Newspaper Article – Famous name’s beginnings in the bay

Famous name’s beginnings in the Bay

Michael Fowler
Historic Hawke’s Bay

One of Hawke’s Bay’s most successful companies had its beginnings when Robert Holt came to Napier by schooner in 1859 after arriving on the barque William Watson in Auckland from England on February 8, 1859.

He reportedly had the equivalent of today’s $15 to his name when he stepped off the ship.

Robert was 26 years old and had learned a trade as a joiner in Oldham, England, and like many sought his fortune in New Zealand.

Napier in 1859 was barely 4 years old, and looked like a gold mining shanty town. Robert (described as tall, sinewy and bearded) set to work as a carpenter, joiner, builder and – for a short time – an undertaker.

In 1860 he married at the Settlers Hotel, Eliza Marshall, whom he had met on the William Watson coming to New Zealand.

His first business premises were in Emerson St, where he set up his business as a steam-powered sawmilling and timber merchant.

Early photos of Napier show his premises in Emerson St, close to the Hastings St end. Robert had correctly identified there would be a building boom in the fast-growing Napier, and he would not only supply building materials, but builders as well.

In 1867, Robert advertised his Emerson St business had “always on hand doors, sashes, architraves, mouldings, skirtings, tongued and grooved flooring and lining boards”.

Selling the section in Emerson St for a profit, he purchased in 1872 about 4000 sq m in Hastings St (as shown in the photo) where he erected a large steam-powered mill.

One, if not the first, steam engine he used at his yards was a 12-horse-power Cornish boiler, together with team pipes and a large totara water tank. He was selling these at his Hastings St site in 1877.

The Cornish boiler was going for £240 (2021: $40,000), but the tank comparatively cheaply at £6 ($1000).

A second steam-powered mill was built in Ahuriri in 1880, where logs of kauri, rimu, totara, and kahikatea were shipped through the port and cut into weatherboards, joinery, and other building materials.

A third property, an 8000 sq m site in Thackeray St, was purchased in 1886 as the nearby railway line meant an easier offload of logs to a steam mill there, rather than the difficult transportation to the Hastings St mill.

In 1890, the Port Ahuriri site was closed, and all activity was carried out at Thackeray St.

Robert had a policy of taking the profits of one business and investing into the next. He did this with a mill at Piri Piri (Dannevirke area) around 1894, which together with other mills, supplied him with timber.

Expansion to Hastings occurred in December 1897, when Robert Holt purchased in 1897 the business of B L Knight – the site of which now is Russell St South from Heretaunga St to Eastbourne St.

He put his eldest son, John, in charge of the Hastings business. In addition to selling wood products, they also sold firewood, bricks, lime, drain pipes, cement, coke, Westport and Newcastle coal and were agents for South British Fire and Marine Insurance Company.

In 1908, a mill was established at Kereru. The mills of Robert Holt were described as being “among the largest and best-equipped mills in the colony”.

Robert Holt passed away aged 75 in 1909. His last will and testament was described by Justice Williams as “an amazing document which appears to have been framed for the enrichment of lawyers and the puzzlement of judges”.

The will stated Robert wished his estate’s trustees to carry on his sawmilling and other businesses for 40 years, to apply “any part of the income to extending the business, and then to sell the business”. This was obviously the business strategy Robert had been applying.

At the end of 40 years the whole of the property would be divided up between sons John Holt and James Holt, daughter Sarah Dean and Robert Holt Junior, their children or remoter issue.

The will was contested and went before the courts, and the provisions for carrying on the business and trust for 40 years were found to be void, and the final division also found void, for “reasons of remoteness”.

I don’t think Robert Holt needed to have worried about his business succession plan as his sons and grandsons carried on the business, exceeding the 40 years requested in his will.

About 1910, the business was renamed Robert Holt & Sons, with sons John and Robert carrying on the business as joint managing directors.

A further mill was established in Puketitiri in 1911.

Disaster struck in 1922, when the Thackeray St premises burned to the ground, as did Hastings St (now in St Aubyn St) in 1929.

The 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake wrecked the factories in Hastings and Napier, and the employees worked hard to re-establish in order to supply materials for the reconstruction.

Thirteen thousand three hundred hectares were purchased in 1948 on Taupo Rd, said to supply enough milling bush for timber until 1980.

On the occasion of Robert Holt and Sons reaching 100 years in business in 1959, the Holt family presented a gallery to Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Art Society. The Hastings City Art Gallery has an area named Holt Gallery.

Robert Holt’s two sons John and Robert only left the business by their deaths and grandson of the original Robert Holt, Harold Holt, took over the business in 1949 after his father and uncle had died.

Harold had worked for the Lands and Survey Department while studying for a Bachelor of Science degree at Victoria University. He then worked in forests in Canada and the United States.

Under Harold’s direction, and his conviction that renewable, planted radiata forests was the way to go, this is the direction in which the company went (a story in itself).

Robert Holt & Sons listed as a public company in 1961, and a former employee recalls the company gave financial assistance to those wishing to purchase shares.

The timber mill moved from the Thackeray St site in the mid-1960s to their Waitane mill.

A joinery shop was created from the factory building, and behind this was a glazing and chandlery shop. There would also be a flooring and hardware store.

A merger between Robert Holt and Sons and Carter Consolidated occurred in 1971 to become Carter Holt (Holt’s had expanded to Waipukurau, Wairoa, Gisborne, Opotiki, Taupo and Pahiatua).

The main office was shifted to Station St, the Napier library building about 1976. When the Thackeray site was sold, the remaining hardware store was shifted to Onekawa.

Carter Holt merged with Alex Harvey Industries to become Carter Holt Harvey in 1985.

Part of Robert Holt’s original site is now McDonald’s and I understand was also occupied by Townsend Motors.

The Holt family was generous to Hawke’s Bay, and including the Holt Gallery, they contributed to the Holt Planetarium and John Holt Memorial Display House in Cornwall Park, Hastings.

Harold Holt and his wife donated 15 hectares of land in 1962, which Harold began planting in 1933 [1963] of different plants and species.

This is now known as Holt Forest at Waikoau, near lake Tutira, and has a tramping track through it.

Robert Holt was inducted in the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame in the year 2000, along with Francis Carter and Alex Harvey.

Carter Holt Harvey (including Carters) is now owned by a private investment company called Rank Group Limited.

Michael Fowler ([email protected]) is a contract researcher and commercial business writer of Hawke’s Bay history. Follow him on facebook .com/ michaelfowlerhistory

Photo captions –

Hastings Street, Napier, around 1876, with Robert Holt’s timber yard visible on the left side of the street.
PHOTO / HAWKE’S BAY MUSEUMS TRUST

Robert Holt.
PHOTO / ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY