Myers Park

One of my favourite spots in Auckland is Myers Park. If you walk through St Kevin's Arcade in Karangahape Road (site of St Kevens, the home of the Nathan family in the 19th century), down sets of wide stairs which still give me pause (I'm sure each step slopes downward a little), you will therefore start from the top and be able to see wonderful views of the paths, green and public art in the park.

Much of the land was donated to Auckland City Council by Sir Arthur Mielziner Myers (1868-1926), with the rest bought up and taken over by the Council from private landowners. It was a slum area; from the 1880s, intensive and totally unplanned residential development in the valley of the Horotiu Stream (Ligar Creek) gave the city fathers much cause for concern. Particularly when bubonic plaque outbreaks seemed imminent.

So, from 1914 the park was cleared, and a design by Thomas Pearson, Parks Superintendent for the City, was put into effect. The park opened 28 January 1915.

The park which has been donated to the city by Mr A M Myers, MP, was auspiciously opened this afternoon in delightful weather and in the presence of a large gathering of citizens. Among those present were representatives of the State, the Legislature, the City Council, the Harbour Board, the Board of Agriculture, the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and various other local bodies. The proceedings were marked by sustained cordiality and occasional enthusiasm. The park comprises about 8½ acres behind the Town Hall, which was previously slum area. This has been transformed into a park and playground for children. Mr. Myers donated the £9000 necessary for the work and in addition is giving the funds for the erection of a free kindergarten and school for backward children to cost another £4000.

Evening Post 29 January 1915

The statue of Moses is the first thing you see in the park from the K'Road entrance.

Milne & Choyce imported this copy of Michaelangelo's statue to New Zealand for general display. In 1971, the business donated it to Auckland City Council, on the occasion of the city's centenary. According to the K'Road Heritage site, this statue was said to have been carved from marble quarried from the same spot where the real statue's marble came from.

The early 16th century original, from Wikipedia.

As mentioned in the Evening Post report above, Sir Arthur Myers donated money to establish both a kindergarten here and a "school for backward children".According to the Council's interpretive signage, the building was designed by Benjamin Chilwell and Cyril Trevithick, influenced by both the English Arts and Crafts movement, and California bungalows.

"On the ground floor was a large 'circle' room which opened to three classrooms and other facilities.Wide verandahs ran around two sides on both levels, while folding doors provided for open-air classrooms. The use of the relatively new structural steel beams gave the interior an uncluttered look, and corners were curved for hygenic reasons. There were also 65 small flower-beds -- one for each child -- as part of the original kindergarten philosophy, to encourage spiritual and social development."

It was officially opened 15 November 1916. The Auckland Kindergarten Association appointed Mrss Fendall as the first in charge of the new school. Under her was an assistant teacher and three student teachers. (Evening Post & Colonist 19 October 1916)

According to the signage: "Arther Myers intended it as a Christmas present to the children of Auckland, and his family also donated a large box of toys for the first intake. By 1923 the kindergarten had 40 pupils. Milk and biscuits were served every morning, and the children were required to do their own washing up."

The school served as a training centre for kindergarten teachers until 1958, a school for deaf children, and offices for the Girl Guides Association. It operated as a kindergarten right through to 2000; today, it serves as the head office for the Auckland Kindergarten Association.

With all those associations, is the building registered with NZ Historic Places Trust? Yes, as Category II.

View of one of the sweeping stairway accesses out of the park.

And now -- old loos. Back in August last year I photographed this one at Ponsonby's Western Park.

Just about the only thing it seems to be good for these days, sadly, is sport grey anti-graffiti paint and one of Auckland City's heritage plaques, this one just for the park in general, not the poor old loo (that's just about the only thing the anti-graffiti team won't cover with their grey on a paint-out -- but as you can see, the brush strokes come close ...)

... and here's the rather beautiful, but rubbish-strewn locked interior.

Yesterday, in Myers Park, I found another forgotten rest stop.

It seems to be under seige from recent landscaping decisions in the park, seemingly set to be swamped and buried in time. The palms around it appear to be of fairly recent origin.

Can't be sure if this has been subject to the anti-graffiti paintbrushes or not -- but it is a pity the lower brick has been painted over.

On the grubby tiles inside the locked gate, a message to the world from someone armed with a permanent marker.

It was certainly, in its heyday, a loo with a view.  But Myers Park has a reputation today, nearly a hundred years from the slum clearances, of attracting society's detritus and debris at night.  Perhaps this corner of the park attracted too much trouble. Perhaps that's why no one wants to mention the old loos in our green spaces, even though they were an integral part of layouts and architectural developments here.

A lady, a bit worse the wear for life and all it does, came up to me and asked me what I was doing. She was friendly enough, as were her companions occupying a nearby seat under the trees. When I told her that I like to photograph old things, even forgotten loos, she smiled, and said,that was good -- because such things might go in time, and photos would be all we had left. Then she smiled, wished me a good day, and went on with her afternoon.

The council hasn't swept the paths in front of the loo clear of those same leaves about to engulf it for some time, but cracks in walls have been seen to. In this one, Peter Chapple of Waiheke has left his mark on the park.

The last thing of note in the park, is this -- a gift from the city of Guangzhou in China to Auckland, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Sister City relationship between Guangzhou and Auckland in November 1999.

It is called, officially on the plaque, the "Five Rams Sculpture."

This goat, knows that isn't exactly correct ...

... because she is definitely a nanny.

The K'Road heritage web page quite wisely just sticks to calling this five goats, symbolic of an old story from China about goats bringing fertility to a bleak valley. Update, 24 January 2011: Guangzhou, amongst it's nicknames, is known as the Five Goats City, according to Wiki. Perhaps, if someone has a bit of spare cash in the budget, the plaque might be amended?

In terms of that, though, I reckon Myers Park was over any bleak period long before the granite goats got here. I'm still opposed to anyone's ideas to move the Khartoum Place Suffrage Mural here, though. Myers Park is just nice enough now, thank you.

Two domes in Beresford Square

Just off Pitt Street and close to Karangahape Road, on the edge of Freeman's Bay, two domes serve as landmarks for passing traffic and pedestrians. I've often wondered about them.

They feature here in a mid 1920s photo by William Archer Price (image from Wiki Commons). The three distinctive buildings are, from left: men's quarters extension to first Pitt Street fire station (1912), the Auckland Gas Company showrooms building (1923-1924), and the rest of the first Pitt Street fire station (1902). Of the three, only the 1902 building has been altered markedly. Another view can be seen at the Auckland Library's site. You can see its current appearance here. It is, apparently along with the Beresford Square building, registered by NZ Historic Places Trust as Category I. Not the Gas Company building, though. One thing I notice with the NZHPT registration entry is that they keep referring to a date as 1912 for construction, and only have an image the Beresford building, not the Pitt Street Building. I checked with Council Archives  yesterday-- according to the valuation streets for Pitt Street, and apparently the fire brigade's own records, the Pitt Street building was erected 1902, at a cost of £9583 (pricey, but there would have been more than one building on the site, perhaps.) The men's quarters at Beresford Street cost £5528 in 1912.

The Auckland Gas Company in 1923 were fighting to keep their market share, no longer a monopoly as an energy supplier with the introduction of electricity to the city. The formation of the Auckland Electric Power Board in 1922 may have been the incentive to have their showrooms here on the corner of Pitt Street and what was then Beresford Street -- close to K'Road, and major public transport routes. I'm still trying to see if I can find out the original architect for this building. So far, scans of the plans on aperture cards at Auckland Council archives show a name "John Anderson [illegible], Ferry Buildings, 24/11/1923". I'll work on it and put up an update when I have further information.

According to the Karangahape Road Heritage Walks booklet (.pdf online), this was called Wembley Buildings. "It is said that the Auckland Gas Company refused to have electricity in this building which, if true, must have made it one of the last buildings in New Zealand ever fitted with gas lighting."

Number One, Beresford Square, the 1912 extension to the Pitt Street fire station. According to this site, it was designed by architects Goldsbro' and Wade. Quite possibly (although I'd love to see the documentation): another credited to that partnership is the Marine Workshops Building in Quay Street, and the Ponsonby Fire Station.

In November 1944 the total fire station site, fronting both Beresford Street and Pitt Street, was sold then gifted, via Sir Frank Mappin to the Order of St John, and became the Auckland central ambulance station. According to the late Graeme Hunt in his book First to Care, 125 Years of the Order of St John in New Zealand (2010), Mappin was a serving brother and later knight of the order. The ambulance station opened in 1945, and from 1977 was home to the National Ambulance Officers' Training School, funded by a Telethon held two years earlier. The school operated from 1978. A new ambulance station was built further down Pitt Street in 1995, and the old buildings had new uses. The Pitt Street building is now the base for a flower merchant, and the Beresford Street side professional offices.

Back to the corner. This image (another by William Archer Price and likely taken at the same time as the other period shot above) shows one of the early bus services to Avondale and Blockhouse Bay in the 1920s. I'm not sure which one yet. Interestingly, this corner remained as a bus stop right through to 1964, as shown by this detail below of an image from Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Library (used here with kind permission).

Not for much longer beyond the date of this photo, though.

 

Today, the motorway scythes across Beresford Street, blocking the Pitt Street end from Freeman's Bay. Access today is via Pitt, Day and Hopetoun Streets. In 2002, according to the library's streets database, the eastern-most end off Pitt was remained Beresford Square (two other parts, beyond the motorway, are called Beresford Street Central and Beresford Street West.

The Costley Ward Time Capsule revisited

Back in December last year, I did a post on the memorial to the Costley Ward time capsule at Auckland City Hospital. Sandy posed the question in the comments: "I wonder what was in the time capsule?"

Bless your cottoned socks, Sandy. Just keep those questions coming. It may seem that I forget about folk's questions (and at times, yes, I need a short sharp nudge with a pointy thing to remember), but this time, I have the info.

From the NZ Herald, 2 December 1993:

More than 150 former nurses, doctors and modern-day health officials watched as the lead capsule was opened. Inside was a New Zealand Herald dated July 11, 1898; a handful of coins, and a parchment scroll detailing the bequest made by Mr Edward Costley which funded the building, the names of the hospital board members, and the names of the architect and builder  ... Once the capsule contents have beenn photographed, they will be resealed in another container with 1993 memorabilia and buried in a memorial to be built on the hospital site.

So, the time capsule still exists, and is under the memorial? Only time will tell ...

I must say the Costley Building time capsule fared way better than the one for St Paul's ...

Old cinema sign re-emerges in K'Road

Image from Wikipedia.

The Norman Ng Building in Karangahape Road has undergone a refit. For decades last century it was a fruit and vege shop. I knew it as the Brazil restaurant in the 1990s, then it was a hamburger place -- and now Theatre Cafe. The refit is wonderful -- the arched ceiling is revealed inside once more and outside is in the process of being done up as well.

Then, I noticed something behind all the scaffolding.

This would be the point where anyone accompanying me at the time would see me gape, then point with shaking finger, "See that? See it? That's an old Fuller's Cinemas sign!"

This narrow little building started out in 1925-1926 as the Karangahape Entrance for the Prince Edward Cinema in Pitt Street south, around the corner (the cinema proper became known as the Mercury Theatre, and the street as Mercury Lane).  According to Jan Grefstad in his unpublished Auckland Cinemas (2002), John Fuller & Sons opened the original King's Theatre in 1910. Ben and John Fuller continued to operate the cinema from 1922. In 1926, and American showman named Bud Atkinson "looked at the King's Theatre and diagnosed why it was not doing spectacular business; it had no entrance on Karangahape Road. Plans were prepared by April for an elaborate. marble-tiled entrance, a long corridor opening into a lounge foyer."

From the Auckland Star 15 July 1926:

Chief among the alterations is a new entrance which gives direct access to Karangahape Road.  The general trend of the new entrance is extremely artistic. The price paid for the land for this entrance was £15,000. Two short flights of steps lead to an upper and lower foyer both of which have been lavishly furnished ...

 From the NZ Herald, 12 July 1926:

Have a careful look at the new entrance on Karangahape Road. If you find that the splendour of this beautiful edifice has been overstated do not buy a ticket because maybe we would be equally untruthful about the quality of the entertainment we promise to provide ...

The cinema became the Playhouse from 1948, which was closed by Kerridge in December 1967 and completely altered to become the Mercury Theatre in 1968.

The Karangahape Road entrance was sold off as separate title and became the Norman Ng fruit shop According to historian Helen Wong, the shop was "said to be the only fruit shop with a marble floor." The fruit shop closed in the early 1990s.

Part of an old floor preserved

One of my discoveries today on a day basically spent rambling through history from Karangahape Road to Parnell and then down to near the Auckland waterfront, is this: Levy's Building, corner Commerce Street and Customs Street East.

There is information on the building, which dates from 1896-1897, at the Heritage New Zealand site (it has a Category II registration).

But, what makes this building the subject of a post here, is this:

Set in the beautifully polished floor of the Lonely Dog Gallery on the ground floor, is a remnant, specially conserved and preserved, of blocks of wood which made up part of the floor of the original 19th century warehouse which was once here. The gallery staff member on duty today very kindly gave me permission to take a photograph (it's at an odd angle because I was trying not to get any of the art on display in the shot, and therefore infringe copyright.)

To access the display, go into the gallery (oohh and aahh over the art, it's quite beautiful -- check out the YouTube link), turn left at the entrance, and you'll see the inlaid case in the alcove there.

The sign in the case reads, in part:

The blocks in this case are made from the wood of the Kauri tree ... and were once part of the floor laid in a warehouse that occupied this building in thev late 1890s.

Gilmore, Younghusband & Co, tea merchants, leased  the Levy Building for over twenty years (1897-1918) ...

The Levy Building's Art Deco facade (refurbished in 1934) disguises the building's original appearance as it stood in the commercial hey-day of this part of Auckland City. Erected in 1897, the perimeter walls are of unreinforced brick masonry, typical for the era and purpose for which it was built.

The blocks are the only known remnants of this kind of flooring to have found in the city ... When found in late 2005 many of the kauri cobbles had sustained major structural damage caused by the intermittently damp ground conditions at the site. Conservation work was carried out in 2006 at the University of Auckland ...

Demise of the herons

My apologies for the blurred image -- shot this afternoon from inside a moving bus. This is the intersection of Blockhouse Bay and Great North Roads, at the boundary between Avondale and Waterview. Heron Park is to the right of the photo -- just about the only part of the scene still reflecting on the local herons and their habitat here, with the demise of the former painted control box. That's the replacement in the centre, between the traffic lights and the street sign.

Paul from Auckand-West blog earlier alerted me in the comments section of the previous post on the previous control box.  I rang Auckland Council, and found out from them that the box had been replaced on 5 December 2010 during a planned upgrade, as the old box wasn't big enough. Actually, I think the reason  could also be because Auckland City, since the Super City amalgamation, now appear have a new contractor for their traffic control systems. It isn't CSL any longer -- I'm not sure who it is, but there's a different logo.The new box doesn't seem all that drastically bigger than the previous box.

I know mural art is transitory, but ... Anyway, here's the lesson, from ol' Timespanner folks: PHOTOGRAPH THE PUBLIC ART. You never know when, overnight, it may just simply vanish, as if it never was.

The art was by Doug Ford (thanks for the info, Paul.)

Chris McDowall's animated map of Auckland's public transport network

I felt this was worth linking to -- helps answer the question I often get from folks as to how I manage to get around Auckland without a car ...

The animated map.

Too many John Campbells

No, I'm not talking about the one who is probably New Zealand's most famous present-day John Campbell. It's the historic ones who make me sigh deeply.

Back in 2007, I was asked to pull together a quick broad-brush summary of the developmental history of the early North Shore of Auckland. This meant gathering information which appeared sound enough, but to do so quickly. One of the sources I found at the Auckland Research Centre in the Central Library was Ralph Johnson's “The Conception and Birth of North Shore Suburbs from Mother Auckland in the Nineteenth Century”, an RCJ Stone research topic, 1991 (unpublished). In it, it repeated an oft-told story how the original surveyors of the North Shore's Mahurangi Block from Maori in 1841 was Alan O'Neil and ... John Logan Campbell. And I fell for it.

John Logan Campbell, "Father of Auckland" and dozens of other claims to fame here in the region,  was  a lot of things but not a surveyor. Johnson got the guff from earlier borough anniversary books from the North Shore, which in turn probably came from assumptions that the most famous John Campbell must have been the only one here, so he had to have been the one ...

I don't mind finding out I got things wrong. It's galling, sure, but finding out the right information makes up for it. Trouble is -- there are too many John Campbells.

I've found three possibles. None of them have any hard-and-fast evidence attached to them saying "yes, he's the one."

John Campbell No 1.

This one has the most going for him as the John Campbell surveying in Auckland in 1841 -- but it isn't known whether he was up here, or whether he came in as part of the New Zealand Company settlements around Wellington. He died early, as well.

At Wellington, on the 2nd instant, John Campbell, Esq., formerly of Edinburgh, aged 29. Mr. Campbell was originally bred to the profession of the Law, but having emigrated to New Zealand, he was employed as a Surveyor by the Local Government, for which his scientific acquirements particularly fitted him. Subsequently he was appointed Protector of the Aborigines at Taranaki, and it is much to be regretted that the liberal and enlightened views which he entertained as to the relative position of the European's and Natives, and his anxious wish to promote the interest of both, have been frustrated by his premature death. He was much respected by all who knew him; his funeral was attended by most of the officials connected with the Government and the New Zealand Company, and upwards of a hundred Natives.

NZ Gazette & Wellington Spectator, 15 November 1843

John Campbell No. 2

This one could be one man, and it might even be two. On the plus side, he was documented in Auckland in 1849 (New Zealander, 10 March). On the minus side, the next reference is to a John Campbell, surveyor, dying in a hotel in 1866.

John Campbell, a surveyor, fell down while standing at the bar of the hotel where he was residing on August 27 and died shortly after. It was found that serous apoplexy was the cause of death.

Southern Cross 1 September 1866

You start to realise as well, after reading of the John Campbells through Auckland's early history who seem to feature prominently in the court reports for drunkenness and larceny -- why John Logan Campbell held on to that middle name of his.

John Campbell No. 3

This one left behind a will attached to his property records that is so detailed (because he was concerned pretenders might crop up claiming a share of his estate due to made-up familial connection) that he essentially included his genealogy in the document, along with all the long list of property he held in this country.

This is the Last Will of me, John Campbell in the Supreme Court of the Town of Auckland in the Colony of New Zealand, [illegible], and I do hereby revoke all wills by me made heretofore. I employ the term “will” in this instrument as extending to and including every kind of testamentary disposition whereas there are many persons of the name of Campbell, my surname, and it may happen after my decease that persons bearing that name but not related to me by consignment, or affinity and of whose existence I have no knowledge may appear claimed to be legatees or devisees upon this my will. I do hereby make the following statement touching my family and relatives (none of whom are now in this Colony in order that no persons may derive any interest as such legatees or devisees [illegible] and [illegible] only the several persons for whom the same is intended.

That is to say my father John Campbell was a small farmer and the son of a small farmer and was domiciled in the townland of Coole in the Parish of Clonol (?) in the County of Tyrone in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Ireland. He has been many years dead. The farm which he rented in the said townland belonged I believe to the Earl of Blessington and the townland itself formed according to report a part of the “Mountjoy Estate”. My mother Elizabeth Campbell was the daughter of Matthew Campbell and his wife Mary Lapin. My father was the son of Brien Campbell and Catherine Morris or Maurid, commonly called Kate McMaurrish. Whether Brien or Bernard was the Christian name of the said Brian Campbell I cannot say but he was called and best known by the said name of Brian Campbell and his mother whose maiden name was Develin was the author of some ballads and other poetical productions in the Irish language. The mother of the said Kate McMaurrish was the daughter of one McRory and the mother of the said Matthew Campbell, the father of my mother was the daughter of one Ottagan, and the mother of the said Mary Lapin was the daughter of one Woods.

My father was twice married, first to my mother the said Elizabeth Campbell, and secondly to Bridget Hagen, a widow, whose maiden name had been Bridget Cory. By his marriage with my said mother Elizabeth my father had four sons and one daughter, namely Bernard Campbell, myself John Campbell, Neal Campbell, Matthew Campbell and Mary Campbell. My said brother Bernard died about the age of fifteen years, and my said sister Mary died about the age of two years. My said two brothers Neal and Matthew are, I believe, now living.

In the month of February, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, when I left Coole aforesaid to enter into the service of the ordinance survey at Dungannon in Ireland aforesaid, my said brother Neal was married and had one son named John Campbell. My said brother Matthew married since I left Coole aforesaid. After my return [illegible] for Australia in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-one. One Catherine McGuinness and both he and his said wife Catherine visited this colony about the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two whence after a residence of about five months they returned to Ireland. They had no children there nor have I heard of their having had any since.

By his marriage with the said Bridget Hogan my father had but one child, a son named Thomas Campbell.

I left my father’s house at Coole aforesaid in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three to enter as aforesaid into the service of the ordinance survey of Dungannon aforesaid under one Captain George Dalton, and upon my retiring from such service in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty, I was serving in the division of one Lieutenant Beatty. I left Coole aforesaid for Sydney in New South Wales by way of London about the month of April one thousand eight hundred and forty-one and I arrived in Sydney aforesaid in the ship “William Turner” in the month of October. Thence next moving in the early part of the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, I left Sydney aforesaid in the ship “Challenger” for Auckland aforesaid where I landed in the month of February in the same year, and permanently settled. In the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, I sailed from this colony in my own schooner the “Sir John Franklin” for California, whence I returned after an absence of about thirteen months by way of New South Wales aforesaid.

My said half-brother Thomas Campbell entered into the service of the said ordinance survey in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four or in the year thence next ensuing, and upon my retiring therefrom at the time aforesaid he was serving [illegible] under the said Lieutenant Beatty.

My said father John Campbell and his said father Brien Campbell were also commonly called and known by the names of John Gealtha and Brien Gealtha respectively, a cognomen given according to tradition to the members of our family ever since the time that Gealtha Gooth, one of its ancestors (and the Galgarius of Tacitus) an Irish general, repulsed the Roman legions commanded by Agricola at the foot of the Grampian Hills in Caledonia towards the close of the first century ...

And only then did he talk about who was going to get what and why.

His main estate here in Auckland, Campbellville, was bounded by Wallace Street, Jervois Road, Shelly Beach Road and the Waitemata Harbour. He's on the list only because, yes, in Ireland he served during the ordinance surveys there -- but that doesn't make him a surveyor, and by the time he got here, he was effectively retired. He was, though, quite wealthy, a good Catholic, and had a lot of problems trying to keep pleasure-seeking, pheasant-hunting, shell-gathering and Christmas pohutukawa blossom-nabbing Aucklanders off his land.

Southern Cross 18 March 1862

Dog Nuisance.
John Campbell, of Campbellville, Shelly Beach, was charged with a breach of the 14th clause of the Dog Nuisance Act, by suffering a dog to attack a boy named Thomas White, on Shelly Beach on the 21st instant. The Commissioner of Police put in the Gazette proclaiming the boundary.

Thomas White deposed : I saw defendant on Sunday, the 21st instant, about half a mile from Shelly Beach — this side of it. George and John Hunter was with me. We were coming round the beach. The tide was out. Mr. Campbell called us and we waited until he came up; he had a dog with him, I cannot say it was his dog. He struck me and the dog flew at me, tore my trousers and knocked me down. The dog did not bite me; he took the buttons off my waistcoat with his paws. Mr. Swailes came round the beach, and Mr Campbell left off beating us and the dog went away with him. The dog went up the hill with Mr. Campbell and lay down on the verandah of Mr. Campbells house.

Cross-examined by defendant: The dog was a brown one about eighteen inches high. The dog threw me down before you struck me.

George Edward Hunter deposed: I know the last witness. I live in Victoria Quadrant. On last Sunday week I was walking towards Shelly Beach with the last witness and my brother John Hunter. We had been round the point, and coming back, when within 40 or 50 yards of Mr. Campbell s place, he called after me; he had a brown dog with him; the dog flow at Thomas White and tore his trousers and some buttons off his waistcoat, and pulled him down on his knees. When Mr. Campbell went away the dog followed him up to his house. The dog afterwards came out of the house with another man.

Examined by defendant : l am not aware that I had been on your ground. We did go inside a fence to get a drink at the well. I am sure that White was not climbing up the pohutukawa tree. I saw White fall by the dog. You struck me first and then I got out of the way. I did not run a way to the far end of the beach. I did say I would summon you. I do not know that White fell himself upon the slippery rocks.

Corporal Smith deposed: I know Mr Campbell’s residence; it is within the boundary of the Dog Nuisance Act.

The same defendant was then charged with assaulting the same witness by striking him with a stick. He admitted that he beat the boy with a rod, and complained that his property was trespassed on and the trees injured. He was at great expense to preserve his trees, and the boys would not give their names so he beat them. He was sorry he did not give the big boy more, and also sorry he gave the complainant so much.

The Court said that, although the dog might not have been defendant's, it being in his care at the time he was liable for its acts. He was fined 40s. and costs; and in the second case— the assault— he was also fined 40s. and costs, or fourteen days' imprisonment.

Southern Cross 30 December 1862

Southern Cross, 11 November 1865

Mr. Thomas Batts, of Springbank, writes complaining of the treatment he received on Christmas Day from Mr. Campbell, of Shelly Beach. Mr. Batts admits that he was trespassing on Mr. Campbell's paddock, and that he had his wife and children with him, but he states that he had been led to believe that the public had a right of way. From our correspondent’s statement, it would seem that he was undeceived in a very menacing manner. However, there is this much to be said, that Mr. Campbell suffers much about holiday times from trespassers breaking and destroying his shrubs and young trees, and we dare say his patience was pretty well exhausted when he encountered Mr. Batts. Indeed, we know that there has been a great deal of wanton mischief done to Mr. Campbell’s property; and it is difficult for anyone in his position, at all times, to draw the line as to who should be courteously received and who should not.

Southern Cross 28 December 1867

THANKS. THE LADY SUPERIOR of the NAZARETH INSTITUTION (for Natives and Half-castes) desires to return THANKS to Mr. J. C. CAMPBELL, who presented that Institution with an Acre of Ground at Shelly Beach, for building purposes. Mr. Campbell on a former occasion laid another institution under similar obligation.

Southern Cross 13 January 1870

Southern Cross 25 March 1871

The funeral of the late Mr. John Campbell, of Shelly Beach, took place yesterday, and was followed by no less than 300 citizens. The body was interred in the Roman Catholic Cemetery, Symonds-street. The Rev. Father Norris read the funeral service at the grave very impressively, and the Rev. Fathers W. McDonald and Golding also took part in the obsequies.

Southern Cross 30 October 1871

His estate was subdivided up c.1874, although his Pt Erin land (he named it after his home island of Ireland) has remained more or less intact -- as a public reserve. Some of the street names dating from the time have remained: Wallace, Sarsfield, Curran, Emmett. Others though were changed around 1883:

Washinton Street - now Jervois Road
Fingal and Nial Streets - now Shelly Beach Road
Grattan Street - now Sentinel Road
O'Connell Street -- now Hamilton

But -- this still doesn't help sort out just which of these John Campbells surveyed the Mahurangi Block.

Sigh.

Chaos in the Milk Zones

My mother once ran a dairy in Taylor Street, Blockhouse Bay (called the "Bounty Dairy") in the early 1960s. She told me of a day when she apparently ran out of milk before 3pm (the deliveries happened after 4 o'clock) and a customer, irate that when she popped in to buy a pint between 3 and 4 she found Mum had sold out, went off and complained to some authority -- perhaps Auckland City Council -- that Mum had breached her milk selling licence. I don't think Mum was fined or anything. Just told, in no uncertain terms, that to run out of milk before 4pm was something One Did Not Do.

I grew up in the mid to late 1960s to 1970s. To me, it seemed that you always just went along to the local corner dairy, or  put out tokens for the neighbourhood mobile milk vendor, and picked up a bottle of moo that way. It never entered my head that milk distributrion and supply would be so strictly regulated, and so Mum's story always sounded surreal.

One thing about local history study: the longer you stick at it, and the more you read and listen, things that seemed surreal to the contemporary mind soon become "ah ha!" moments.

Yes, indeed, milk was regulated, from cow's teat through to the corner dairy counter, here in Auckland. From 1934, actually, when the first Auckland Metropolitan Milk Act came into effect.

Auckland Milk Council. 

The appointment of the milk council provided for in the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Act is expected to proceed shortly. Advice is awaited from the Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe), who is required to confer with the interests to be represented on the council, and then to make recommendations to the Governor-General, who will make the appointments, says the "Herald." The legislation provides for the establishment of a council to organise and control the distribution and sale of milk in the metropolitan district. Although the members of the first council will be appointed, elections will be held to select subsequent members. Those elections will be held every two years, in February, the first one taking place in February, 1935. On and after a date to be fixed by the council it will not be lawful for any person or corporation to sell milk in the district, to deliver milk in the district, to bring into the district for use, consumption, or sale milk purchased outside the district, or to be in possession of milk for sale in the district, except under licence issued by the council.

Evening Post 9 January 1934

Alec Brown's book Town Milk: A History of Auckland's Town Milk Supply (1992) gives a detailed account of the history of the major suppliers, along with the history of regulation and legislation around the supply of milk. Very briefly, the regulations were revised, amended, adjusted in an almost dizzying series of moves from 1934. The basic aim was to ensure a steady supply of milk to the consumers in the region.

In November 1936, in the days of milk straight from the can by dipper off the back of the milk cart, zoning for vendors was introduced on the North Shore, Avondale and Blockhouse Bay. The result on day one on the North Shore must have been a bit of free entertainment for those witnessing what happened.

All was not so quiet in the milk zone on the North Shore this morning. The first trial of the new zoning system of milk delivery, initiated by the Auckland Milk Council, was being made, and for a while everything went swimmingly. Then a horse bolted -- and in one area at least drama broke the routine.

That was in Ewan Street, Jutland Road, Hauraki Road, Lake Road area of Takapuna. Here two horse floats were in operation on the delivery. Suddenly one of the horses, working Lake Road, took fright, raised its head and its hoofs, and was off. Down Lake Road it tore, the float swaying and jolting behind it, and the driver in late, but hot, pursuit. Rounding the corner into Hauraki Road, the pace was at its hottest, and the horse was still heading the field. But a ten-gallon can here broke its moorings, and in a clatter of can on the road the milky flood spread in a cumulating flow to the gutter.

A motor car had joined in the race, and with skill the driver, in the outside position, was endeavouring to cut across the horse's path. The horse swerved, and in a moment another can had emptied its contents. A case of bottled milk was sliding towards the tailboard and was threatening to join the rout when at last a pursuer caught up, mounted the float, and brought the quivering horse to a stop.

Here was trouble for the delivery man. Already running late, owing to the didfficulties of taking over a new round of customers, the delivery was further delayed, and in some houses the morning's milk did not come home until 8.30 or nearer nine o'clock. Many householders were caught unprepared, and colour was added to the drama by the number of pyjama-clad men and dressing-gowned women who made their way, jug or billy in hand, to the nearest dairy in search of a cow or its product.

There was one household, at least, where trouble had been expected, and its pessimism was rewarded when the tinned milk was produced amid general "I told you so!" congratulations. A dairy in that vicinity sold out, and unavailing pleas were made by the shopkeeper to a passing milk lorry driver for further supplies.

Apart from the incidents in that territory, it is stated that everything proceeded satisfactorily. Though in most cases the milk arrived at the usual time, there were cases of delay owing to the difficulties experienced by roundsmen in covering new rounds, without first-hand knowledge of where each particular container was kept, or which was the right entrance to houses.

A number of residents in Devonport and Takapuna expressed themselves as satisfied -- though there were a number of protests, too, at the introduction of the new system. Two inspectors from the milk council watched proceedings, and they said afterwards that everything went as well as was expected for the first day.

Auckland Star 28 November 1936

The milk vendor and the corner dairy reigned supreme in New Zealand until deregulation in the 1980s -- in fact, supermarkets were specifically forbidden to sell milk, and compete with the vendors, until 1986. Price controls came off in 1993, but by then only a third of customers still used the milk vendors for their daily supply. Over the next few years, the milk carts (by then motor trucks, of course, many with distinctive horn sounds to summon the customers to their letterboxes each night) faded into our history.