The image above, from the NZETC link, is Sir Julius Vogel, K.C.M.G."Sir Julius Vogel, who was the father of our new railway policy, urged that we must have long lines of railway and at a relatively small expenditure of money. His policy was that we must have cheap railways, and, as population increased and money became more plentiful, we could increase the equipment of our lines. He Has often been blamed for his extravagance, but so far as his railway policy was concerned, he was careful and economical. As one who was not of his political party—Mr. Gisborne—said of him: “The grasp of his mind was comprehensive, and his foresight was great; and, wild as some of his conceptions seemed to many at first, not a few have proved themselves to contain much that is useful and statesman like.” Sir Julius Vogel did not think it necessary to follow the example of England, or of Australia, so far as railway gauges were concerned. (Even in England since 1870, some railway lines have had their gauges lessened, and in Queensland the 3ft. 6in. gauge has been adopted.)
Viewing what has happened during the past 58 years it will be granted that New Zealand was wise in adopting the moderate gauge it chose. We have improved, as our revenue has increased, the equipment of our railways, in carriages, engines, station buildings, workshops, and so forth. It is true that our recent line have been more elaborately and consequently, more expensively constructed. Had, however, the policy of 1870 not been followed, we would not to-day possess the mileage of lines we have."
"The often steep grades and tight curves imposed by the formidable terrain required more power at all operating speeds than was usual. This led to the early development of the oversize firebox, wider than the 3'6" gauge, supported by a 2-wheel trailing truck thus creating the classic "Pacific" locomotive with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement compared to the 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler". In turn, the available power led to a then-astonishing turn of sustained speed that prompted the adoption of the type all over the world."
Okay, I'm back, after a brief rest to try to get some energy restored. Here are some of the rail-themed photos I took today (other, general ones to follow). Above, one of the old NZR advertisements on display at Glenbrook station.
Ww480, originally built at Hillside workshops, 1910. Internal shot of the workshops here.
Wab 800. originally built 1927 by A & G Price Ltd, Thames (judging from the GVR rolling stock register).
A couple of very good friends of mine offered me a seat in their car for a trip to Glenbrook, down in Franklin district, to see the Glenbrook Volunteer Railway open day. This even happened once ever two or three years. Last one was in 2007, and I had a great time then.
"In 1841, only a year after the Treaty of Waitangi was drawn up and signed, the documents were saved from a fire at the government offices in Official Bay, Auckland. Poor storage between 1877 and 1908 led to the Treaty being damaged by both water and rodents. However, facsimiles of the Treaty had been created in 1877, before any damage occurred and all signatures have survived. After a series of different conservation treatments, and different homes, the Treaty was finally brought to National Archives in 1989, where the documents are now on permanent display in the secure, stable environment of the Constitution Room, Archives New Zealand."The above link shows images of the treaty documents as they are today.
I love stuff about heraldry, chivalry, knights in armour, and medieval themes. I just adore this figurine (heavy wee begger it is, too! Feels old fashioned to lift and touch -- my kind of ornament!)"The Puhoi Historical Society records the early history of Puhoi, a settlement created by Bohemian (now Czech Republic) immigrants to New Zealand from the 1860's.It maintains a Bohemian museum, and has the genealogical records of those immigrants, the development of the Puhoi area and many photographs of the times"
"A notable patent was granted to Pond in 1885 for the manufacture of enamel-lined butter boxes, which were constructed in his own factory at Freemans Bay. The novelty of the patent lay in the application of an alcoholic solution of shellac under pressure to the kahikatea box. The butter box set the standard for subsequent models, although its use appears to have died out about 1889, partly because of the cost.
After his retirement in 1911 Pond continued his scientific work in his well-equipped home laboratory in Remuera. He patented a new process for the manufacture of superphosphate in 1927, and was particularly concerned to find a poison for ragwort. In this miniature agricultural research station he developed a large-leafed variety of imported clover and a variety of white-skinned onion, and cultivated tung oil trees."
"Rajah's stall is empty, and there is no longer any need to keep his copper name-plate bright and shining, but he will not be forgotten. His skin and skeleton have been turned over to the taxidermist, and the people will be able to gaze upon his mighty bulk at the Auckland War Memorial Museum for many years to come."
I had a long day travelling, yesterday. It seemed that I was just following history's flow, and letting it take me where it willed. It was a long day, though, and I'm slightly knackered at the moment. Started at 9.30 catching the train from Avondale to Newmarket West, then a climb up to the Domain Hill near the museum, where I found "Kaitiaki" again."This sculpture belongs to the tradition of abstract Modernist constructions which invite spectators to engage with the aesthetics of sculpture in its own right – its form, material, weight and scale. But of course it also represents a hawk. Fred Graham observes that birds were the original Tangata Whenua of Aotearoa, and the hawk has figured prominently in the oral traditions of Ngati Whatua and Tainui. The enormous swooping steel bird, dark against the sky, may seem threatening, but conveys the strength that makes the hawk a powerful guardian of the land."Interesting that my day began yesterday with photographing "Kaitiaki", a sky guardian, and ended (after I'd been to Waiheke Island to a friend's birthday celebration) with looking up at the sky over the Waitemata Harbour on the ferry home. It was nighttime, and the sky between Waiheke and the start of Auckland's light pollution was first cloudy, then cleared to give a view of the constellation Orion and a mass of stars behind, part of our galaxy. For the first time ever (I've lived in Auckland all my life, in amongst light pollution at nighttime) I was able to pick out orbitting satelites, I'm certain. Their light vanished with the increasing light from Auckland as we neared the North Shore and central city. Still, for the brief time when it was possible to see the blanket of stars and those tantalising swiftly travelling lights in the sky, it was a wonderful experience.
This is where the haggis is piped in.
The Address to a Haggis, by Robert Burns.
The beastie itself.
Auckland Evening Star, 28 September 1874.A facetious hair-dresser up town (we shall not mention names) sold a bottle of scent to a young lady in the neighbourhood of Ponsonby who was of a sentimental and rather fastidious turn of mind, and sent it back to her home. The young lady took it back to the perfumer, and said, "I don't think you forwarded the scent I meant; it is so different to what I expected."
The barber replied, "Miss, I am sure what you meant, I sent, the scent I sent was the scent you meant, consequently we are both of one sentiment."
The lady rejoined, "Whatever your intent, and however well meant, I will never consent to keep this scent," and she left the bottle on the counter and the hair-dresser speechless.
"I HEREBY give notice to the Six respectably-dressed Lads who, during Divine Service last evening, visited my garden in Upper Queen-street for the purpose of stealing fruit, but had to skedaddle before accomplishing much of their purpose (a person being on the premises), that in future my BIG DOG WILL BE LOOSE, and they must take the consequences, only I advise them to take final leave of their mammas before entering my gate opposite the College."
"An advertiser in another column advertises his BIG DOG to those casting covetous eyes on his fruit trees in Upper Queen-street. The weakness for illicit fruit is not confined to Upper Queen-street. We know a place in Parnell where, in lieu of a dog, there is a gun charged with coarse salt, and a watch kept, and the resolution is determined to lodge the salt in the seat of honor of the first person found among the fruit trees. There will be scratching there we guess. It will afford us pleasure to know and tell our readers whether the big dog in Upper Queen-street or the salt in Parnell first produces screams."
"A most exciting scene took place yesterday which taxed the physical powers of two of our most active officers of the police. The hair-dresser, Takaberry, who was committed this morning for six months, slipped £4 into his pocket belonging to Mr. Corcoran. Thakaberry was just in trim for running, having neither coat, vest, shirt, shoes nor stockings to burden his exceedingly spectral body.
"Information was at once given to the police, and Sergeant O'Connor made his noble appearance at Corcoran's. Thackaberry, known as the barber of Eden, or the close-cropper, observed the sergeant at a respectable distance, and immediately bolted up Wakefield-street, having a fair start, with the sergeant about fifty yards behind.
"The fox bolted on and on, and occasionally dodged the serjeant among the tombs in the cemetery, and then among gorse. Sometimes the sargeant lost scent for a time, then he would discover the fox out again as he did in the Khyber Pass Road. The chase into Newmarket was marvellous, and though unequal in point of physical dimensions, Sergeant O'Connor hotly pursued the fugitive.
"A glass of refreshing water at the Royal George Hotel revived the spirit of the officer. The barber, however, by this time had got out of sight, but presently was seen peeping from behind a cluster of ti-tree. Off he ran towards the Harp of Erin, and after him ran the sergeant, and near the garden of the Harp, O'Connor felt sure of his prey. The fox, however, barked him; it was a near shave, and he turned towards Auckland.
"The runaway tried hard to baffle his pursuer in the locality of Mt Eden, but failed in endeavoring to scale the wall. He leaped over the stones with wonderful agility, and wound round by the Eden Vine Hotel; and when turning into Grey-street was fairly exhausted, Thakaberry ran into the open arms of Constable Mulville quite beaten, when Sergeant O'Connor came up panting and secured the prisoner. he chase commenced at one o'clock and closed at ten minutes past five, and is worthy of being recorded in the future annals of New Zealand to the credit of the police."
Of "Noah's Ark" a correspondent thus writes: -- Sir: Having read a sketch of Noah's Ark in the Star of the 12th inst. I was induced to pay a visit to that resort of the homeless, and found it much in the same state as described in your journal. A number of unkempt lads, rough as colts on English commons, were there in glee singing negro melodies. Two women were also quarreling in the immediate locality, and exchanging unclassical words, until one pulled off her heavy show, and, not for good luck, flung it at her opponent's head. I noticed also a tenantless building close by, of the same delapidated character as the ark. "Noah's Ark" appeared to me to be in a very unsafe condition. The boys are continually in the habit of taking away the brick and decayed wood, which form the ararat on which the ark rests, so that possibly ere long the ark will come down with a crash on the heads of some of the half-stupified hapless slepers within. I learn that Mr. Goldie has been inspecting the ark, so that it is likely before long it will be finally removed, and no longer remain an impediment to the view from Baker-street. -- I am, &c.,RAMBLE.
"A new discovery has been made within the last few days in one of the silent shadowy corners of the now famous "Noah's Ark," and which will add interest to its many mysteries. The inhabitants in the immediate locality of Moreton-street keep numbers of fowls, in the breed of which they take very great pride. In truth, the ladies of Moreton street declare that their fowls are the finest in Auckland, and "thank God," as Mrs M--- says, "fowls are out of the pale of the city by-laws." Many of the finest of these birds, however, have lately been missing, and their owners have been puzzled about their mysterious disappearance. Mrs. M --- considered that they had suffered of the pip, and had crept into holes to die in peace, but Mrs W --- expressed it as her opinion that the fowls had been taken away by the foul hands of thieves, and her view was strengthened by the intelligence that a boy had been seen decoying the fowls into Noah's Ark with a handful of maize, for which the feathered innocents have a liking. "I believe that youngster stole my drake," said Mrs W ---. The women entered the echoing windy apartments of the Ark, and found in a sly corner a quantity of feathers, which plainly indicated that the lost fowls had been plucked, if not cooked and eaten, in Noah's Ark."8 October 1874
"A great deal of excitement has been created within the last few days in the immediate locality of "Noah's Ark," at the corner of Moreton-street. A poor woman went into the ark on Monday evening to find a bit of wood for the purpose of kindling a fire in order to prepare for a cup of tea, when she gave a loud scream and fell upon the ground. Some of the neighbours ran to her assistance, thinking she was in a fit, and applied vinegar to her temples. She appeared to be suffering from nervous debility, but upon recovering her consciousness assured her friends that she had seen very distinctly, the ghost of the unfortunate woman Macfarlane, who was found dead a few weeks ago at the ark. The announcement was credited, and every evening the women are looking out for a sight of the apparition with feelings akin to awe, and no one can muster sufficient courage to enter the hollow, haunted building after dusk."28 November 1874
"Noah's Ark, situated at the end of Moreton-street, is slowly passing away plank by plank; it is doomed but not as yet absolutely destroyed. This windy vestige of other days has been deserted for some weeks past, both by homeless women and colonial boys. The story that the place was haunted by the ghost of a woman has not been without its influence. If boys and women, however, have been deterred from venturing into the Ark after sunset and sleeping in its silent shadows; the fearless fowls have held unmolested revelry beneath its broken roof. The fowls roost on its dubious beam, and one old cock crows vociferously at break of day from one of the lonely chamber-windows. There also, the neighbouring cats "do congregate," and squeal unseen. One prolific hen belonging to a neighbour, has lately caused some disappointment as the spot where she secreted her eggs could not be found. Her disappointed owner rightly conjectured that the hen deposited her eggs somewhere. A hunt was made under the house, and along the hedge-rows, but without success. Yesterday, however, the secret hauling place was discovered, and a quantity of eggs found in a mysterious corner of the Ark. The foolish hen was heard cackling by the doorless doorway, and a shrewd colonial youth bawled out, "Mother, mother, old speckle-back has laid in the ark, I'll bet a bob on't." The unkempt urchin crept through the mystic chambers and to the joy of his mother's heart found the eggs in a corner, partly screened by an old pair of trousers left there possibly by the last lodger in this mysterious building."17 February 1875
"The demolition of the old delapidated building, known as Noah's Atk, was commenced yesterday, and on the appearance of this issue, its last vestige will be cleared away by the workmen. As soon as its doom was inevitably sealed by the City Council, without waiting for further order, the neighbouring lads began the work and carried away board after board, until the ark appeared but a hollow symbol of winter and age."
"The log dispute at Whangapoua, which has gone through so many phases, has now, in the opinion of the Maoris of the district, assumed a new one. Mohi Mangkahia, one of the most prominent actors in the war, has come up to Auckland very ill, for the pirpose of consulting Dr. Philson. The natives are convinced that Mohi has been makutued (bewitched) by Tommy Craig's witch at Whangapoua, in retaliation for having defeated him in the many actions for the possession of logs at Opitonui. They also believe and assert on the authority of their men, learned in such matters, that if Mohi dies the bewitchment will assuredly fall on Messrs. J. S. Macfarlane and Harris. What Mere Taipare will do with the logs, when all the disputants have been disposed of in this unceremonious way, has not yet been revealed by Craig's witches, but one feature in their programme will certainly be fully approved of in Auckland."
The cemetery was originally part of the farm of Dr Thomas Aickin from 1859, and it is a child of his, William Aickin, who is the first burial there (3 August 1862). Dr. Aickin, according to a memorial stone in the cemetery, “dedicated this land to the Church of England as a cemetery (in 1862)”.And yes, the Rosebank cemetery is, indeed, an acre in extent. See below.
The Avondale Anglican Cemetery Board recorded that on 12th July 1886 a Deed of Conveyance was registered, concerning “the piece of land containing one acre”, transferring ownership of the property to “Alan Kerr Taylor, John Bollard and Matthew Thomas Clayton upon trust for a cemetery and for religious charitable and educational purposes.”That was two years after St Judes Church was completed. So, at least £60 from the subscription list went somewhere ...? More investigation required, I think.
“Reference was made to young Mr. Harris. If he was there, and there was further obstruction, to shoot him down and take possession of the logs by force. He was particularly mentioned. It was the defendant who proposed that Mr. Harris should be shot. It was often spoken of, but that was the sum and substance of it … Mr. Macfarlane said if I shot Harris that would end all disputes. He was to get me off. He said no jury would convict me as I was fighting for my own. Supposing I was convicted, he said he had such influence with a jury, the Bank, and with the Government that he would get me off … It was a serious affair. Everything was done under the direction of Mr. J. S. Macfarlane. He took full charge of the mill. I was brought up before Major Keddell for presenting a pistol at Harris. The charge was dismissed. I came up to town afterwards. Before coming up I received a letter from the defendant, which I destroyed, because I thought the language too strong. It stated that I had done wrong in not shooting Harris, as I would never have such a chance again. When I came up to town I saw the defendant, and he said I had done wrong in letting Harris off when I had such a chance, and repeated that I would never be convicted by a jury, as he could got me off through his influence. He spoke to me again about it, and offered me his double-barreled gun and a written guarantee that he would got me off. I refused then and we never spoke about it afterwards. We had a fall out on the following morning.”The prosecutor during this court hearing aimed to show that Macfarlane wanted Craig to shoot Harris, in order that, once Craig was hanged for the death, Macfarlane stood to gain title to all the deeds for the timber land in the area. (SC, 9 May 1874)
The Auckland Evening Star, writing in reference to the recent discharge of the jury in the case of Macfarlane v. Harris, by reason of inability to agree to a verdict, makes the following strong general remarks : — "We solemnly declare our belief that there are those in Auckland who might commit murder in Queen-street in broad daylight, nor could there be brought together in Auckland a bench that would have the daring to commit for trial, nor a jury that would agree to a conviction. The terrorism and the influences that prevail have corrupted the Streams of justice, and no man is safe. It is in vain that we have on the bench of the Supreme Court a man who holds the scales of justice with impartial hand ; in vain that he lays down the law of equity and of common sense by that a child may understand ; for so much scoundrelism have we in our midst, so much villainy have we enrolled from among as on our jury list, that the very gates of justice are closed and barred. The machinery of our law courts can be used by some for oppression and wrong, to ruin by costs and grind under the iron heel of power; and it can be made to stand still when others appeal to it for protection. Law, as we know it in Auckland, is a mockery; trial by jury a delusion and a snare."
“Mr. Macfarlane… referred to the virulent attacks that had been made upon him by the Star. It was impossible for him to answer all these attacks unless he had a paper of his own, which he had not.”
“The Echo will first of all, and most of all, be a journal of news. In our columns will be found an Echo as complete as possible of what takes place, and as truthful as possible of what public opinion may be in all parts of New Zealand. Our politics will be rather colonial than local; our objects the good of the colony at large, and not the advancement of a party. Our support will be afforded to all measures that appear to be in themselves beneficial, from whatever party they may come, but our political faith will be pinned to the skirts of no politician. Our sympathies will be enlisted on the side of real progress, whether in the reform of our Government, or in the development of our resources as a country. Our advocacy may be relied upon for the cause that lacks assistance, whenever that cause is not only weak but deserving; and our denunciations will not be withheld from fear, favour or affection, whenever real wrongs demand redress, actual abuses call for stern exposure. In our pages will be found no scurrilous abuse of individuals – no pandering to the morbid tastes of those who seek a sensation at the expense of honesty, and of the good name of other men. Our columns will be freely open to correspondence on all subjects of public interest without reference to the opinions of our correspondents, so long as their letters conform to the principles by which, as we have said, our own action will be governed. Such in a few words is our programme, and to this we shall adhere. To be the tool of no clique, the mouthpiece of no politician, the engine of no man’s malice, the instruments to serve no man’s private ends – is the unalienable determination of this journal.”
The Echo convicts Reed and Brett of the Star of posting the bills of a shoemaker over those announcing Mr. Fox's lecture on Temperance.(Waikato Times)
To the Editor : Sir, —Will you kindly give publicity to the following to satisfy many who were disappointed at not hearing Mr. Fox last night. The committee advertised in the morning papers, but could not get Sir George Grey's consent to preside until later in the day. They at once ordered posters at the Echo office; and am sorry that courtesy to Sir G. Grey and Mr. Fox did not prevent the Evening Star’s people from pasting over those calling the meeting. The committee are much annoyed, and trust that the following explanation will be accepted, and they do not believe that Mr. Ellison, whose bills were used for the purpose, was a party to the action. — Yours, &c, S. B Auckland, March 19.
To the Committee of the Hon. Mr. Fox: Gentlemen, — I certify that I posted the bills on every place that I have got a right to do, and Mr. Brett (of the Star) went round with their bill-sticker, and put on bills over mine before they got dry. — John Cany, bill-sticker, Echo office.
The "Echo” of this evening shows that the “ Star's " alleged special report from Te Kuiti to have been invented in their own office, as there is utter ignorance displayed of the district, and is evidently manufactured upon the garbled information of a pakeha-maori, who is connected with the natives.
It is amusing to notice the exchange of compliments between the two Auckland evening papers. The following from the Echo is a sample of the delicate way in which it is done: — "Amongst other signs of the advancement of Wangarei has been that of the establishment of a local paper. The Comet has fallen into bad hands, and is neither a credit to the district nor to the newspaper press of the Colony. Its original matter is ill written, and its leading articles are the veriest fustian. Great dissatisfaction is, it is said, expressed by the settlers of Wangarei with regard to it. Perhaps the Wangarei people are not aware that it is a mere reprint of that disreputable and disgraceful production the Auckland Star — the real proprietors."
The Echo understands that proceedings either have been or are about to be commenced against the Auckland Evening Star for the publication of a telegram purporting to have come from the correspondent of that paper at Coromandel, stating that Mr. F. Bromley Steele, the Coromandel correspondent and agent of the " Cross," was one of the jumpers of the Union Beach mine.
There is no love lost between the two Auckland evening papers, the Star and the Echo and neither loses an opportunity of having a fling at its rival. The following is a specimen of the Echo's style, taken from its issue of the 21st ult.:— " This morning, between nine and ten o'clock, the city was enlivened by the now not very usual sound of cannonading, the gunners of H.M.S. Sappho, now in harbor, having been put through a practice with the ship's guns. The presence of the Sappho in harbor has had a salutary effect of late upon our evening contemporary. He ceases to breathe of treason, and refraineth from inciting to riot. The public may have noticed of late the visit of a midshipman of the Sappho regularly every afternoon to the office in Wyndham-street, and from what we learn the proof-sheets of the editorials are submitted to this young gentleman every day, who excises anything bordering on the revolutionary. This will account for the tameness, amounting almost to respectability, which has for the last few days characterised the leading matter of that scurrilous little publication."
The shipping reporter of the Auckland Echo has been fined Is and costs for a breach of the harbor regulations, by boarding the ship British Empire before that vessel was moored, or passed by the Health Officer. Defendant pleaded guilty. Mr. J. B. Russell said that the offence was committed in consequence of the rivalry of the two evening papers. The case had been brought in order to show that neither shipping reporters, nor other persons, could infringe upon the laws laid down. Judge Fenton said he wished it to be clearly understood that if a similar breach of the regulations came before him he would inflict the highest penalty.
“One of the cleverest, if not the sharpest pieces of business, we (''Tribune") remember to have heard of for a long while, was that managed by the proprietors of the Auckland 'Evening Star ' the other day, in the purchase of a rival newspaper— the 'Echo.' The latter was in difficulties, and fell an easy prey to the former, but instead of at once stopping its publication, the new owners of the 'Echo' kept it in existence for some days, and made its columns not only the means of unsaying, in the matter or politics, all that it had said during its brief career, but also of puffing the “Star” after the most unblushing fashion. People wondered how the “Echo”, in announcing its discontinuance, should have said that it could not make headway against "that popular, etc., etc., journal the Star,” but the wonder is fully explained when they know that it was the proprietors of the 'Star' who wrote the valedictory article, and as a matter of face did the whole of the leek-eating for a newspaper which had become the subject of their tender mercies.”
The Echo is defunct. It died on Thursday last, when its expiring issue came out. It had an obituary notice headed "Our Last Issue," in which it set out the reasons of its collapse, the most cogent of which is that the proprietors have sunk £3000 in the venture, and don't feel inclined to sink any more. The Star proprietors have purchased the plant, with which it is rumoured they intend starting an evening paper in Dunedin, but this is only hearsay.
The Star takes its opponent's death very decently; it does not crow at all, but modestly quotes the Echo's dying tribute to its ''great circulation" and "advertising "attractions," and gives a well-worded sop to Mr. J. S. Macfarlane, whom it describes as follows :—
"Mr. J. S. Macfarlane has his faults, but he has been a bulwark of protection to many a struggling man, and many a struggling enterprise in days when such was needed; and, absent as he now is on a voyage to the South Sea Islands, we do not hesitate to say that, to his commercial enterprise and indomitable pluck and constancy to friends, many a man owes his start and success in life and recognises it warmly and gratefully. Hot in his antipathies as in his attachments, he is a staunch friend, but the very devil as an enemy. In both capacities we have known him, but wholly irrespective of any good or ill arising from his friendship or his enmity, to find ourselves arrayed in mortal combat with a man who has long been the representative of progress in Auckland, has been repugnant to our instincts."
It is a good job Mr. Macfarlane is away at Levuka, as his absence saves him any amount of chaff about the result of his attempt to brush the Star.
