.P. for Hawke’s Bay, former Leader of the Opposition.
November 18 – Beginning of big strike in New Zealand.
Waipukurau Borough Council formed.
1914: April 27 – Arrival in New Zealand of General Sir Ian Hamilton to inspect military forces.
August 4 – Britain declared war on Germany.
August 15 – Departure from Wellington of advance guard, N.Z.E.F.
October 16 – Main Body N.Z.E.F left Wellington.
1915: April 25 – The landing at Gallipoli.
June 3 – First military honours awarded to New Zealanders.
December 8 – Waipawa Progressive Association formed.
December 20 – Evacuation of Gallipoli completed.
1916: February 9 – Hastings Municipal Buildings opened.
April 15 – Anzacs landed in France.
1917: October 22 – Fire razed three-quarters of Dannevirke.
Photo caption – Off the rails, near Te Aute, 1925
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Page 95
History
1918: March – Great German offensive on Somme repulsed, N.Z.E.F. taking an important part.
November 11 – Armistice signed.
November – Influenza epidemic raging in Hawke’s Bay and rest of New Zealand.
1919: November 11 – Two minutes’ silence at 11 a.m. in memory of the fallen.
£18,000 collected for Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in Hastings.
1920: April 29 – Nelson Park bought by Hastings City Council.
May 3 – Prince of Wales in Hawke’s Bay.
1921: January – Central Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board formed (provisionally).
1922: June 18 – Severe earthquakes at Taupo and Wairakei.
1923: November 1 – Explosion of gas cylinder at Port Ahuriri, with fatal results.
1924: January 2 – Opening of France Home, Eskdale.
January 12 – Port Elliott wrecked near East Cape.
February 20 – Central Fire Station opened in Napier.
May 9 – Visit to Napier of H.M.S. Hood and other British warships.
May 28 – Napier inner harbour entrance piers destroyed by easterly gale.
September 22 – Foundation stone laid of new Boys’ High School in Napier.
November 9 – Napier War Memorial unveiled.
1925: September 22 – Tragic railway disaster at Te Aute. Two deaths, 20 injured.
October 21 – Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society new showgrounds opened at Tomoana.
1927: Ebbett Park donated by Mr George Ebbett.
June 3 – End of first Ranfurly Shield golden era (from August 9, 1922).
Hawke’s Bay Aero Club started.
1929: Population of Hastings now 10,660.
1931: February 3 – Hawke’s Bay earthquake.
June 19 – First sitting Hawke’s Bay Adjustment Court.
1932: May 12 – Napier breakwater harbour development began with election of board.
1933: January 21 – Kingsford-Smith lands at Napier.
January 23 – Napier Hospital replanned following destruction in earthquake.
1934: April 1 – Signing of the Marewa development agreement.
August 15 – Hastings City Council sold electrical undertaking to Hawke’s Bay Electric Power Board.
August – J. Wattie Canneries Ltd. opened factory, reregistered under Companies Act 1936.
September – Former Ahuriri Lagoon area handed over to Small Farms Board for settlement.
December 13 – Kennedy Road bridge opened in Napier.
December 19 – Visit of Duke of Gloucester to Hawke’s Bay.
1935: Hastings clock tower built.
June 23 – St. Joseph’s Maori Girls’ College opened at Greenmeadows.
1936: February 12 – Opening of HB. Art Gallery and Museum, Napier.
June 2 – Tutaekuri River diverted.
1937: May 12 – Hawke’s Bay celebrates Coronation of King George VI.
November 24 – Foundation stone of new Napier Municipal Theatre laid.
1938: February 19 – Railway gang at Kopuawhara swept away by flood, 21 men killed.
March 12 – Foundation stone of Napier Government Building laid.
July 2 – Official opening of first State house in Marewa, Napier.
1939: July 1 – Napier-Wairoa railway opened.
September 3 – Britain and France declare war on Germany.
November 18 – W. B. Walker, the first ship to berth at Geddis Wharf, Port of Napier.
December 13 – Battle of River Plate.
1940: January 5 – First Echelon left New Zealand.
February 12 – Anzac Expeditionary Force reached Egypt.
April 4 – Y.M.C.A, opened in Napier.
July 12 – Battle of Britain begun.
1941: April 14 – New Zealand troops in action in Greece.
1942: March 9 – Air raid shelters dug on Napier foreshore.
May 4-8 – Battle of Coral Sea.
May 29 – Rationing of clothing, footwear and household items.
1943: February 1 – Waikokopu-Gisborne section, Napier-Gisborne railway completed.
September 8 – Unconditional surrender of Italy to Allies.
1944: April 24 – Beacons chosen as central airport for Hawke’s Bay in development of post-war aviation.
June 6 – Allied invasion of France; landings on Normandy coast.
July 12 – Hawke’s Bay Catchment Board inaugural meeting held.
1945: May 8 – End of war in Europe.
August 15 – Capitulation of Japan.
September 19 – First kiwi hatched in captivity at Greenmeadows Game Farm.
1946: February 11 – Forest fires cause $1 million damage in Ruahines, Takapau, Taupo and Puketitiri areas.
1947: October 17 – Oil-burning locomotives introduced on Napier-Palmerston, North line.
October 22 – 82 recipients at military and civil investiture in Napier.
1950: March 18 – Napier proclaimed a city.
October 6 – First Blossom Festival in Hastings.
1952: April 1 – Havelock North proclaimed a borough.
1953: April 27 – Port Jackson loaded first chilled beef cargo from Napier.
1954: January 7 – Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh visited Hawke’s Bay.
June 10 – Holt wing at Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery and Museum opened.
June 13 – Pania statue erected.
October 5 – Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Fertiliser works at Awatoto opened.
1955: February 1 – Hastings Girls’ High School opened.
May 26 – Hawke’s Bay Catchment Board adopted river diversion plans.
December 3 – Napier skating rink opened on Marine Parade.
December 18 – Memorial floral clock donated to Napier by Mr and Mrs A. B. Hurst.
1956: September 8 – Hastings proclaimed a city.
1957: May 11 – Hohepa Home opened at Wharerangi.
December 13 – Hawke’s Bay Aquarium, Napier, opened.
1958: February 5 – Queen Mother in Hawke’s Bay.
1959: February 7 – Colenso High School, Napier, opened.
October 10 – Napier centennial exhibition and wool festival.
October 18 – Hastings War Memorial Library opened.
December 2 – Hawke’s Bay’s first woman deputy-Mayor, Cr Dorothy Lucas, elected at Taradale.
1960: February 24 – New St. John’s Cathedral dedicated.
May 31 – Higgins Wharf opened.
1961: January 27 – Opening of Westshore Bridge, Napier.
February 9 – Demolition of Kuripapango Bridge on Taihape Road.
February 11 – Wharerangi Home bought for Hohepa Homes.
March 9 – Escaped petrol alert at Ahuriri.
April 26 – Approval of Hawke’s Bay Catchment Board’s scheme for flood protection of the Heretaunga Plains.
May 15 – New lights along Napier’s Marine Parade switched on by Mayoress, Mrs Tait, as first stage in “Plan to light the city”.
May 18 – Beacons to be Hawke’s Bay Airport site.
September 27 – “Omatua” homestead, Rissington, given to Hawke’s Bay Girl Guides.
October 1 – Opening of old people’s home, Hastings, on behalf of Little Sisters of the Poor.
December 13 – Traffic lights (five sets) turned on in Napier.
1962: July 9 – First use of Hastings’ Railway Station.
1963: June 3 – Flooding of Tangoio, Bay View and Onekawa.
1964: February 15 – Hawke’s Bay Airport opened by Air Marshal Sir Hector McGregor.
April 1 – Flaxmere became part of Hastings city.
1965: January 27 – First dolphin at Marineland.
March 9 – Present Waiapu Cathedral dedicated.
May 12 – Opening of Titiokura deviation on Napier-Taupo highway.
October 9 – St. Columba’s school, Waipawa, opened by Monsignor J. J. Fletcher.
1966: February 4 – First traffic over new Waitangi Bridge, on Napier-Hastings coastal highway.
April 28 – Rahiri home for aged at Dannevirke, dedicated and opened.
May 25 – Wool Exchange, Napier, opened.
November 9 – Completion of first stage of Marineland, Napier.
December 12 – Olympic Pool, Onekawa, opened.
1967: February 20 – North Clyde Post Office Wairoa, opened.
July 29 – Port Nicholson the first ship to berth at Kirkpatrick Wharf.
September 20 – First cargo of palletised hides from Hawke’s Bay loaded at Port of Napier.
October 7 – Hawke’s Bay Sportsman of the Year, Kelvin Tremain, captain of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby team.
October 8 – Present Waiapu Cathedral consecrated.
November 25 – Aquatic, Centre, Frimley Park, Hastings, opened.
1968: March 16 – New Fire Station, Napier, opened.
March 26 – Police Station, Hastings, opened.
April 1 – Napier and Taradale amalgamated, making Napier New Zealand’s 10th largest city.
November 16 – Hawke’s Bay Sportsman of the Year, Margaret Hiha, (hockey and tennis).
1969: June 26 – Holt Planetarium, Napier, opened.
July 12 – Sunken Gardens, Napier, opened. Porangahau Bridge opened.
July 29 – Professor Christiaan Barnard, world’s first heart transplant surgeon, addressed a subscription dinner arranged by Napier Jaycees in aid of Napier cardiac clinic equipment.
August 18 – Haumoana Post Office opened.
October 10 – 1969 Hawke’s Bay Sportsman of the Year, Allen Christie (surf life-saving and swimming).
September 27 – End of second Ranfurly Shield era (from September 24, 1966).
1970: March 21 – Queen and Prince Philip visit Napier.
August 30 – Chuch [Church] of St Thomas More, Napier opened.
October 22 – Contract signed for construction of pulp mill in Hawke’s Bay.
October 28 – Clinical services and medical wards blocks, Napier Hospital, opened.
November 13 – Hawke’s Bay Sportsman of the Year, Dean Hayes (skating).
December 17 – Hawke’s Bay local bodies vote to introduce 3c a gallon petrol tax to assist their finances.
Photo caption – Smoking ruins of the Gaiety Theatre, Napier, destroyed by fire on June 6, 1911, The theatre was re-opened on a section opposite, in Dickens Street.
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This is How it all Began –
In 1885 the late Mr William Hannah opened business in his Boot and Shoe Store in Napier at the corner of Hastings and Browning Streets, (now the site of Kalafat Service Station).
This was a one-storey wooden building to which an extra storey was later added as a store room.
In 1915 the three-storey building illustrated above was erected with Hannahs Shoe Store occupying the ground floor and offices the other two storeys.
This building did not fall in the earthquake but was completely gutted by the fire which commenced in the two-storey chemist’s shop next door in Hastings Street. The fire came in through the windows and went down the light wells.
Immediately following the earthquake the present site in Emerson Street was purchased, a new building erected and trading resumed.
And so it continues – man woman and child are supplied with every Footwear need plus a tradition of service back over the years we have shared with our centenarian newspaper friends.
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ESTABLISHED 1885
We started a trend back in 1858 . . .
It wasn’t in fashions – although our first manager James B. Braithwaite [Brathwaite] (that’s him above) did sport luxurious sideboards and wore trousers that swung free at the cuff. The trend was in banking and it started when James B. Braithwaite arrived from Wellington with his wife, 14 chairs and 15 packages to open up an agency of the Union Bank of Australia – and in the words of the Press of the day ‘completely revolutionised monetary arrangements’. Since then we’ve seen many changes – for example the Union Bank of Australia merged with the Bank of Australasia to become ANZ which has grown and developed and become something of a necessity. New trends have developed in banking making it more of a service – for example – we offer 33 separate Customer Services – banks have discarded old taboos and men believe it or not have started to disport themselves in a manner very similar to that of our Mr Braithwaite, Well – it’s the trend.
ANZ Bank
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED.
Page 97
History
THOSE WERE THE DAYS
The camera shutter clicks to record the magnificent trout landed at Lake Taupo by American author Zane Grey in April 1926. Grey did much to make Taupo popular as a tourist and fishing resort.
In the “Roaring twenties”, Napier municipal baths, the “hydropathic institute” – and beach fashions – were far different from those of today, but the appeal of sunbathing is unchanged.
A memorable day in the 1930s when aviation pioneer Sir Charles Kingsford Smith (centre) landed his “Southern Cross” aircraft in Napier and was greeted by a huge crowd which included the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe (left) and Lady Bledisloe (right). Second from left is Mr W. E. Barnard, M.P. for Napier.
[Advertisements]
A CHANGING WORLD . . .
Murray, Roberts & Co Ltd
(FOUNDED 1868)
INCORPORATED IN 1961 WITH
National, Mortgage & Agency Co of N.Z. Ltd
(ESTABLISHED IN N.Z. 1878)
WHO JOINED
RUSSELL, RITCHIE AND CO., DUNEDIN
(FOUNDED 1864)
NOW
NMA
NMA COMPANY of New Zealand Limited
THE NAME HAS CHANGED BUT NOT THE SERVICE . . . IN HAWKE’S BAY SINCE 1879
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 1871 – 1971
The PORT of NAPIER . . .
Since Constitution
As a Port of Entry in 1856
Has continually served the district as –
GATEWAY TO THE PROVINCE!
We have grown together with The Daily Telegraph and other provincial centenarians and this tremendous growth is quickly reflected in our trading figures.
Napier exports more Wool than any other Port in New Zealand, wool having been a constant commodity in the trade of the Port of Napier for our full 115 years.
The development of the Freezing Industry in New Zealand has made Napier the third export port in this field.
Reviewing the port’s development over the latter part of the century, Fruit, Canned Goods and now Timber have become major exports. To service this trade there has been substantial growth in the import of Fertiliser and Petroleum Products.
This growth is pin-pointed by the increase in the bales of wool handled over our wharves each year. The 95,329 bales of 1930 in 1970 became 404,401. Similarly with Frozen Meat – 24,556 tons (1930), and 101,428 tons (1970) – a quadrupled growth in each case. This pattern is reflected in the total trade of the port as well with 1930 tonnage being 196,760 and in 1970, 938,255.
The board has kept apace with the provision of facilities to match this trade growth and is making provision to cover the requirements of the district in the years ahead.
NAPIER HARBOUR BOARD
Page 99
History
Stars were born
In days gone by, the summers seemed longer and boating was the vogue on the old Tutaekuri at Napier South and on other willow-fringed Hawke’s Bay rivers . . .
. . . Napier Frivolity Minstrels introduced their ageless brand of comedy and song to the province before the turn of the century. They posed for this photograph in 1906 and they are still going strong . . .
The travelling tinsmith knocked from door to door and finding work, engrossed the children – and the cat – with his craft.
Remember the stars of the silver screen who, for more than half a century, entertained moviegoers in Hawke’s Bay and around the world . .. ?
1: 1920s – Charlie Chaplin in “The Gold Rush”.
2: 1930s – Ivor Novello and Mae Marsh in “The Rat”
3: 1940s – Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh in “Yank at Oxford”
4: 1950s – John Mills in “Scott of Antarctic”.
5: 1960s – Jack Wild and Ron Moody in “Oliver”
History
THE ROYAL YEARS
Two thousand children gave the Queen and Prince Philip a tremendous cheering welcome to Napier’s Marineland in March 1970. And dolphin, Bonnie, turned on her best form to soar gracefully through the burning hoop.
On their second visit to Hawke’s Bay in February 1963, the Queen and Prince Philip visited Hastings and Napier. Above: Napier youngsters gaze in admiration at the Royal couple, who are accompanied by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Sir Leon Gotz.
The first visit to Hawke’s Bay by a reigning monarch came in 1954 when the Queen and Prince Philip made their first tour of New Zealand. Above: The Queen, crowned for less than a year, is escorted by the Mayor of Napier, Mr E. R. Spriggs.
Thirty years separate these two pictures of the Queen Mother in Hawke’s Bay, Above: As Duchess of York, she meets a Hastings identity, Mr Sam Graham, in Cornwall Park in 1927. Left: showing delight at a display in Napier, during her return visit in 1958.
Printed and published by Brian Stewart Geddis for The Daily Telegraph Co. Ltd., at the registered office of the Company, Tennyson Street, Napier. Monday, February 1, 1971.
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Description
Surnames in this supplement –
Abbott, Alexander, Alley, Alpers, Anderson, Aubert, Averill, Baker, Barker, Barnard, Batchelor, Baty, Beer, Bennett, Bergstein, Bernau, Berry, Blake, Bledisloe, Bolt, Bone, Booth, Borthwick, Brathwaite, Brett, Brooks, Brown, Brownlie, Buck, Canning, Carlyon, Carr, Carroll, Carter, Cato, Caulton, Chambers, Chaplin, Chapman, Christie, Churchill, Clifton, Clive, Colenso, Coles, Collinge, Collins, Conly, Cook, Corkill, Cotterill, Cuff, Cullen, Curling, D’Urville, Daley, Daly, Davis, de Pelichet, Dean, Devitt, Dickens, Dine, Dobbs, Domett, Donovan, Dreyer, Driscoll, Dudley, Duncan, Ebbett, Edwards, Ellingham, Ellis, Engebretsen, Exeter, Eyre, Fairclough, Findlay, Finney, Fitzgerald, Fitzroy, Fitzsimmons, Fletcher, Fonteyn, Forde, Forne, Foster, Fraser, Furkitt, Gange, Geddis, Gemmell, Gibson, Gilliland, Glasgow, Glenny, Gollan, Gordon, Gotz, Graham, Grant, Gree, Greening, Grenside, Grey, Gunn, Guthrie-Smith, Halberg, Haley, Hamilton, Hamlin, Hancox, Hannan, Harding, Harris, Harrison, Haskell, Hastings, Havelock, Hawke, Hayes, Hayhow, Hempton, Herrick, Hickey, Hicks, Higgins, Hiha, Hildreth, Hill, Hingston, Hitchings, Holderness, Holland, Holloway, Holt, Humphries, Hurst, Husheer, Ireland, Irvine, Irwin, James, Jamieson, Jeans, Johnston, Jones, Jull, Kaiwhata, Kawepo, Keino, Kennedy, Kenny, Kereopa, Kettle, King, Kinross, Kirkpatrick, Kitchener, Kivell, Knight, Knowles, Kohere, Lambert, Lampila, Lassen, Latham, Lee, Leigh, Lenin, Lesser, Lewis, Limbrick, Livesey, Lizst, Locke, Lord, Lowry, Lowson, Lucas, Lusk, Luttrell, MacDonald, Macfarlane, Maney, Mardsen, Marra, Marsh, Marshall, Martin, Matthews, McCarthy, McCormack, McCredie, McDonnell, McDougall, McGaffin, McGregor, McKain, McKay, McKenzie, McLean, McNab, Miller, Mills, Moeller, Moncrief, Moody, Moore, Morrow, Munro, Murfitt, Nairn, Napier, Natusch, Nelson, Nepia, Newman, Newton, Ngata, Nichol, Nightingale, Nimon, Northwood, Novello, O’Dongohue, Ogilvie, Olivier, Ormond, Orr, Park, Peacock, Pearse, Pene, Philip, Player, Plummer, Pollack, Pomare, Porter, Powdrell, Preece, Price, Proffitt, Pupu, Rees, Reignier, Revans, Reynolds, Rhodes, Rhodes, Rhodes, Rich, Riddell, Rivett-Carnac, Robjohns, Roderick, Ropata, Rose, Russell, Salthouse, Sarron, Scott, Seddon, Seed, Selwyn, Semple, Shrimpton, Sims, Smith, Snell, Spencer, Spriggs, Stead, Stephenson, Stokes, Storkey, Strang, Street, Stuart, Stuckey, Sturm, Sullivan, Sutcliffe, Sutton, Swan, Symes, Tait, Takamoana, Tanner, Tareha, Taylor, Te Hapuku, Thomas, Thorndyke, Tiffen, Todd, Tollemache, Tomoana, Tong, Tremain, Tucker, Turner, Upton, Van Asch, Vautier, Vigor Brown, Villiers, Vogel, Volkner, Walch, Walker, Ward, Watt, Wattie, Weber, White-Parsons, White, Whitehouse, Whitmore, Wild, Williams, Wing, Winlove, Winstanley, Wirepa, Withers, Woodhouse, Worgan, Wright, Wyan, Wybrott, Yates.
Subjects
Format of the original
Newspaper supplementDate published
1 February 1971Publisher
The Daily TelepgraphAcknowledgements
Published with permission of Hawke's Bay Today
Accession number
502827Supporters and sponsors
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