“SANCTIMONIOUSNESS.: A more contemptible exhibition of sanctimonious folly than that displayed at a recent meeting of the Wellington City Council it would be hard to imagine. From a short account of the meeting, which will be found in another column, and which we have reprinted from the Post, it will be seen that it was called for the special purpose of considering the late petition in reference to "the social evil." The police laid before the Council a very favorable report of the working of the "Contagious Diseases Act " in Christchurch, but on a motion being made for put* ting the Act in force in Wellington, it was defeated by six to three, and another motion passed asking the Government for fresh legislation on the subject. We don't know what answer this application will receive, but we know how it ought to be answered. If the applicants be of the number of those who “fear a curtain lecture more than hell," let them resign their places in the City Council to men of sense, who will bring the Act into operation at once. “
“A petition of Wellington residents to their City Council praying to have the Contagious Diseases Act brought into operation within the Borough, alleges that Wellington, with its population of 20,000, is more immoral than Melbourne with its 250,000 inhabitants. The memorial has been referred to the Minister of Justice with a recommendation that he should take strong measures to suppress the immorality complained of.”
“A meeting was held of persons opposed to the enforcement of the Contagious Diseases Act. A petition was drawn up for signature praying the Mayor and City Council to take the vote of the ratepayers as whether further public moneys should be appropriated for a Lock Hospital : also whether it should not be handed over to a recognised body of citizens under trust for the purposes of a female reformatory.”
“The agitation against this institution has been resumed, and another effort is being made to secure its abolition. Some discussion took place at the City Council last evening, when reports from Dr. Tennent and the police were submitted. These bore unanimous testimony to the value of the Hospital, and the police statement asserted that the effect of the Act had been to decrease the number of abandoned women by 63, while no less than 28 had entirely reformed, been married, or taken into refuges through the instrumentality of the Act. On the other hand, Mr R. H. Hughes, secretary of the society which is antagonistic to the Lock Hospital, wrote asserting that since the Act had been brought into force the visits of men to brothels had increased twenty-fold. In his report, Dr. Tennent said the number on the Hospital register originally was 84, and at the first examination, eleven women had been detained for treatment for several diseases. He then proceeds: There has been, at least, 50 per cent of a decrease in the number of prostitutes since the opening of the Hospital, and I am informed by Detective Hughes that prostitutes soliciting in the street are now rarely if ever seen. I have received from Mr. Superintendent Thomson the following report from the Police Department :—
Number of prostitutes known to the police in Auckland and suburbs to date: 103 Number proceded against under the Act: 98
Number brought under the Act, and who attended the Lock Hospital: 84
Number who left for the bush and other parts of the colony 14
Average number that attend for medical examination twice every month, and average number in Hospital 40
Married and reformed: 8
Living with men not married: 5
Number gone into service and reformed by the ladies of the Parnell home and of the Salvation Army Refuge 20
Number in Mount Eden Gaol 10
Number left Auckland for other parts of the colony 15
Number not proceeded against: 5
Decrease of number of prostitutes: 63
Dr. Tennent adds :— The establishment of the Lock Hospital has also arrested the spread of infectious diseases. I cannot close my report without bearing grateful testimony to those benevolent ladies who have rendered valuable aid and sympathy in the work of attending and reclaiming the fallen, some of them making regular visits to the Hospital weekly.”
“DISGRACEFUL CONDUCT.
UNRULY HOSPITAL PATIENTS.
A very scandalous scene of insubordination occurred on Wednesday in connection with the Auckland Lock Hospital. Owing to the illness of Dr Tenant, Dr Walker visited the institution, and as the result of his visit ordered the further detention of the patients then in, numbering seven.
In the evening the whole of them stampeded from the building, save one old women, and came down town in a body. They paraded the wharf, singing songs. Their conduct and the use of obscene language arrested the attention of the Harbour Board watchman. The police were informed, and shortly afterwards intelligence was received from the Lock Hospital that six of the inmates had cleared out.
Being now certain of their quarry, and of the task before them, Sergeants J McMahon, Clarke, Detective Hughes, and Constable McDonnell proceeded in pursuit. They had not far to go, as the girls, in bravado, were coming up Queen-street abreast. The police rounded them up, and took them to the lock-up where they kept the station lively far on into the night, singing songs, and using language more expressive than polite.
The six prisoners are Theresa King, Maria Ann Long, Mary Ann Curtis, Elizabeth Irwin, Agnes Austen, Alice Stewart, and they are charged with a breach of the Contagious Diseases Act, 1869 by escaping from the Auckland Lock Hospital.”
“Some queer facts were made known during a discussion on the Lock Hospital question by the City Council on Thursday night. Cr Kidd opposed the sale of the building to the Government on the ground that other customers were in the field. Cr La Roche drew attention to the little game that was being kept dark. The other customers were [the] Charitable Aid Board who would apply it to the uses which the Council had resolved to discontinue. Cr Crowther said that it was not a time to reopen the question of maintaining the Lock Hospital. There were 19 closed shops in Queen-street, and business was more depressed than it had been for 15 years past. The 403 objections to city assessments showed that ratepayers found their taxes pressing severely upon them and at any rate in the face of the reduction in the salaries of their laborers, they could hardly perpetrate the anomaly of keeping open the Lock Hospital. The Mayor felt that £350 was altogether too small a price for the hospital, but under the circumstances they could do no better. “
“The apparently interminable discussion upon the Contagious Diseases Act came before the City Council again last evening. Notwithstanding the resolution of the Council at a previous sitting to accept the offer of the Government for the Lock Hospital building, Councillor Kidd introduced the question upon the ratepayers' petition presented at the last meeting in favour of a poll. He declared that the evil of prostitution had greatly increased since the suspension of the Act. His opinion was based on information supplied by the best medical men, the Inspector of Police, and the detectives. Inspector Thomson's report was that the Act was beneficial.
"Councillor Kidd also quoted from a statement made by Mr Beetham at Christchurch, wherein that gentleman deplored the abandonment of the Contagious Diseases Act in that city. Detective Hughes' report estimated the number of fallen women now in Auckland at 150, many of them being mere girls between the ages of 11 and 15, who had come out on the streets since the Act was repealed. The only law by which they could be reached now was the Police Offenders Act of 1884. Under this Act they could be charged with having no lawful visible means of support ; but it was almost impossible, under the circumstances, to obtain convictions. Councillor Kidd at this stage moved — "That the Council continue sitting," the time being close on 10 p.m.; but the motion was negatived. He proceeded to quote the opinions of Drs Stock and Tennent in favour of the Act, when the arrival of 10 o'clock interrupted the debate, and the Council adjourned.”
FIRE IN ALBERT BARRACKS.
Yesterday evening, shortly before 8 o'clock thick volumes of smoke and showers of sparks were observed to rise in the vicinity of Albert Barracks. A few seconds later flames were seen darting upwards, and it scarcely needed the alarm-bells, which pealed forth from their stations in the city and suburbs, to tell that a fire had broken out. It was speedily ascertained that a building outside the walls of the barracks had ignited, and thither Mr. Asher and the members of the Fire Brigade hastened; two of the men taking with them each a " baby " engine.
In a city like Auckland, where the buildings are for the most part wooden, and close together, it is not to be wondered at that when a fire breaks out many buildings are destroyed, especially when the appliances provided for extinguishing fires are of such an unsatisfactory nature. Mr. Superintendent Asher, who is an old and thoroughly practical fireman, knowing that a vast amount of damage may be done at any moment by the outbreak of a fire, has provided himself with a “Baby Engine," with which, on more than one occasion recently, he has been able to arrest the progress of a fire. He has discovered that a new water-throwing apparatus — the “hydronette" — has been invented and patented, and it is his intention to send to London for one of them by the next outgoing mail. This instrument, which is worked by compressed air, has for its recommendations ample discharging capacity, wide range, varied force of impact, instant power of graduation, ease of action, and above all, simplicity. It is said that no water-throwing machine in the world, worked by the power of one man, as this is, can equal the hydronette either in the length of its throw or in the graduations of force at its command The hydronette has been tested by a number of people in England, and they speak of it in very high terms.
About 11 o'clock yesterday morning Mrs. Jones, of the hairdressing saloon at the corner of Queen Street and West Queen-street, observed a strong smell of burning in the room at the back of the shop, where a small fire was kept for business purposes. Mr. Jones soon extinguished all the flame that could be seen. The smell of burning still continuing, however, he went over for Mr. Asher, superintendent of the Fire Brigade, who suggested the removal of the bricks that formed the back of the chimney, and sent for the " baby " engine belonging to the Insurance Companies, and this small engine to all appearance was the means of arresting what might have been a large conflagration.
The fire-engine, in charge of Mr. T. Humphries, Captain of the Fire Brigade, was brought quickly into position, but owing to the only well available being too deep, the engine was of no utility. Fortunately Mr. Halse had on the premises a valuable hand fire-engine, called a "Baby" engine, and this was at once brought into use.
Our contemporary the News this morning, in noticing the usefulness of the "Hydropult," or, what is better known as a " baby engine," at the fire on Sunday afternoon last, recommends the distribution of a number of them about the town, and commends this suggestion to the Borough Council and agents of the Fire Insurance Company. Our contemporary is evidently unaware that there are four of these engines in the place, and that they were introduced some time since into New Plymouth by Mr. H. Weston, the Agent of the New Zealand Insurance Company. At the late fire, two of them were in use, the one owned by Mr. Halse, and the other by the New Zealand Insurance Co. The Bank of New Zealand has one on the premises, and Mr. Cottier, of the Masonic Hotel, another. For the information of the public, we may state that the use of the New Zealand Insurance Company's "baby engine" can be obtained at any time in case of fire, the police having a key of the place where it is kept, and can always get it as well as a supply of canvas buckets.
"VOSE'S PATENT HYDROPULT, A PORTABLE FIRE ANNIHILATOR. "So, a baby engine may have been an early form of fire extinguisher. At the moment, that's my best guess.
Weighs but 8 lb., and will throw water 50 feet.
The Meola Creek is Auckland City's second internal waterway of note, in my opinion, after the Oakley Creek which is judged to be the longest completely within the city's boundaries. Unlike the Oakley, Meola was important to land surveyors in the early days of post-contact settlement of this area: it forms the boundary over much of its course between the Parish of Titirangi and the Suburbs of Auckland, in terms of the legal description of land.
When William Edgecombe took up farming across the road in the late 1850s, his land was full of scoria rocks like this. He didn't have far to look for materials for his stone Great Northern Hotel.
“Chinese virtually control the fruit and vegetable retail trade as it is; a Chinese market, pure and simple, will tend to stabilise that position … They are industrious and thrifty, but the bulk of their earnings go to China – an economic loss to this country – and English-speaking nations know that the Asiatic adds little or nothing to the moral and material wealth of the State.”
“If the proposal by a number of Chinese merchants to establish a Chinese market in Auckland for the sale of their produce is brought into effect, the number of points at which the average Chinese comes in contact with the European will be increased. The Chinese colony is already self-contained to a marked extent, and many of the rank and file of the Chinese have no dealings with Europeans at all.”The White New Zealand League, established in 1926, stepped into the fray, lobbying against the proposal to the Auckland Harbour Board, Auckland City Council, and borough councils in Devonport, Takapuna and Mt Albert, to name just three. This organisation had its roots in Pukekohe in 1925, formed to protest against Indians and Chinese leasing and buying land there. They called for immigration restrictions, especially as the depression began to bite hard, and were backed by the Returned Soldiers' Associations. The League also promoted "purity of race", accusing Asiatic market gardeners of enticing Maori women into their employment and exploiting them economically and sexually.
"During the year the Council supplied a case of Harden's Hand Grenades for fire extinguishing purposes, also additional length of fire hose. In the case of fire breaking out after library hours the hose is fixed ready for use every night, and the gas turned off at the metre. Some short time ago the kitchen chimney caught fire; it was of a trifling nature, the flue being only ten feet high. It was promptly put out by the aid of the baby engine."
"The late nineteenth century saw other innovations in fire fighting including the chemical fire extinguisher. The first was a glass fire extinguisher, the Harden Hand Grenade Extinguisher. The extinguisher, or grenade, contained carbon tetrachloride, later banned because at high temperatures it emitted a hazardous phosphene gas. The grenade, when tossed into the fire, broke open and released the carbon tetrachloride"The "baby engine" still has me foxed, at this stage.
Updated 22 August 2013. 
Air Transport and Touring Automobiles of New Zealand, Ltd, Auckland, taxicab proprietors and general carriers, etc. Capital £500, in 100 shares of £5 each. Subscribers: Richard J. Healy, Rowland L. Hill, Charles R. Boler, Raymond A. Irwin, Lyle W. Bonney, William R Sadgrove, Victor A. Christie and Alfred Ramsden, 1 share each.
"The Nelson coach, which left Belenheim at seven o'clock on March 19th, without passengers, came to grief near the Wairau Bridge, about six miles from Blenheim. The flood was flowing across the road with great force, and there was deep water, with a strong current, at the foot of a rather steep approach on the Tua Marina side.Caption to the photo:
"Here, the current overturned the coach and horses, sweeping them against a fence. Two horses and the driver, George Richardson, were drowned. A party of police found Richardson's body hanging to a fence on the Tua Marina roadside, one hundred yards below the scene of the accident. By means of a boat, with great difficulty, they cut free the two horses, which escaped alive, the other two being drowned. The police also picked up the mail.
"The accident to the coach was witnessed by a settler, and Richardson was seen to swim for two hundred yards, and then sink exhausted."
The two horses seen floating near the coach were the polers. The leaders were rescued after being in the water over three hours, but one died afterwards. Our Picton correspondent write: - "Concerning the floods, which were very sudden, unfortunately one poor man lost his life in trying to do his duty by carrying His Majesty's mails to time, in spite of rain or floods -- I speak of Richardson, the driver of the Nelson coach, who started from Blenheim at the usual time on Saturday morning. He always assured his passengers that he never risked the rivers, but went the long way round, through Tua Marina, and up the north bank, if there was any fresh in the rivers on the usual road. He was doing so on this occasion, and had safely crossed the Ferry bridge, when horses, coach, and everything went into a hole, the coach capsized, and the poor driver, encumbered with oilskins, leggings, and gloves, was unable to swim to safety on the higher ridges of land."
"The sad news has cast quite a gloom over the town; for deceased was widely known and greatly respected, being a steady man of very high character, and by his employers was considered as "one in a thousand " He was a son-in-law of Mr John Gay, of this city, and leaves a widow and one child, a girl of nine years of age. He was about thirty seven years of age, and his parents reside in Kimbolton, Feilding district. The greatest sympathy is being manifested towards the widow and relatives."
Just sorting out some old items from the digital vault this morning, and I came across this shot taken on the north side of Karangahape Road (beside no. 153 but possibly part of the same building) between Pitt and Queen Street, in 2007. That day, I was heading from one appointment to another, when this caught my eye: a shop under renovation, where some original tile had been revealed. Along with what remained of the pasted-on advertising from another era. One of those "now you see 'em, now you don't" moments. I remember asking the guys doing the work if they'd mind me taking photos. They said quite a few passers-by that day had done the same.
"This index is from an unpublished manuscript compiled about 1925 by the missionary Rev. Henry James Fletcher (1868-1933). In its original form it was 987 pages long, a vast index of Māori names referred to in books and journals, including the names of boundaries, Māori individuals, canoes, trees, landmarks and geographical locations. It was Fletcher's greatest piece of work, and one that merited improved access."
"The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organization based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Founded in 1892, the Society’s aim was the scholarly study of past and present New Zealand Māori and other Pacific Island peoples and cultures. It has pursued this aim primarily through the Journal of the Polynesian Society, a quarterly publication begun at the Society’s inception and enduring to the present. The early issues of the Journal contain a rich repository of indigenous texts and traditions contributed by Pacific peoples, as well as by missionaries and other sojourners, often published in local languages with English translations. Among the scholars who have long contributed articles to the Journal are social/cultural anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, linguists and physical/biological anthropologists working in Micronesia and Melanesia, as well as Polynesia. "
Four years ago the cobbler's shop - owned by Peter Croad - won a courtroom battle to stay on the premier retail drag opposite Westfield's 277 shopping mall, facing down a rich land owner who wanted him out.He's hung on, though. TVNZ covered the story on Close Up in 2006:The shop has held its ground as all the neighbouring buildings have vanished, including the Patel family's dairy, a toy store and a bookshop.
Those shops were pulled down to make way for Broadway Junction, a project on the leasehold land by award-winning developers Newcrest Group.
New shops have now been built on both sides of the distinctive rust-coloured shoe repair shop, thought to date from the 1930s.
"I'll be in a bank sandwich," Croad said, noting when ASB moves in his shop will be between that and the BNZ.
"We often hear stories of the small person trying to resist the big developer, and after putting up a valiant fight, eventually forced to cave in. Some say it's inevitable, that progress will always get its own way. But Rawdon Christie has a story where one man has stood up to the big boys - and won. Peter Croad's better known as the 'Shoe Sheriff' in Newmarket, Auckland. He's been running the cobblers shop for over 25 years - his father ran it before him. The shop's actually been in the same location, on Broadway, since the war. So when the landowners told him it was time to go, he said no."And in April, there was a blog post about it on Wordpress.
So, here's some views of Tait Park. This is the part added to the park after the Ash Street extension went in behind it. It used to be part of Highbury Street.
What remains of a scoria wall and set of posts which went along two sides of the park.
