Khartoum Place

Khartoum Place, off Lorne Street in the city, is a place commemorating three struggles, really. First, the name Khartoum itself comes from the ill-fated Gordon.

The main feature commemorates another struggle -- that of New Zealand suffragettes, and their supporters, for the universal right to vote for women in this country.

Click to enlarge to read the text.

The artwork has had its own struggle to remain here in Khartoum Place, but it's still there.

Khartoum Place is a good place to take a small break from the hustle-bustle of inner city Auckland. I'm fond of the water flowing down, and really do hope that won't change. A nice place for this women's commemoration.

St Ninians marriage register lists

I've just added links on the left-hand lists to the St Ninians marriage register lists from the website for Presbyterian Archives.

Update 14 October 2009: Presbyterian Archives were very kind to send through an email this morning advising of a change of URL for the marriage lists. They are an extremely helpful team there in Dunedin -- don't hesitate to contact them for any family research enquiry. They have always been a marvellous help to me.

Update on Avondale's rail situation

I think the last post on the blog about the Avondale rail situation was back in January. There's a reason for that -- not much has happened, except they opened up Crayford Street level crossing by shifting it northwards, and did some rumbling stuff with the trucks at the old station site. This last week, though, they're starting to get serious. Late August, they scraped away a flat area at the end of Crayford Street East, and on 3 September shut down the level crossing, and brought in the heavy machinery.

Meanwhile, back at the old station site -- nothing much.


This from the Project Dart site:

"The station is being upgraded and moved to Layard Street. It will be on a straight section of track between Crayford St and St Judes St , and the platforms will be longer at 140m. The new station will be level with the road with several different access points.

The pedestrian level crossing will be upgraded with automatic gates to ensure safe crossing of the tracks and safe access to the platforms.

Construction at the new Avondale Station is intensifying and will be mostly complete by the end of 2009. The station will open when the future New Lynn rail trench is complete in mid-2010. In the meantime, the temporary station to the east of Blockhouse Bay Rd will allow work to continue."

Which might mean I lose my direct walking link with Avondale Shops until mid-2010, or (if I'm lucky) only until the end of this year. I'm hoping for the latter.

Update: I've found a YouTube clip of the double-tracking at Chalmers Street, here.

Another update (9 September 2009): A post on the Auckland Trains blog on Avondale's railway transition.

"A mere canard": the 1888 Edict from Canton

Every so often, while trawling through Auckland newspaper files from the late 1880s, I'd come across references to a Chinese Imperial edict, said to have originated from Canton, which filled newspaper columns and sparked off meetings among the Chinese communities in Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland in 1888. It does seem, rather, to have been an extended nine-days-wonder of a thing. Perhaps even a late Victorian version of a cross between a chain letter and an urban legend.

Sometime around June 1888, the edict made its way to New Zealand, landing in Dunedin, then travelling up the country until it reached Auckland. No one outside of the Chinese community here seemed to be aware of its existence, until the Evening Post in Wellington on 5 July went public with the news that Great Britain had to beware: the Chinese Imperial Government in Peking were aware that Chinese subjects were being treated unfairly in the "Australasian colonies" (Australia was considering immigration restriction legislation, while we had the poll tax), and that this constituted a breach in the treaties between Britain and China.

"The (Chinese) Government ... intends immediately to build arsenals and erect large ordnance and small arms factories, and at four of the most suitable seaports war steamers of the most modern and efficient type are to be constructed as rapidly as possible. This work of re-arming and thoroughly drilling the army and building warships sufficiently powerful to enable the Chinese Empire to cope with the soldiers and navy of Great Britain will, the despatch states, take three years."

The Evening Post went on to add that an edict was attached to this statement, demanding that Chinese merchants should cease importing goods from China to the British colonies, make preparations to leave said colonies, and do so within the following three years.

"The gentleman who supplied us with the above information said that he had intended placing the matter before the Premier, so serious did he consider the position, but the fact that a representative from the Evening Post waiting upon him this morning, hearing he was in possession of intelligence which may justly be regarded of vital importance to England and her dependencies, rendered it unnecessary for him to do so."

This is an odd news report for two reasons. One: nothing of this seemed to have made any impact on British newspapers (and surely, if another power was sabre-rattling, promising an arms build-up, and promising to be a security threat in the near future, there would have been at least some gasping in Britain, even if it was at the sheer audacity of it all). Two: news from Hong Kong dated 1 July was that "the general impression at Shanghai is that China cares little for the exclusion of the Chinese by the Australian colonies, but seeks to extort other concessions from England. Sir John Walsham, the British Minister at Pekin, is still parlaying with the Chinese Government on the subject." (Auckland Star, 14 July 1888) There also doesn't seem to be any mention made of the Canton edict, said to have come via the Governor of Canton. In some report versions, it was an Imperial edict from Peking, relayed by the Governor. In others, the Governor himself was concerned about the plight of Chinese in the British colonies.

The Auckland papers headed straight for Thomas Ah Quoi to tell them what it all meant. He told the Herald that the Auckland Chinese community had received word only about restricting imports from Hong Kong, and none of the other details the Evening Post wrote about. He said that the local Chinese had already met together on the subject, and were expected to meet again. Some 20 Chinese were keen to leave anyway, but had no funds to do so. This wasn't surprising, given the economic situation in the country at that time. The effects of the Long Depression were biting.

The Auckland Star published this interview (7 July) with Ah Quoi.

"Thomas Quoi was interviewed by a Star reporter on the subject this morning. He stated that about a month ago he received from a Chinese firm at Dunedin an Imperial edict issued by the Governor of Canton, the substance of which was somewhat similar to what has already been telegraphed.

'Have you the document now?' asked the reporter.
'No,' replied Quioi. 'It is circulating amongst the Chinamen in the suburbs. It may be at Arch Hill or at Newmarket -- I can't tell.'

'Well, what did it say as near as you can remember?'

'It said that all Chinese merchants in this colony -- all Chinese business people -- are to stop importing.'

'By whose orders?'

'By order of the Governor of Canton.'

'Will the Chinese in this colony obey such orders?'

'I should rather think they would if the Chinese Government will send a ship to take them away. They can't obey the orders if they are to remain here. Some of us are so poor that we can't get away no matter how much we want to, but we are going to hold a meeting and talk it over, to see if the money can be raised.'

'What do you think is the object of this order?'

'Goodness knows. Perhaps the Chinese Government want all the people back to their own country. There is plenty of good land there if they will let the people cultivate it.'

'Did the edict say anything about the Chinamen returning to China?'

'No, not a word.'

'Can you remember the whole of the edict?'

'No, I can't. It was very long. But the rest besides what I have told you was just politics. We are going to talk it over to-morrow.'

Our representative thanked Mr. Quoi for his courtesy and withdrew."

So, Thomas Ah Quoi received the document from a Dunedin merchant, and took it back to Auckland with him.

After the meeting in Auckland, Ah Quoi showed a copy of the edict on 9 July. His interpretation was the following:

"From the Governor of Canton to Chinese business people out of China (no reference whatever is made to New Zealand or Australia). Complaints have been made to the big merchants in China by the Chinese people out of China that they have been badly treated. They are advised not to import any more goods from China. The world is wide, and there is plenty of room for the Chinese people at home. Don't let other people treat you as they have done. There are plenty of places in China for business."

Quoi said there was no "order" for the Chinese to leave, just advice from the Governor of Canton that if they felt they were badly treated they could head back home. Nothing about a three-year limit, nothing about armies and navies and bloodying the nose of the British Empire.

By the middle of the month, any belief in the "Canton edict" or, as the Evening Post called it, an "Imperial Wang-ti", was evaporating. The Sydney Morning Herald checked with some of the leading Chinese residents over there.

"All the Chinese in Sydney who have been questioned on the subject have expressed their disbelief in the story telegraphed from New Zealand. They have come to the conclusion that if any such determination as that embodied in the supposed edict had been arrived at, it would have been communicated to either Sydney or Melbourne -- head-quarters of the Chinese in Australia -- and not to Auckland. Another reason for discrediting (it) ... is the existence in Sydney of several Chinese gentlemen who frequently correspond with gemtlemen holding public positions in China, including the Consu ... Although some of the letters received from these officers are of very recent date, none of them, we are informed, contain the slightest indication of any action, such as that which is represented at Auckland, having been taken by the Imperial Chinese authorities."

(Auckland Star, 17 July 1888)

Dunedin Chinese merchant Sew Hoy was quoted as referring to recommendations from the Chinese Commission which had toured Australia two months before -- and seems to have stirred the rumour pot by referring to subscriptions possibly called for by China from the Chinese in the colonies to pay for better Chinese defences, and talk of China having closer relations with Russia.

In May that year, Sew Hoy was interviewed by the Evening Post, on the likelihood of a mass emigration of Chinese from New Zealand. At the time, Sew Hoy said he had no knowledge of such a thing, and that he would have known about it. He felt that the imposition of the poll tax was a breach of rights under treaties between China and Britain. (Evening Post, 8 May 1888)

The Evening Post countered reports that Sydney hadn't heard of the edict by reports from a "Bathurst correspondent of the Sydney Evening News telegraphed on 7th of July that several Chinese residents of Bathurst have been communicated with by the Sydney agents to be ready to leave Australia in three years." The Otago Daily Times apparently stuck to its own guns, insisting "on the authority of a leading Chinese merchant in Dunedin that information has been received to the effect that China has lately been engaged in largely increasing and strengthening her arnaments." (Poverty Bay Herald, 28 July 1888)

But, the judgment of most in New Zealand, by the end of the month, was that the whole thing was a hoax, a skit (fingers seemed to point to the Evening Post more than any other paper), and it was forgotten. In Hong Kong, they called it "a mere canard." (Evening Post, 8 September 1888)

Oddly enough, this wasn't the last New Zealand readers were to hear of the "canard". It seems to have travelled across the Pacific, reached the shores of America, and journeyed to the desk of a Chinese news reporter from the New York Sun. Or so the Evening Post was told, via "Wah Kee, the San Francisco organ of the Chinese in America."

Now, the edict was in the name of "his Imperial Majesty Kwong Suey", and specifically outlined the period, to the day, of the three years in which Chinese merchants were to pack up and return to the Flowery Kingdom, given out "from Zoon Li Yarmen this 21st day of the 4th moon, in the 14th year of Kwong Suey, in the presence of his Imperial Majesty." (Evening Post, 2 February 1889)

Needless to say, this was greeted by the other newspapers with derision, no more pointed than that of the Timaru Herald.

"The paragraph was considered by the Press Association to be of sufficient importance to be telegraphed to all the papers m the colony. We beg to enter a protest against having to pay for such worthless stuff.

"When the first statement was made some months ago we at once pronounced it to be a canard. It was in fact tolerably clear either that the Evening Font had been hoaxed or was endeavouring to hoax its readers. Subsequently enquiries were made, and it was proved beyond doubt that neither the Emperor of China nor any member of the Chinese Government had issued a warning to the Chinese residents in Wellington or in any other part of Australasia. The story was denied on all hands, and for the time being the Evening Post allowed the matter to drop.

The hoax has now been renewed, and it is quite fair to any that our Wellington contemporary, with the experience of tha past to teach him caution, should have declined to pnblish the paragraph unless the amplest proof of the authenticity of the statement had been available. Possibly there may have been in private letters to Chinamen residing in Wellington a reference to the somewhat unsatisfactory position of affairs between the British and Chinese Governments on the subject of Chinese immigration to the Australasian colonies, including New Zealand, and some anxiety may have been expressed lest greater trouble should arise in the future. But there has been no official communication, and the negotiations between the two Governments are still proceeding. ... With the exception of the paragraphs in the Evening Post, and they are totally untrustworthy, we know of no statements which would lead us to believe that the Chinese Government are disposed to hurry on matters and to pick a quarrel with Great Britain over the immigration question"

(Timaru Herald, 1 April 1889)

The Evening Post huffed and protested that what they printed wasn't a hoax, it was accurate. "We do not need any teaching as to our journalistic duty from a paper such as the Timaru Herald, but if it satisfies our contemporary, we may say that we had ample proof of the authenticity of the statements we have published on this subject. Instead of our statements being untrustworthy, it is those of the Timaru Herald which are incorrect, both as regards ourselves and the facts of the case." (Evening Post, 6 April 1889)

History weighs against the Evening Post, however. There was no three-year deadline. And as for the Post using the New York Sun as a source -- well, that paper is famous for two other events during its print career in the 19th century. One was the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" piece in 1897, and the other was the 1837 "Great Moon Hoax."

A night cart timeline

1849

Under the Legislative Council’s “An Ordinance to Increase the Efficiency of the Constabulary Force” (23 August 1849)

17. Penalty for removing Night Soil in the day time. — Be it enacted, that if any person shall drive, or cause to be driven, any carriage with any night soil or ammoniacal liquor through the streets or public places, between the hours of five o'clock in the morning, and ten o'clock at night, or shall shoot from a carriage, or cast any night soil, filth, or ammoniacal liquor upon the streets, it shall be lawful for any person whomsoever to seize and apprehend the person so offending, without any other warrant than this Ordinance, and to convey such person before any two justices of the peace, who are hereby empowered to fine the same offender, or the owner, if the driver cannot be found, as well as the employers of the persons so offending, in the sum of not more than five pounds.

1852

The short-lived Borough of Auckland had a Sanitary Committee. Their report in 1852 suggested that instead of holes in the ground in the city used as privies, that the night soil be carried out of the city, beyond Freeman’s Bay, “but not on the hills, in consequence of the prevalence of south-west winds.” (Southern Cross, 24 February 1852)

1858

It was an offence, under the Auckland Municipal Police Act, to convey night soil on a public thoroughfare after 6 in the morning, and before 10 at night.

(SC, 23 March 1858)

1863

By this time, the City Board of Commissioners had employed a night cart contractor. The Auckland Provincial Council Superintendent made suggestion that suburban residents and cultivators might want the night soil.

(SC, 5 August 1863)

1864

Board apply to APC for a place to have a night soil depot.

(SC, 27 July 1864)

APC respond that instead of establishing a depot, it would be better simply to open tenders for a contract, and have whoever got the contract sort out where to dispose of the night soil, for his own profit.

(SC, 10 August 1864)

1866

TENDER FOR REMOVAL OF NIGHT SOIL.
The Secretary submitted the following tender for the removal of night soil : —
"City Board of Commissioners, Auckland. "
Gentlemen, — We hereby tender to act as nightmen for the removing of night soil from the city of Auckland, under the direction of the Inspector of Nuisances ; and in respect of which we shall be entitled to make the following charges, viz :—: — For carting the contents of each privy, where the same does not exceed one load, the sum of £0 12 0
For each additional load, the sum of ... 0 5 0
In no case shall we be entitled to a larger sum than 1 10 0
"The above charges only to be paid to us upon the certificate of the Inspector of Nuisances. Should our tender be accepted, we bind ourselves to enter into a contract for the proper performance of the duties.— We are, &c,
Richard Farrar,
Donald Sutherland.
Auckland, December, 1865."
The Secretary said the committee had recommended the adoption of the above tender, as being the lowest. On the motion of Mr. Ashton, seconded by Mr. Slater, the tender was accepted.

(SC, 9 January 1866)

Sutherland’s contract was cancelled that March, leaving Farrar as sole contractor.

1869

Farrar declares bankruptcy in January

1870

By now, Thomas Faulder was the contractor (possibly since 1868). In July, he lost the tender to Abel Fletcher from Newton.

1871

By April, Faulder has his contract back.

1872

A farm in Richmond is declared a night soil depot by the City Council in October. Abel Fletcher has the contract.

1873

Complaints about Abel Fletcher, he loses license, then regains it again.

1874

Complaints about the Arch Hill night soil depot.
First Waterview depot. Abel Fletcher has the contract again.

Thomas Faulder was summoned for allowing night soil to be spilt on the Great North Road on the 10th November. Mr. John Sheehan appeared to prosecute on behalf of the Board of Health. The accused pleaded not guilty and asked the Bench to adjourn the case to give him time to answer the charge.— Mr Sheehan offering no objection, the case was adjourned until Wednesday. — There is a second charge against the same defendant of suffering offensive matter to remain on land in his occupation abutting on a public thoroughfare, to wit, the Great North Road, on November 19th. — On the licencee making a similar application the case was adjourned until the same day.

(SC 24 November 1874)

1875

Council decide not to renew Abel Fletcher’s license.

1885

Samuel White, then contractor for Auckland City Council, purchases farmland at Pt Chevalier and begins to deposit night soil there.

1888

Maurice Casey now the contractor. White obtains patent for "Native Guano" production method -- one of the poudrette options.

1889

White, in consortium with Frank Jagger and Casey, gains contract to dispose of Auckland's night soil at the New Lynn poudrette factory.

1899

Leslie McDermott, sole night soil contractor with his “air-tight enamel cess-pans” from August. Ratepayers were required to alter their toilets to suit the pans. “My carts are painted blue.”

1900

McDermott’s business empire, the Auckland Sanitary Company, on the verge of extending to Christchurch.

Mr. Leslie McDermott, who is the inventor of a new sealed-pan for the removal of night; soil which, it is stated, will do away with the objectionable features of the system now in vogue in Christchurch and the surrounding boroughs, is at present in Christchurch, and will bring his scheme before the City Council. It may be stated that his idea was adopted by the Auckland City Council about twelve months ago, and after a year's test the Mayor of Auckland, in addressing the Council on the subject, said he was pleased to find that the innovation had been satisfactory alike to the Council and the citizens. He stated the Government Commissioners (Mr Gilruth and Dr Mason) were very pleased with the system, so much so that they recommended the adoption of the pan system where there was no drainage, and condemned the old style of removing nightsoil in open pans and carts. Mr. McDermott has undertaken the contract for the removal of the nightsoil, and his staff has to attend to 7000 pans, and it is claimed for the invention that it enables the objectionable matter to be removed in' the daytime without the slightest inconvenience. The pans, which are lined with enamel, have tops which can be placed on and made airtight. The pans are then removed in specially built waggons, which hold sixty-four pans each, and clean pans are substituted for those taken away. Upon arrival at the place of deposit, the pans are emptied and thoroughly cleansed by steam, the operation being greatly facilitated by the fact that the inside surface is perfectly smooth. Mr. McDermott has obtained a number of satisfactory reports upon the pans, including testimonials from Dr Ashburton Thompson, President of the New South Wales Board of Health. Mr McDermott is prepared to undertake the contract for Christchurch, finding his own pans and plant, or he is prepared to supply the pans for the Council.

(Christchurch Star, 22 June 1900)

November 1900: Henry and William Wilkinson of Auckland register a patent for converting nightsoil into manure.

(Evening Post, 24 November 1900)

1901

AUCKLAND, August 31
The Conciliation Board made an award in the carters' dispute. They recommended that the hours of labour should 'be 48, exclusive of the dinner hour; 56 hours for nightsoil men. Wages : One horse, 42s ; two horses, 46s ; bakers, 40s for delivery of less than 220 loaves ; grocers, confectioners, bacon curers, and. laundries, 40s per week for men over 22 years of age ; special rates for boys, ranging from 15s to 30s per week ; nightsoil men 50s, a week; day men, 54s. Overtime to be paid at the rate of time and a quarter. Holidays: New Year's Day, Anniversary Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the Sovereign's Birthday, Prince of Wales Birthday, Christmas, and Boxing Day. Casual labour, 1s an hour. Preference was given to unionists. The award is to extend from October 1901, to September 1904.

(Otago Witness 4 September 1901)

November: McDermott tries selling his pans to Wanganui.

1902

McDermott, with his “Airtight Enamelled Cesspan System”, now has a contract with Grey Lynn Borough.

1903

Auckland City Council advertises for a night soil depot, near either the Kaipara or Waikato railway lines.

1904

The Auckland City Council has abandoned the idea of collecting the nightsoil and taking it by rail to a depot at Waikumeti, and has let a contract for the service.

(Evening Post 26 March 1904)

1906

Frank Jagger, the contractor, in court.

THE SANITARY CONTRACT And its Objectionable Methods
UNSAVOURY as the subject unquestionably is, the prosecution of Frank Jagger, sanitary contractor, on the charge of depositing filth in the upper reaches of the harbour is a matter of supreme importance to the people of Auckland. Not only does it closely affect the health of the community, but it also involves the question of the pollution of the harbour. Under the terms of his contract, Frank Jagger is supposed to convey his pans to an island in the upper part of the harbour, and there bury the material, but for the second time within a recent period the startling disclosure has been made that a considerable amount of this offensive matter has not been buried at all, but has been shot into the harbour, to accumulate on the beaches and breed disease.

As a result of the annoyance that settlers and others in the upper part of the harbour have suffered, a watch was kept by the police, and Mr. Mays, for the Crown, was able to say in Court that during one month alone seven thousand pans were emptied into the harbour. This is intolerable. It is a disgrace alike to the contractor and to the Corporation that countenances the perpetuation of such an offensive system. It is a direct impeachment of the Health Department, which devotes so much of its time to irritating pin-pricking of the smaller local bodies while such a gross menace to the public health as this, by a wealthy Corporation that can afford to and ought to make satisfactory sanitary arrangements, is tolerated.

Though this was the second time that the defendant had been before the Court on this charge, Mr. R. W. Dyer, S.M., considered a fine of £25 and costs a sufficient measure of punishment. But what does the fine amount to, after all? It is no deterrent. As likely as not, many times the amount of the fine was saved by the filthy practice complained of. To dump the offensive matter into the harbour is an easy way to get rid of it, and saves labour, so that the punishment should have been in proportion to the offence. But Mr. Jagger is a man of wealth and influence, though he is the sanitary contractor, and it would appear that he escapes lightly where a poorer man would be fittingly punished.

The defence was that defendant had discharged a great many men whom he had found committing the offence. No doubt, this is the fact, and, if so, the very dismissal of a great many men shows that the practice has been carried on to a wholesale extent. What has the City Council to say to this? Is it justified in polluting the harbour in this way, or, even if it is, has the Harbour Board been doing its duty to the people in allowing the filthy system to continue? The lame defence made by the city councillors is that Mr. Jagger lost some money by a former contract, and they are anxious for him to make it up again, but at what a fearful cost. It would be fifty times better to take over the contract altogether, and recoup Mr. Jagger his alleged losses, and thus end a system that is as offensive as it is dangerous to health and life.

(Observer, 17 February 1906)

1907

Auckland City take over Jagger's land, at Harkin's Point, near Riverhead. After a time, night soil barges ceased delivery there, and the land became a paddock and stud for Auckland City's working horses.

1914

Second Waterview depot.

1920s

By now, the Auckland City night soil dump was at Western Springs.

1928

In a letter from the acting City Engineer to the Town Clerk, 12 November 1928, advice that the Western Springs dump had to be moved due to the formation of the road to Western Springs Stadium. A suitable site had been selected on an unformed road south of Old Mill Road.

c.1947

Last of the city’s night soil contractors, Ferguson and Freestone, takes up work.

1950

From 7000 house collections of night soil in Auckland City’s boundaries at the beginning of the 20th century, there are now 300 in Tamaki and 250 in Avondale still needing the service.

1953

The dump became the Motions Road Flushing Station by 1953, near the zoo’s animal morgue at the rear of the zoo complex. It was also used by Mt Roskill Borough. The morgue was demolished c.1958.

1962

Letter from Ferguson & Freestone, 20 February 1962.
They worked at that time for 2/- per collection, and wanted an increase due to declining numbers of collections (with the sewer extensions in the city). Rate to be 3/6 each for 200 collections, 5/- each for 150 collections or below.

As at March, there were still two main areas requiring collections, Tamaki and Avondale. Extensions of the sewers in Tamaki had left just 18 houses in Remuera needing the service. However, a gradual increase in housing at Blockhouse Bay had built up the collections required there to 730 in September 1961. Since then, sewer extensions in Avondale had dropped the number down to 350 at the end of February 1962. The city’s Health Inspector (6 March 1962 memo) expected that the numbers would be down to 200 by the end of 1962, although it was unlikely the service would be completely eliminated for some years yet.

1963

The Health inspector reported (27 March 1963) that there were a total of 135 houses still on night soil collection, 18 in Remuera, the rest in Avondale-Blockhouse Bay.


1967

Last letter to the contractor sighted in the council files – the service was still continuing for the few houses left.

1969

Night soil reception shed no longer in use as at October, and demolished.

City Archives sources:
Night Soil Dump file, ACC 219/28-657
Night Soil Collection & Drainage in Avondale District, ACC 219/28-232

Of early electric trams and telephones

Image from the Observer, 17 August 1907

Something I hadn't considered before now was the effect that electric trams from 1902 would have had on telephones. For twenty years before the new-fangled electric transport, telephones had existed and worked as well as could be expected given the technology of the time. But then, there were problems.

Mr. Tregear spoke of the tremendous noise of Auckland cars, and stated that people from Sydney had informed him that the roaring noise made by the cars was entirely a New Zealand institution, and that in Australia the service was performed in a quieter manner, Mr. Hanson remarked that a new system like that installed in Auckland should not be compared with a much older one like that in Sydney. It took time for the cars to settle down to the running. During the last few days some now cars had been put on, and it was no doubt of these that the visitor to Auckland had complained. The "roaring noise" at the beginning was reduced to almost nothing as the cars settled down. Noise was proportionate to speed; but one car was not worse than another, and given the same time, the Auckland service would run with as little noise as the Sydney one.

Concerning the interference of the tramway wires with those of the telephone, Mr. Little explained that at present both wires returned through the earth, and the interference would continue until a metallic circuit was adopted for the telephone wires, as was adopted elsewhere. This was the only way to entirely remove the trouble. The noise on the Auckland telephones was much less than might be expected where an earth return was used.

(Evening Post, 25 March 1903)

When the electric tramcars started running in Auckland some of the telephone wires were so affected that it was almost impossible to talk over them. Since the cars have started running in Newtown, (says the Wellington " Post ") we have addressed inquiries to three or four residents or business men who have premises at different points on the tram route along Revans and Riddiford Streets. The evidence forthcoming is that, while there is considerable . interference -- the noise caused by the trams being unpleasantly noticeable, a persistent buzzing — it is not so much as to threaten to make the wires unworkable. The general summing-up of the degree of interference was "Not very much but we don't want it any worse." One subscriber stated that during the tram hours there were times when the wire was worse than at other times, but if the general average did not get worse than at present they would be able to get along. Probably the reason why there is less trouble than was experienced at the outset in Auckland is that before running the cars the preliminary precaution was taken of raising the telephone wires. The permanent remedy is claimed to be the substitution of the earth return system for the metallic circuit. The annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department, published last week states— "In consequence of the growth of the larger exchanges and the introduction of electric tramways in the four principal centres, the installation of metallic circuits., has been decided upon to eliminate cross-talk and induction from the tramways."' The first installment of the material for Wellington has arrived. The metallic circuit is giving satisfactory results on those lines in Auckland where it is installed. The complete conversion will probably take some years to effect.

(Christchurch Star, 12 July 1904)

The problem must have been sorted eventually. Trams in Auckland were to last another fifty-plus years.

Visiting Long Bay

Long Bay, also known as Okura, is one of my favourite places in the Auckland region. I even like the long and wounding bus trip to get there -- the buses are frequent, and go through other interesting parts of the East Coast Bays and North Shore. The views are well worth it.

My friend Bill Ellis deserves credit for pointing this out to me: a gun emplacement from World War II, still standing guard, tangled in pohutukawa roots.

Vaughan Homestead, the base for the Torbay Historical Society, is a jewel tucked up and away at the end of the bay. Bit of a trek to get to by foot from the bus stop, but on a brilliantly fine day (like today), the house repays the effort by its splendour.

The Society's museum at the top of the stairs is worth a look as well.

How long this view remains uncluttered by our suburban "progress" is unknown. There's a campaign running to try to protect the environs of the park. More info here.

Update 22 September 2009: Just had an email today from Bill & Barbara Ellis, of the Torbay Historical Society (which administers Vaughan Homestead).

"The rocking chair belonged to Margaret Vaughan - the first 'lady of the house'

"The little building was used to house prize dogs.  We are planning to do it up as gum store ( the original gum store became derelict and is no longer there).

"The gun emplacement is one of the three that were on Long Bay. It is the central one, the other 2 being at each end of the beach overlooking the Bay.  There is also one in private property on Beach Road just up from the Park entrance  - That one would have covered anyone coming up the Awaruku Stream

"The Homestead -  was restored to reinstate the verandah and the dormer windows as they were in 1895."

Cheers, folks, much appreciated.

Henderson's corner bogey

I like this. On spotting it yesterday afternoon at the corner of Great North Road and Railside Avenue in Henderson, I knew I had to take some shots of it for the blog. I couldn't figure out what it represented ...

... until I crossed the road to take a closer look. It's a rail bogey, what carries the framework of carriages or locomotives on the track.

The artwork dates from 2008. More beautiful traffic control box art. Well done, Waitakere City Council. (The grass painted on the small box beside it is a cool touch.)

More on the Symonds Street tuatara

An update to this post.

I've had an email today from Christopher Thompson which sheds more light on where the tuatara came from.

"I rather suspect that the Tuatara mentioned in the Auckland Star report may have escaped from a group collected for research purposes by my great grandfather, Algernon Thomas, first professor of natural sciences at Auckland University College. Thomas began his research into Tuatara in February 1885, gathering some 90 specimens from Kawera Island. The Tuatara were usually kept in a 'lizard house' at his home (then in Portland Road, Remuera) but the location of the putative escapee suggests that it may have come from his laboratory, then housed in the former Parliament building. The research was published in 'Preliminary note on the development of Tuatara', Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, 48, (1890).

I am attaching a copy of a photographic print of some of the Tuatara (and their eggs) taken by Thomas around 1890."

Thanks very much, Christopher! As I mentioned in reply, I had wondered where the tuatara may have come from, and thought I'd never find out. I really appreaciate this information, cheers!

Image by Sir Algernon Thomas, reproduced by kind permission from Christopher Thompson

A Symonds Street "Saurian Monster"

Readers of this blog may have previously come across The Great Waikato Saurian Hunt of '86 and its sequel.

Well, at the beginning of 1889, the story had still remained in the imagination of Aucklanders.

A Mr. Bell of Symonds Street, living next door to Mr. Sandall, a butcher, found in his back garden on 9 February 1889 "a creature strange to him, horrible to look at and about 20 inches long." He was about to kill it when a boy employed by Sandall asked for it. Sandall "was sure that he had secured the Waikato saurian, or a small edition at least, and sent off the news to town, at the same time confining the creature in a cage in front of his shop, regaling him with raw meat."

The Auckland Star despatched a representative to the new attraction, and pronounced that it was "a fine specimen of the 'Tuatara' lizard. It had evidently escaped from confinement somewhere, as these lizards are not found round the city."

Image from Wiki.

4 September 2009:An update here.

A postmaster's opinion on the education of Chinese, 1888

In 1888, the NZ Herald and Auckland Star reprinted part of the following letter, sent by a Mr. J. P. Vause to the Auckland Education Board.

"Te Aroha, 4th July. Gentlemen, — I respectfully beg to ask whether Chinese children are admitted into our public schools; and, if not, whether you are aware that a Chinese-boy is now attending the Te Aroha public school (apparently with the sanction of the school committee, as no notice has been taken by them of the matter), having commenced to attend on Monday last? I make this enquiry on behalf of myself and other parents of children attending the school, who strongly protest against being compelled to have our children associate with such loathsome and objectionable characters as the Chinese, more especially as in the case of the boy I refer to; he is the adopted protége of a Chinese gardener, who lives in squalid filth in a small shanty about five feet square, known to be a den of opium smoking and other vices, and to come within a few yards of either him or the boy is absolutely unpleasant. I am not aware whether your Board has the power to prohibit Chinese children from attending the school. If it has, I earnestly trust that in this case that power may be at once exercised, both for the sake of the prosperity of the school and for the welfare of those European children attending it."

The Aroha and Ohinemuri News reprinted it on 11 July – after hearing about it via the Auckland papers.

In reading about European reaction to Chinese in this country in the 19th century, I’m used to seeing stuff like this, and I thought this was just another one of those times.

As can happen with history – it pays to read on.

Who was J. P. Vause? John Phillip Vause was born at Kawhia in 1860, according to the Cyclopedia of NZ. He took up a career with the Post Office in 1877, and as at 1902 hadn’t left. From 1883, he was post master at Te Aroha. He got involved with the community, Band of Hope meetings, things like that. On his way to being a pillar of Te Aroha society.

Until he wrote the letter.

The reaction from the Te Aroha community as soon as they heard about it was immediate.

“The action of the local postmaster, Mr. J. P. Vause, in writing to the Board of Education with respect to Ah Yang's son, in the manner reported in our telegram, is most unwarranted and deserving of strong censure. The Chinese are not desirable colonists, and are addicted to very bad and objectionable vices as a nation, but we have never heard any complaint whatever made against Ah Yang, who has now been resident at Te Aroha for six or seven years, and is a quiet inoffensive industrious man. He recently sent to China for this son, a lad of about fourteen, whose father no doubt considers, seeing he is a ratepayer and an elector, that he has just as much right to avail of free education at the state school as Mr. J. P. Vause's children have, if not more seeing the one is better able to procure private arid select tuition for his children than the other. It is greatly to Ah Yang's credit to show a desire that his boy should avail of any opportunities within his reach for improvement. We may state that since the receipt of the telegram we have interviewed the head master on the question, who states the boy is well conducted, clean in person and habits so far as he has had opportunity of observing, well dressed, and he has never heard anyone raise any objection to the lad before. Others we have spoken to have replied in the same strain. The whole letter appears to have been a most unprovoked and unwarranted attack on Mr Ah Yang and his son.”

(The Aroha and Ohinemuri News, 7 July 1888)

A letter writer to the newspaper called for a subscription fund to be raised for persecuting Vause for defaming Ah Yang. The newspaper said they wouldn’t suggest taking things quite that far – but Vause, in their opinion, needed to apologise. Quickly.

“For the information of our readers we may state that as a matter of fact Mr. Ah Yang's house instead of being about 5ft. by 5ft. is about 24ft. by 8ft, with a 6ft. skillion in addition. The house is match-lined, comfortably furnished, clean, and tidy. Mr. Ah Yang has been in the Colony about thirty years (having been twenty years on and off at Coromandel, four in Auckland, and six at To Aroha). He is a man who pays his way and is generally respected. The lad referred to in Mr. Vanse's letter, we learn on enquiry is only ten years of age, and the nephew of Mr. Ah Yang, who has adopted him, and in addition to the tuition received at the public school, we are informed Mr. Ah Yang is paying two shillings per week to a party for teaching the lad English words and their meaning.”

(The Aroha and Ohinemuri News, 11 July 1888)

Within days, Vause wrote again to the Board of Education, withdrawing his previous correspondence, claiming that he had been misinformed.

Two months later, the Post Office transferred him to Te Awamutu.

“…For some reasons, which it is not my business to enquire into, Mr. Vause, postmaster, has been transferred from here to Te Awamutu, and Mr. Clough, from that place, appointed to Te Aroha. I am informed that Mr. Clough has for the past twelve years been resident postmaster at Te Awamutu, and naturally enough had come to look upon it as his permanent home. From all accounts he has expended a considerable amount of labour and time (which is equal to money) in making the postmaster's abode at Te Awamutu second to none of its class in the Colony. Its garden is well stocked with fruit and other trees, and altogether in excellent order, with the promise of a great fruit yield. I cannot exactly entertain a feeling of congratulation towards Mr. Clough's successor, but I trust that after inspecting his new home, Mr. Vause will have been taught more than one lesson. The exchange which has been forced upon Mr. Clough in this respect is not a happy one, although the outside appearance of the Te Aroha postmaster's residence is of fair average, alas the garden! Where flourished the rose tree, and fruit trees generally, now yawn deep holes, and the place appears to have been regularly stripped of everything in the shape of fruit trees and flowers. It is stated Mr. Vause sold as many as he could of the fruit trees, etc., dug up the remainder, and turned in his cow to complete the work of devastation prior to his leaving. His action in so doing needs no comment and speaks volumes with respect to the general character of the man. I fail to see any reason why Mr. Vause should thus make matters so uncomfortable for his successor (who would much have preferred remaining at Te Awamutu), even though he may be a Government official and had planted with his own official hands. It seems to me in Mr. Clough's case one of hardship, that for no assignable reason, the fruits of his twelve years careful labour (he having left everything in apple pie order) should be handed over to a stranger, whilst he has to take possession of a wilderness, unless the Government grants him good compensation, or if they will not do this, to follow the retrenchment mania, deduct the full value of Mr. Clough's plantings and improvements from Mr. Vause's salary,
I remain, etc.,
Fair Play,
Te Aroha, Sept. 20th, 1888.”

(The Aroha and Ohinemuri News, 29 September 1888)

According to one family history site, Vause died in 1940 in Devonport, up here in Auckland. After blotting his copybook in Te Aroha and creating a storm of reaction against his comments, so it seemed, he apparently did all right in Te Awamutu.

Local libraries should have local history

At some point, someone within the Waitakere City Libraries administration made a decision that all local history information formerly held at community libraries in the city's area should be centralised in Henderson.

I know I live in Auckland City, and don't pay rates going into the kitty across the Whau River, but -- I think such a policy is daft. Certainly, if you want years of news clippings to be kept safe in case of theft, fire, all the other hazards -- copy them, and allow the local community library to have something with which to help a school kid coming up to the counter in need of answers to some query about the community where they live. Now, though, it seems folks are directed to Henderson, from wherever they live in Waitakere City.

This issue came up in the light of what happened to a book I donated to the New Lynn library, a copy of The Zoo War. I gave it to New Lynn because I wanted something I had written lodged in the library of the area where my mother got her first house (on Veronica Street). I specifically stated I did not want it gravitating towards Henderson. The staff wrote a note on the top of the accession form to that effect.

You can guess what happened. It's now in Henderson, where (the librarian who answered my rather irate query says I should feel honoured that they considered it to be of such national importance that they thought it should be there rather than just in New Lynn.

I disagreed, lodged a formal complaint -- and never had a response.

So, yesterday, I was in New Lynn library. I advised them that as there's stuff that's appeared here on New Lynn history (such as the Poudrette Factory piece), they might want a copy for their files -- but would that head to Henderson as well?

The library's manager said yes, it would. They no longer have a vertical file for their local history. Everything goes to Henderson. I remember a few years ago they'd asked if they could have some of my Green Bay notes for their file, but I never got around to sorting them out (usual business of time passing in a flurry). I'm glad now that I didn't -- it would have been a waste of time.

I'm glad that Auckland City Libraries do not have this policy. Sure, the Auckland Research Centre has information banks such as their scrapbook indexes and the like, but -- they've always had them. Our local community libraries, in varying degrees, have their own collections. I can go into a library in my city, no matter which suburb, and ask to see their local history collection. I end up directed to a drawer, or a filing cabinet, and there's usually copies of articles and photographs for me to do research with. My own collection of Avondale stuff started with me copying from Avondale Library's vertical file (in those days, in the 1980s, you handed over your library card as security.) These days, not forgetting those beginnings, I give stuff to the library now in return. Avondale Community Library and the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society have a great relationship.

What will happen under the impending Super City is anyone's guess. I don't think what's happened to Waitakere City's community libraries can be easily undone, which is the sad thing. I hope that whoever runs the new system can put something back into the local libraries, so we have a chance of keeping local history alive in our schools. Good thing kids can access the Internet at least -- I'm even more glad, now, that I started this blog.

Pt. Chevalier Times No. 7

Fresh off the press, in Scribd.

The clay pipes of Copsey Place

A friend who collects bottles and used to go digging for them in the 1970s, gave me the above photograph in 2004. It shows a pile of broken and not-so-broken clay pipes, found somewhere near the end of Copsey Place in Avondale. Back when about a third of the old Copsey farm was still Railway land for the planned Avondale-to-Pollen Island link (never happened).

Above is a detail from SO 43071 from 1961 (LINZ records, crown copyright). It muddies any thoerising as to how the pipes came to be dumped in the area. Up until his death in the 1870s, Robert Chisholm used this land as part of his sheep farm (I doubt his sheep were into smoking). Then in 1882, it was bought by a brewer named Donald Norman Watson. A possible lead there. In 1898, Edward Ernest Copsey bought part 55 in the middle, through which Copsey Place was formed when the land (up to the railway bit at the end) was subdivided in 1967. Part 54 to the right went through a series of owners from 1898, until it became the property of the Connell family from 1921 until 2008.

Anyway, my friend was good enough to donate three bits from the pile -- two bowls and a pipe end. The design of the three-masted full-rigged sailing ship and anchor don't help. The design seems to have originated from the 1860s and the time of the American Civil War. It was commonly used and adapted all over, and in various times, though. The donor suggested that the pipes might have come from a German tobacconist's shop ransacked due to anti-German feeling in World War I. He reckoned he saw German-made pipes. The northern shoreline of Rosebank, though, could simply have been a rubbish tip for quite some time, as well as a place over which the night soil was spread in the 19th century.

Meanwhile, another friend back in 2004 donated this complete pipe found in the mid-20th century over at Horton Place, part of the Aickin family farm. Made by Pollocks of Manchester, that isn't too much help for amateur sleuthing either -- Pollocks were going from the 1700s to the 1990s. Still, it's a cool relic.

Any ideas from readers would be appreciated.

Oh, and today most of the former railway land is now all developed and covered by buildings, with just a narrow coastal strip left in public ownership. If there was anything left on the ground to help sort out the mystery -- it's gone, now. Sad, that.

Vanished Old Avondale

At the reunion of Avondale Primary School past pupils in 2007, members of the Clews family gave the Avondale-Waterview Historical Society some truly amazing photographs from their collection. This one shows, left to right, the old Henry Peck's Store and Bakery, and the last Avondale Hotel (then known as the Avoncourt). I believe this photo, a rare colour shot of this part of Avondale which is now the roundabout, dates from the mid 1960s at the latest. When this shot was taken, we still had traffic islands.

In September 1967, the scene here changed forever. The old store and hotel were demolished for a supermarket and cafe complex (this was demolished later on as well). I vaguely recognise this scene, but not clearly. I was only 4 years old when it vanished.

The hotel, built by Moss Davis in 1889 was utterly sound in structure, according to the chap who demolished it. The demolition is still a sore point among those of us in Avondale born before 1967 -- and to quitye a few who came after once they realised what had been there before.

This is Henry Peck's store. What was amazing was that it survived so long -- from the early 1880s at least, but possibly part of James Palmer's early 1870s development around his wooden hotel.

Here is the store pre-1888, from before the fire which destroyed Palmer's second hotel. A bit of change to the roofline, and the verandah lost a support and went from four to three -- but it was still the same building. That store served in the 1890s as the Avondale branch of Arthur Page's grocery and supply store business, servicing West Auckland right up to and beyond Henderson.

At least, thankfully, we have the images.

Hudson's "Bound to Rise" baking powder

Image from the Observer newspaper, 22 January 1898. Click to enlarge.

I never thought something like baking powder would be puzzling.

Just doing some Papers Past trawling, and I came upon this advertisement. J. J. Hudson's "Bound to Rise" Balloon brand of baking powder, featuring a balloon, a couple of flags (one the Union Jack, the other the NZ ensign), and a chap standing in basket, holding what I imagine would be a tin of the said baking powder. The brand seems to appeared in the late 1880s, while the powder itself (if you believe the ads) originated in 1874, in Mr. Hudson's chemist shop at the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets in Auckland.

Of course, I'm a child of the last half of the 20th century -- and I know of Edmond's "Sure to Rise" baking powder, from Christchurch. The stuff that's still around, along with the cookbooks. Only now, they call it "Edmond's STR baking powder" on the Goodman Fielder website.

One powder featured a balloon, the other opts for the sunrise. I started to wonder -- which came first?

At this stage, until more info comes in (if anyone knows more on this, don't hesitate to drop me a line) -- it looks like it was the Aucklander.

When the Cyclopedia of New Zealand was being compiled and readied for publication in 1902, John Holmes Hudson featured as the maker of

"the celebrated “Balloon Brand” Baking Powder manufactured on his premises and which bears the familiar registered trade mark “Bound to Rise.” Its history dates back to 1874 in which year Mr. Hudson manufactured his first batch of baking powder, since which time it has retained its premier position. This is a wonderful record considering the many importations of foreign articles that have been introduced into local markets, but all have failed to oust the “Balloon Brand” from the front rank. Its name is a household word throughout the whole of the province and the islands."

A year later, in December 1903, Hudson was out dining at the Auckland Club, when he suddenly felt ill. He was taken home in a cab, but once there lost consciousness and passed away, from heart disease. In Auckland since 1860, he came in on the Annie Langton, according to press reports of his demise. (Bay of Plenty Times, 18 December 1903)

Hudson developed his baking powder in 1873, in partnership with (apparently) chemist Thomas Boucher Hill at 57 Victoria Street in Auckland (it was initially known as "Hill's Colonials Baking Powder - Waikato Times, 12 June 1873) ; Thomas J. Edmonds developed his in 1879, but it appears to have remained quite local. I can't find any advertising before 1888. When he had a stall at the Jubilee Exhibition, the report (Christchurch Star, 20 December 1900) says he had been manufacturing his product for 20 years. He was not only into baking powder, but also self-raising flour and egg powder. Makes sense.

But ... the brand. Those slogans ...

In the Auckland corner, Mr. J. H. Hudson, who started using balloons as branding, with "Bound to rise" from around 1887 (earliest ad found online, the Observer, 25 June 1887).

In the Christchurch corner, Mr. T. J. Edmonds -- 1901, at the Christchurch Metropolitan Show (Christchurch Star, 7 November 1901)

I don't think one merchant borrowed from the other. One chose a balloon, the other may have just said his powder was "sure to rise". They probably both emerged at the same time, Hudson's product older than Edmond's. But Edmond's, of course, was the one to win out.

The cookbooks started coming out in the first decade of the 20th century. Hudson's hadn't a hope of maintaining brand superiority against that onslaught. The last reference I can find at the moment is c.1919, a gallant set of ads in the Poverty Bay Herald declaring Hudson's (then owned by another company) were the best in the land. No sign of that "Bound to Rise" motto, just the balloon name.

From then on, however, just about the only brand name worth knowing in the baking powder trade seems to have been Edmond's.

Poverty Bay Herald, 17 July 1919