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Cover Illustration:
The home of H. A. Thompson (Nelson's first Magistrate), Tahunanui, in 1843, (From a sketch made by the surveyor, J. W. Barnicoat.)
A grandson of A. G. Jenkins (who arrived in Nelson on the "
Following a meeting at his house in May 1954, the Nelson Historical Society was formed, Mr. Jenkins being elected Chairman of the Records Committee. During the next 12 years he led an enthusiastic group in systematically collecting information, including photographs, as well as museum pieces, most of which would otherwise have been lost to Nelson. This committee also assembled a comprehensive historical library.
In 1954 he was elected Chairman of the Nelson Regional Committee of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
Mr. Jenkins realised at an early stage that proper buildings would be required to house the Society's and other valuable collections, and was largely instrumental in persuading public bodies to form the Nelson Provincial Museum Trust for raising funds.
In 1963 the Museum Trust Board decided to build in the magnificent grounds of Isel House, Stoke, acquired by the Nelson City Council in 1959. Unfortunately, the building programme has not yet been started.
Despite such disappointments, Mr. Jenkins retains a keen interest in the Society, being Prsident 1966–67, but relinquishing this post for health reasons, staying as Past President on the Committee where his experienced advice is invaluable.
A request from England by a distant relative of Henry Augustus Thompson for information about the descendants of this man made us realise that very little was actually known here about our first Magistrate and this has led to a most interesting search both here and in England.
Henry Augustus Thompson was born at Penton Lodge, near Bath, on October 23, 1804, being the eighth member of a family of nine children. His father, George Nisbett Thompson (1753–1831), had proceeded to Bengal in 1778 to practice in the Supreme Court of Judicature and three years later became Sub-Secretary to the Governor-General, Warren Hastings. He became a great and lifelong friend of Warren Hastings who appointed him Official Secretary in 1783. Hastings left Bengal in 1785 and Thompson who, by then, had been appointed Junior Judge-Advocate in addition to his other duties remained in Bengal until 1789. Thompson undertook the huge task of gathering the suffrages of the people of Bengal to help in the defence of Warren Hastings who was finally cleared on all sixteen counts of Impeachment.
G. N. Thompson married in 1791. Penton Lodge where the Thompsons were living when Henry Augustus was born, and where he spent the first ten years of his life, was described as "A Capital and Freehold Villa recently erected in a Style of singular Elegance and Convenience." Mention is made of a "spacious lawn. Shrubberies, and Plantations. Stabling built in the form of a Crescent for twenty horses, Eight Coach Houses, etc., Kitchen Garden, Hothouse and Grapery. A beautiful Hermitage, a detached Farm Yard, Barns, Granary and other buildings. One hundred and thirty acres of excellent land, watered and refreshed by a beautiful stream which runs at the bottom of the lawn." These were the particulars of Penton Lodge as described by Mr. Christie of Pall Mall. The villa itself contained drawing room, east and west libraries, study and all the usual domestic and kitchen quarters. There were eleven bedrooms as well as dressing rooms and school room. On the top floor there were sixteen attic rooms. (Is it any wonder that the villa is now a Convent?)
In 1814, when Henry Augustus was only ten years old his parents separated and no doubt this had some adverse effect upon the child reared in such spacious surroundings. In 1817 he went to Rugby School, and in that year his mother died. After leaving school he studied for the Bar as a student of the Inner Temple. He appears
After the death of his father in 1831 we appear to have no record of Henry Augustus for the next ten years. Then we find Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were passengers on the privately-owned 425 ton ship, Mandarin, which sailed from Gravesend on August 6, 1841, arriving in Wellington, on December 21. Thompson had come out from England with letters from Lord John Russell to Captain Hobson recommending him for a Government appointment at Nelson. He was accordingly gazetted police magistrate on February 2, 1842. To the bustling little settlement of Nelson the Government eventually sent two officials. On March 5, 1842, the Customs officer, Stephen Carkeek, arrived in the Abercrombie while next day the ship Brougham brought Nelson's second civil servant. Magistrate H. A. Thompson. It was the custom for the chief Government officer in any New Zealand town to be the senior magistrate. Thompson, as Postmaster, delegated his postal duties to an assistant but it was only a few months before all post offices in New Zealand were placed under the Customs officials and thereafter Carkeek was officially Postmaster.
Thompson's home was a large two-storey house built on the hillside at what is now Bisley Avenue, Tahunanui. It was a well known landmark for ships entering Nelson Haven. (See cover).
From the various reports concerning Thompson it is apparent that he was a man of ability. He was kind-hearted and courteous to everyone, but he was prone to outbreaks of temper. In all he must have been a superior type of man and the other leaders in the settlement, all settlers or employees of the New Zealand Company, felt obliged to bow to his opinion. (Could they do otherwise?)
As well as Police-Magistrate he was Protector of Aborigines but in his over-confident way he regarded the Maoris as an inferior race and this proved to be a fatal error. The show of force at Tua Marina was an ill-conceived manoeuvre and the loss of life there was a very severe blow for the Nelson settlement. The loss of Captain Arthur Wakefield, Thompson and some of the other prominent men in the community as well as many of those who went to make up the police party must have filled the settlers with a sense of despair. Some of the men killed left wives and children entirely destitute as in those early days there were no homes or orphanages, and the work of looking after the helpless fell to the lot of the inhabitants of the township. Some orphans were adopted into families and thus became eparated from their own people.
Was it any wonder that the name of Magistrate Thompson was an unpopular one amongst the working class people?
The official verdict on the occurrence was against the wisdom and justice of the issue of the warrant to arrest the Maori chiefs– and its execution. But the Nelson Examiner of January 6, 1844, says of Thompson: "The least we can say is that he was a highspirited English gentleman of birth, talents and accomplishments. Of great activity and energy, nearly all the official duties of the Government were, for the first year of the settlement, left upon him. He Was at once Police Magistrate, Postmaster, Protector of the Aborigines and Government representative. The business of all these, some of it of unpopular character enough, he did as satisfactorily, and made as few enemies in doing it, as most men could have done." After more appreciative remarks the paragraph ends, "in all his intentions upright and honourable, few could be more, or more sincerely, regretted than he was by those who knew him intimately."
The Nelson Examiner, as an organ of the settlers, may be thought to have been partial, but Dr. Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, could probably be regarded as an independent observer who, after three weeks friendly intercourse with Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson stated that "Mr Thompson's zeal for the welfare of the native people and his judicious exertions on their behalf, make it the more distressing that he should have died at their hands."
One of the supporters of the attempt to arrest the Maori chiefs was the Hon. Constantine Dillon who, writing to his sister on August 7, 1843, gave details of the clash and after paying tribute to Captain Wakefield said, "Mr. Thompson was also a very amiable, kind person, very much liked by all the people of the upper class, very hospitable, and a person I was getting to be on terms of great friendship with. He was also Protector of the Aborigines, in which office he tried all in his power to advance them, as he took a great interest in them … He has left a widow, a young woman, and a child about 13 months old. You may fancy what a deplorable condition to be left in without a friend. We have brought her away from Nelson to live with us here in the country (Waimea West), away from all the trouble consequent upon the event. Fanny (his wife), like a good creature as she is, proposed at once to go down to Nelson and see what could be done for all the poor widows, as out of 22 people killed, 12 had wives and families. …" (Dillon did not support the view that the Massacre was the result of Thompson's hasty temper.)
Early records of the Nelson settlement show that H. A. Thompson was granted sections 1089, 206 and 196. If these were all town sections, as they appear to be, they would be, 1089 Van Dieman Street, 206 corner of Tasman and Bridge Streets, and 196 would be in Brougham Street.
Meanwhile, what happened to Mrs. Thompson?
It appears that a further child was born to her after the death of her husband.
Earfy in 1845 Mrs. Thompson married Alexander McDonald, manager of the Union Bank in Nelson, and soon after he was transferred to Wellington. While there the McDonalds apparently had protracted negotiations on behalf of their family by Thompson over land in Nelson. It appears probable that the family was adopted by McDonald. In 1849 McDonald was transferred to Sydney and held various important appointments with the Union Sank eventually, from 1854 to 1856, being Inspector in charge of the Bank's whole establishment in Australia and New Zealand.
In January, 1868, 126 acres of land were transferred from Alexander McDonald, City of Sydney, Merchant, to Mathew Richmond, of The Cliffs, City of Nelson. This was part of a Crown grant made to William Fox in 1854, and had only been held by McDonald for a few years. (The land was on the Moana hillside in what is now Tahunanui.)
This story concerning Magistrate H. A. Thompson is based upon information gleaned from many sources and is accurate in so far as we have been able to trace possible leads. In all honesty I must point out that there is another story current in Nelson concerning Mrs. Thompson after the death of her husband. It was said that years later she ran a boarding house in Nile Street. I am not in the position to either confirm or deny the story.
Mr. Richard Moth, of Brunnerton writes: I am sending you a few items of my experiences of the early days of the Whakamarina diggings, and also the early days of Hokitika and the West Coast.
I was born at Rotherwick, Hampshire, England, on October 22nd, 1842, and went to London in May, 1856. From that time until I sailed for New Zealand in 1863 I was working at Bishop and Starr's, organ builders to her Majesty the Queen, where I had the advantage of a great deal of travelling about London and suburbs, visiting many of the London churches with the tuner for the firm for about 18 months, among which was St. Paul's Cathedral every weekend. Among other large churches visited were Greenwich Hospital, Brixton Church, Stratham Church, and St. George's Cathedral, Southwark. I was at the building of the large organ for the Roman Catholic Oratory, Brompton, with four manuals, and containing 5,000 pipes; also the Royal Sardinian Chapel, costing £2,000; one for the new Catholic Church, Mile End Road; and one with two manuals for the Roman Catholic Church, Auckland, N.Z. I was at the opening and consecration of the Mile End Road Church by the late Cardinal Wiseman.
I sailed from the London Dock in the steamship Otago on November 5th, 1863, for Nelson, paying £10 as part of the passage money—the full fare was 22 guineas–the agreement being that I was to work for the other part during the voyage. The day before we sailed I signed articles the same as the ship's company, who were all discharged at Sydney. I still have my discharge. It is dated Sydney, January 12th, 1864, and is signed by William Smith, master captain. I acted as pantryman in the saloon. On the voyage we had 36 first-class passengers (fare 65 guineas). There was a Captain Speedy and another officer for the Maori war aboard; also second and third-class passengers, about 115 all told. There was only one other passenger for Nelson, Marmonduke Sedgwick, who afterwards had the tannery at Nelson. We made the quickest passage on record at that time, viz. 51 days 6 hours, beating the Great Britain by 2½ days. We steamed all the way out, calling at Cape St. Vincent and Capetown for coal, and experienced the roughest weather between Capetown and Melbourne. The Great Britain was lying in Hobson Bay when we reached Melbourne, and Captain Grey (commander) came aboard. We went from Melbourne to Sydney where all the ship's company were discharged, Sydney being then the headquarters of the Intercolonial and Panama Company. The Otago then went on
The Whakamarina rush took place about the beginning of April. I left Nelson and went to the goldfields. My mates were Frank Day and Martin, both natives of Nelson. We bought tent, cooking utensils and tools, and camped the first night on Franklin's Flat, on the top of the Maungatapu, above where the murders were committeed. The next night we camped between Canvas Town and Deep Creek. The following morning there was a rush for Deep Creek, where we were fortunate in getting a small claim, about two men's ground in the bed of the creek. The sizes of the claims were then 20ft. by 30ft. or the width of the stream. Afterwards we took George Cundy, a Collingwood digger, in with us as he had more experience than us. In about seven weeks we got about £140 per man. We then went down to Nelson. I sent £50 to England and Frank Day and I went back to Whakamarina and took two other mates with us, Robert Newman and George Demson, better known on this coast as "Sydney Bill". He died in Brunner a few years ago. We took up a claim on the left bank of the Whakamarina River and brought water on to it from another creek, about one mile from the township, but it did not turn out very well. We then took up a river claim and put a dam in the whole length of the claim with crates filled with sacks of clay, working in July up to our waists in water, when being ready to work the part we had dried, Denis Quinlan and his three mates jumped it as a beach claim. We went to Havelock and Warden Kinnersley put an injunction on the claim to prevent either party working until he had visited the claim; but Quinlan and party still worked on, taking no notice of the injunction. Now we come to the time when Quinlan and his mates nearly killed the police sergeant at Deep Creek, for which offence there was offered a reward of £50 per head for their arrest. The second night after the offence, as we were lying in the tent, after going to bed, the tent was opened by troopers, and we were covered by their revolvers, the police having come up the wrong side of the river and mistaking our tent for Quinlans, who were camped on the opposite side of the river, but Quinlan was on the alert, as we saw them making over the range with their bottle lanterns, and the first man I saw packing with horses from the beach to the Waimea was Denis Quinlan. None of your readers will remember the end he met, his body being found in the Buller River. But the claim did not turn out as well as we expected, and in January, 1865, we left it.
Coming to Hokitika in the steamer Nelson from Nelson, with a big number of passengers, I landed at Hokitika on February 9th, 1865. Jumping off the steamer in the bush the only business place I then saw was that of Cassius and Commisky, a small store and post office near the river, where Revell Street is now, and a place partly erected on the opposite side which, I heard, was for a public house. The next day we started for the Waimea Creek, where the principal rush then was. Loaded with heavy swags and tucker the boatman put us across the Arahura. He had a small shanty on the Hokitika side, but on going back to his hut and forgetting to tie the boat up, he ran to the river to save it from going out to sea and was drowned. We stopped that night at Moore Thomas's shanty. There was a man named Burke there drinking, and we followed him to Liverpool Bill Gully, Stafford. He was the only man then working in that gully or creek. We worked there until the end of May, getting our tucker from Waimea. There was no building or tents about Stafford then; only an old fern hut standing below where Stafford is now.
Returning to Hokitika at the end of May we found a street with a great variety of buildings extending from the river to nearly opposite where the present cemetery is now. The Kanieri was just rushed then, and nearly all the ground taken up. We sank several shallow holes at Tucker Flat; we got a dwt. piece in one hole, but nothing to induce us to start there, so we crossed the river and went up above where Gazlor's store is now, and put down four holes about 6ft. x 3ft. with an average of eight feet deep. We could get two gr. to the dish from 2ft. below the surface. We then intended applying for a prospecting claim, as there were six of us in the party, and we could only get a prospecting claim for four men. We pegged off double ground for four men and two men, ground on what we considered the best line below the other.
Our party at this time consisted of the following: Richard Moth, Frank Day, Sam Lloyd, Italian Joe, Antonia (a Spaniard), and a man named Nelson (a Norwegian), and we applied for a prospecting claim in June, 1865. We put down a fifth hole on the two men's ground, about 6ft. x 3ft, 8ft. deep, cradled the dirt from it, and got 9oz. 12dwt. of gold from it. We did not get the prospecting claim, as a new find was supposed to be 3 miles from other workings. We took out several paddocks, which got filled up with water, heavy rain hindering us from working regularly, and having all the water to pump out it was hard at that time to get any men that were willing to put in time cutting drainage tail races, which is the cause of so many of the old Coasters not making more gold than they did. Sooner than do a little dead work they went about to other places and worked worse ground than they had left.
Many of the old miners of those times will remember the fight that took place up near our claim on the island, opposite Sam
We got news that at the Eight Mile they were getting gold in buckets full at Jones's Creek or Ross, and Frank Day, Italian Joe and I started for Ross, along the beach and up the Totara River. There was one store at that time on the beach side of Jones's Creek. We pegged out a claim on Sailor Gully, and worked into a false bottom for seven or eight weeks. We were the first working in that gully, the late Abel Tucky working in the claim above us. We then went into Hokitika again, and there was a rush to Bruce Bay about the latter part of September, 1865. Hunt, the prospector, was at Bruce Bay, and had come up to get some provisions down in a cutter. The Waipara had just been got off the South Beach and she was laid up at Bruce Bay, although Hunt said they had got only a little gold on the beach, and there was nothing to warrant a rush. There must have been 70 or 80 of us went down at £4 per head, taking tucker with us, and landing at Bruce Bay in a surf boat, jumping out of the boat up to our waist in water, and getting our tucker to dry land as best we could. My mates at this time were Frank Day (who is still living in Nelson), and Jack M'Kenzie (now of Blackball). We prospected about the bay for a little while and reduced our tucker a bit in going back close to the snow line, but got nothing. There were very few at that time who knew how to save the beach gold, so we started to tramp back to Hokitika. It was a rough tramp; in crossing one of the rivers I had hold of a horse's tail well twisted round my hand, with five others, hand in hand, behind me. When we got into the current my head went under and my hat went off, the others singing out: "For God's sake, Dick, hold tight to the tail." In crossing Cook's River, Frank Day lost his boots, having taken them off in case he had to swim; the raft went to sea, also his boots, and about 25lb. flour, all we had. The tea, sugar, and a little bacon M'Kenzie and I had taken across the trip before. Men coming back from Ross and going south took the raft back. The men stood on the raft until they were knee deep in the water, then jumped, and all got ashore safely. So Day walked from Bruce Bay to Hokitika without boots; we picked the flour up on the beach afterwards, also a very large dog belonging to the men from Ross, which was carried out, but he was quite dead. Reaching Okarito we had to pay 15d. per Ib. for flour. We got back to Hokitika in November, 1865. We then went back to Liverpool Bill's Gully, passing the Auckland lead a few days before it was rushed, and took out the first water right that was taken out on the Gully, which, I think, was afterwards known as "Porter's Race." We then worked a claim in Humphrey's Gully, on to Stafford, and from
When Fox's rush at Charleston took place Frank Day and I started for it, and getting no claim there, and hearing there was a rush at Karamea, we started for that, going through Westport and as far as the Waimangaroa, about 25 miles past Westport. We got a little gold here; it was coarse gold, but nothing worth stopping for. We saw plenty of outcrops of coal along the terraces, and met some men coming back from Karamea reporting it as no good. So we made up our minds to return to the Waimea and retraced our steps, arriving early in January, after having tramped the whole of the coast line from Bruce Bay to Waimangaroa. We went to the right-hand branch of the Waimea Creek until we came to the big dam, where Seddon's and Joe Wolff's stores stood—one on each side of the narrow track. It is from this time that I first knew Richard John Seddon. We went over the hill at the back of Seddon's into Red Jack Creek, where I resided, gold mining and contracting until November, 1874. I went through Red Jack's Creek and Fox's Creek at his request, on the polling day, when he contested the seat against Honest John White for the Canterbury Provincial Council, when Seddon got defeated; this was before Mr. Seddon was married, and his sister Polly was keeping house for him. I remember the words she used when we got back to the store. Dick said: "Have you any tea ready, Polly; you should have had some ready, as we have had a long tramp and are hungry." Polly said, "It won't be long before it is ready Dick; but it is no good grumbling at me if you didn't get in; I cannot help it."
About June or July, 1873, I took the contract to drive a 1,000ft. tunnel under the hill from the Creek into Red Jack's Flat for Phil Williams and Bill Henderson. After that I was time keeper and the ganger for Wilkinson and Rutter on their contracts for the Waimea Race, afterwards taking two tunnels and some of the open ditching contracts from them. I also had a contract for two of the tunnels on Tocker's Terrace—one from the Government and one a sub-contract.
Leaving Red Jack's Creek in November, 1874, I went to Nelson for the Christmas. Robert Scott had been to Victoria to buy some draught horses, and they had such a rough passage from Melbourne that he landed them at Nelson instead of Hokitika. Seeing me in Nelson he asked me to go to Hokitika with him. We arrived in Hokitika the night they were christening the new engine when the lightning set the fire brigade tower on fire. This was the time (January, 1875) the first settlers went down to Jackson's Bay. I went down with the first settlers and helped to put the store and cottages up, together with Mr. Duncan Macfarlane (Resident Agent), George Orams (Store Keeper), James Nightingale (Road Inspector). I took up a ten acre block there, cleared about two acres; stopped
The Nelson School of Mines used the room at the eastern end of the Suter Art Gallery.
A neatly hand-printed notice still gives instructions on handling apparatus and ends: "Written notice is to be given to the Curator of any articles broken by Members of the Classes. By Order of the Council. 14th February, 1888."
This article is copied from the New Zealand Mining Handbook, 1906.
The Nelson School of Mines was inaugurated in the early part of the year 1888. At that time, throughout the colony, a good deal of interest was shown in mining matters, owing to several metalliferous lodes having been then recently discovered, and Nelson had its share of the mining interest. The Owen Goldfield had just been discovered; fresh finds of rich copper-ore had been made in Aniseed Valley, and a lode of very rich silver-ore had been unearthed near Collingwood. Great things were expected from each of these fields. Large amounts of capital—partly local, partly foreign—were invested in them, but the brains necessary to direct the development of these mineral resources were not forthcoming, and share-raising seemed more important than ore-raising. To impress the unwary speculator, much capital was, in some cases, spent in showy outside works, while the proper development of the mine was starved by a too-meagre expenditure. About this time Professor Black visited Nelson, and delivered a course of lectures on practical chemistry, emphasizing the chemical methods employed in the extraction of metals from their ores. He had with him his assistant and a set of assay apparatus, and demonstrated in Nelson City, as well as in the outlying mining districts, how assaying was done. Professor Black's visit aroused a great deal of interest in scientific mining. A public meeting was held, at which it was resolved to establish a School of Mines in Nelson. About £60 was raised by public subscription, to which the Government added a subsidy of another £60. Both sums of money (£120) were spent in the purchase of chemicals, a portion of which has not yet been used, showing that at least some of the money was spent unwisely. A room was hired, classes formed, and a lot of feverish and crude assaying done. There was no systematic teaching; each member of the class was a professor, and in a short time the interest flagged and the school was closed. Several efforts were made to restore it, but without success. The Committee (practically the Nelson Philosophical Society) had then to face the difficulty of finding rent for the hired room in which the chemicals and apparatus were stored. For a time they paid the rent out of their own private funds; but finding ultimately that there was no possible chance of resuscitating the It is entirely a labour of love on Mr. Worley's part.—Editor Mining Handbook.
First, the teaching of mineralogy, blowpipe analysis, and a little prospecting to some of the elder boys belonging to the State School: Since these classes were started 275 boys have received instruction and training in these subjects. Most of them, at the end of a two-year's course, acquired sufficient skill in the use of the blowpipe to be able to identify with ease all the ordinary ores of commerce. Only a few of these lads, after leaving Nelson, seem to have taken to mining as a profession, but several of them have become schoolteachers, and in their turn have become teachers of science. The scientific methods which they learned in the blowpipe-analysis class are now being passed on to the rising generation, so that the work here, though humble in its way, is far-reaching in its effects. A few members of the class have distinguished themselves in science in their later educational career, and have also become teachers, but in secondary schools. The greater part of the honour of their success belongs undoubtedly to themselves and to the learned professors who taught them, but their earliest training in science was unquestionably received in the Nelson School of Mines blowpipe-analysis class. It was there that they received their bias in the direction of science. Without it their inherent abilities would have been directed into other channels—probably classical studies. As most Nelson young men have to leave here in order to get employment, it is not easy to follow the career of those who have been members of the School of Mines classes, but some are known to occupy responsible positions in connection with mining. The blowpipe-analysis classes have undoubtedly borne fruit.
Second, the making of assays for the public: This branch of our work, though small in its way, is of importance to the district. When a prospector brings in a new find he can generally get it tested within a day or two, and thus save the delay that could be caused by sending to Auckland or Wellington. During the past eighteen years about six hundred assays have been made for the public at a mere nominal charge for the assay. Several samples of quartz, up to 14lb. weight, have been treated for the extraction of the gold. This is a much better test than the ordinary assay, as one generally gets a better average sample of the reef to work upon, and the errors which are likely to arise from the use of small quantities are much reduced.
Third, delivering public lectures: During the winter months one or two lectures on some scientific subject are usually given. These
The foregoing is a brief outline of our history and of our usual run of work. As occasion requires, other work, such as the teaching of assaying or chemistry, is undertaken. As this work has to be done in one's spare time its extent is naturally limited, but sufficient has been adduced to show that, at least, a useful work is being accomplished.
By modern standards there is something haphazard about the way the girls' section of Nelson College came into being. There had been prolonged agitation in the district for the establishment of such a school but the Nelson College Governors were unwilling to commit themselves until it was certain that the boys' school would not suffer from such an action. In February, 1882, however, when the Nelson School Commissioners again asked the Governors to consider the matter and also offered to help with finance, their offer was accepted and a committee was set up to make the necessary preparations.
At first it was thought that the school could be opened by the July of that year and that a house should be bought for the purpose. Later it was decided to build and three acres were bought in Trafalgar Street South. This land had been the property of Henry Adams until the Bank had foreclosed and it was bought now for £1,000.
That was in early May. By May 17 advertisements had been placed in all the leading papers of the Colony inviting architects to submit plans for a building which would house 150 pupils and 40–50 boarders and promising a £25 prize for the best effort. Nine architects responded and on June 9 the plan of Mr. C. E. Beatson was chosen. Tenders were called on August 10 and, after some initial difficulties, the Council decided on September 4 that Mr. W. Bethwaite should be the builder. As the school was to be opened early in February, this left just under five months for the completion of the project.
At the same time as plans were called for, advertisements appeared for a Lady Principal and a Second Mistress. There were fifteen applicants for the first position and fourteen for the second and at a meeting held on July 13, two sisters were chosen. There is no record of any interviews but perhaps the knowledge that both women had a degree, a most unusual qualification for women in those days, made this procedure unnecessary.
Miss Kate Edger, who was appointed Principal, was 25. She had graduated B.A. in Auckland in 1877 and M.A. at Canterbury in 1881 and had taught for five years at the Girls' High School in Christchurch as Second Mistress. Miss Lilian Edger, also an M.A., was rather younger and had taught with her sister for a shorter period in the same school. There is evidence that both had second thoughts about their appointments and Miss Lilian went so far as to ask Professor Brown to write to the Board on her behalf about the possibility of release from her contract. She had a very good reason for this. Some time after the appointment had been made she had become
A matron, appointed in October from 46 applicants, and a third mistress, appointed in November, completed the permanent staff and the project began to take shape. A prospectus was drawn up, lists of necessary books, maps and other equipment were supplied by Miss Edger and three pianos and £50 worth of casts and photographs for the art classes were ordered in England. From the letters which passed between Miss Edger and the committee, and from the amount of business discussed at the monthly Board meetings, it is obvious that every effort was being made to have the school open on time. Details connected wish a possible formal opening ceremony, however, received scant attention. No invitation to perform this task was sent out until January 11, when it was decided that the Governor, in his capacity as Visitor to Nelson College, should be asked to preside. When both he and the second choice, Mr. Justice Richmond, declined by telegram the idea of an official opening seems to have been dropped. With the building unfinished and what furnishings there were very hastily assembled, perhaps it was just as well to begin on a minor note.
A letter which Miss Lilian wrote to another sister two days after they opened gives a graphic picture of conditions:—
Sunday 4th February, 1883. Dearest Eva, You see we are safely in our new home, though amid a good deal of confusion. The architect told us again and again that we couldn't get in, but we declared we would and so we did. On Monday the furniture began to come up, and the carts came more and more frequently every day till it became quite ridiculous and the people in the town all remarked on it! There were only four little bedrooms that the workmen wore out of, so the furniture had to be put anywhere. There wore two other rooms ready, but we wanted hot water upstairs, so they had to be upset again.
On Tuesday we had the desks up, the schoolroom was full of timber and all sorts of things, but when the desks came of course the room had to be cleared.
On Wednesday afternoon we brought our own things, and all came to sleep here. We just managed to get into our rooms….
There was nothing whatever to use in the kitchen except one small stove; no table or anything. The dining-room was crowded with furniture, so we had our first two meals on the desks in the schoolroom.
Fortunately, Thursday was a public holiday, so only a few of the workmen were here.
We got up before five and cleared out and furnished most of the rooms and marked some of the linen. We were able to use the gas last night, and one bathroom this morning—we are shaking down pretty well…..
We began school on Friday. There is no cloakroom, so the girls have to put their hats on the floor beside them. There is no ink, as we have had to send to Wellington for inkwells. There is only one room—really two rooms, but the partition will not be up for a week or so. We shall have to use the dining-room and the upstairs sittingroom as schoolrooms. We had no blackboards on Friday, so we examined our girls rather under difficulties. However we managed it and have classified them roughly….
It is a good beginning, is it not? …. We have begun our day in spite of everything, so now we shall carry on through everything. I think we shall have some very nice, good girls …. Your loving sister,
Lilian.
These "very nice good girls" numbered 68 on the first day and 78 a fortnight later and their ages ranged from 6 to 18 or 19. Of this total 15 were boarders although only 12 had been provided for initially, and they came from Blenheim, the West Coast, the southern districts of the North Island, the East Coast and even one from Auckland. Their parents paid £3/3/0 a quarter for tuition and stationery and £12/10/0 for board. There were extras of course, and these were to include drawing and modelling, pianoforte and singing. Miss Dorothy K. Richmond was appointed to teach drawing soon after the College was opened and we find from a letter of hers written in March, 1883, that she had to use her own studio as the school one was not finished.
It would be fascinating to know the full story of that first year and the few glimpses we do get are tantalising in their incompleteness: tenders were called for fencing and plans for planting considered; major deficiencies in the building were noted—a frigid science room with south-facing windows, and a sunless diningroom that was too small and had to be used as a passage way each time classes changed; there was trouble with the builder who was not to be paid until "the architect was fully satisfied"; an extra house was purchased for use in cases of infectious illness; the first letter of resignation was received by the Council and in it Madam Summerhayes, a
The Lady Matron had the chief responsibility for the boarders after school hours, and was assisted in this by the staff who took them for walks, accompanied them to church and supervised their prep. All the staff were resident but Miss Edger seems to have had doubts about her own fitness by natural disposition and experience for the supervision of boarders and to have withdrawn, with the permission of the Board, to a position of nominal control. It cannot be said, however, that she held aloof from the general non-academic activities. We read of her supplying the need for physical training by assembling some of the girls on the gravel in front of the building and teaching them to swing Indian clubs, a current fashion. In a letter to a Board member in 1889, she pleads for the appointment of a master to take a singing class: "Up to the beginning of this year I have taken the class singing chiefly myself, but I have never been satisfied either with my own teaching of it or any one else's among the staff. So this year, feeling quite in despair over it I let it drop, intending to take it up after a time and make another attempt …. "She must, in addition, have had quite a heavy teaching load because a report for the last quarter of 1883 shows that she took English Grammar, Composition and Literature with a group of 26, Physical Science with a group of 30, Latin with a group of 18 and Physical Geography with a group of 21.
The haste and partial confusion which must have characterised this first year seems to be reflected in the arrangements for the final ceremony of the year in December. The reports of the examiners were presented but the certificates which marked the successes did not arrive in time—indeed some of the results were finalised only half an hour before they were announced.
When the presentation of certificates was made, however, it was done in fine style. The Bishop of Nelson presided and honoured guests were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand and most of the members of the University Senate. The members of the Senate were all asked to speak and Professor Sale of Otago University, responded rather ungraciously He stated that he didn't approve of impromptu speeches, that he didn't approve of undue education for women and would be horrified if one of his daughters had earned "some of these certificates" and that he would "be sorry to see the grace and charm of women sacrificed to the power of the intellect". Mr. C. Y. Fell, in his reply declared that he had yet to learn "that educated women lost any of their charms".
1884 is enlivened, for the historian at least, by a momentous battle of wills between the Lady Principal and the Lady Matron, Miss Elizabeth Bell. Both must have been women of strong character and decided views and the clash of personalities within the Boarding School must have made conditions very difficult for those who had to share the accommodation. Some indication of the mounting tension can be gained from the Board minutes. On June 6 letters from Miss Edger and Miss Bell were read and both ladies were requested to attend a meeting on the 9th to discuss their difference. On August 8 two letters from the Lady Principal were read. Both concerned the Matron and the second recommended that her services should be dispensed with, and the Secretary was instructed to see her. On August 11 Miss Bell resigned and it was agreed that she should leave at Christmas. September brought further letters from Miss Edger on the same subject and the Secretary was again instructed to confer with Mis Bell and then to call a special meeting. Five days later the time of leaving was brought forward to the end of the month but before this date the following statement was recorded: "The Governors have had their attention drawn again to the very unpleasant position of affairs at the Girls' College. As it has been arranged that in any case Miss Bell is to leave at the end of the month the Governors, in view of the increasing unpleasantness, now consider it will be better for Miss Bell, as well as for all concerned, if she can make it convenient to leave this week."
It is interesting to note that Miss Bell was later appointed Matron of Nelson College and presided there from 1886 until 1893 when she was dismissed, ostensibly because a complete reorganisation was being made.
The change of Matron was only one of the staff changes in 1884. Miss Bell was replaced by Mrs. Joseph Mirams, Miss Lilian resigned, Miss Watson moved up to her position and Miss C. Harrison was appointed. Miss Edger herself does not seem to have been very settled. In a letter to her sister Dorothy, Ann Richmond, who taught French and German wrote: "I believe all the teachers are going to resign soon—not from any ill feeling but from a desire for freedoom. Miss Edger wants to go to England." It was the Boarding School and not the lure of overseas travel which caused her to write her first letter of resignation in August, 1885, however. Her decision caused some surprise and this surprise was expressed quite forcibly in a Board memo. "It has come upon the Governors somewhat as a surprise that, with a staff of four resident teachers including the Lady Principal and exclusive of the Lady Matron, and a list of Boarders now unfortunately reduced from 25 to 11, the strain upon the head and assistant teachers should be as great as is represented in Miss Edger's letter". It was over a month before a
In spite of the initial caution of the Governors, the College had been established at a very difficult time. The Colony did not escape the world depression of the 1880's and this was reflected in the school by a drop both in the number of boarders and the total number of pupils. From 105 in 1884 the roll dropped to 75 in 1886, to 67 in 1889 and to 64 in 1890. The economic conditions were reflected also in the salaries offered to new staff. Two assistant mistresses were to get respectively £150 and £120 annually, and a prospective House Governess was to get £30. Notwithstanding there were 32 applicants for the positions of Assistant Mistress and 29 for that of House Governess. The Matron bore much of the brunt of the new trouble and she complained to the Board about the weight of work on her shoulders when it was found impossible to afford a House Governess. She cannot have been very pleased when Mr. Fell suggested that the low number of boarders was her fault and that she should raise the numbers to 25 in six months.
There are many signs of a worsening position as the 1890's approached. In 1887 the school was refused a telephone and the next year the telephone in the College Office was disconnected and the Government was asked to find a room in a public building for the office itself to save the cost of rent. Miss Edger was given six month's notice of a £50 drop in salary, an assistant mistress was given three months' notice of a similar cut, and one was given three months' notice of dismissal. Even the custom of having outside evaminers was discontinued and Miss Edger had to prepare and read the end of year examination report herself. The boarding fee was reduced from £50 to £40 a year and just how inadequate was the provision of money for the running of the College can be gathered from these letters to the Secretary. From Mrs. Mirams in 1886 …. "As Miss Edger and Miss Milne have left the College taking all their furniture away, the sittingsrooms in consequence are left very bare and we think that a few things are necessary to make them habitable." …. a very modest list of requirements followed. Again from Mrs. Mirams, 1889 …. "Would you kindly send me the cheque for the housekeeping expenses as I am quite without money." From an Assistant Mistress, Miss Watson, on June 9, 1886 …. "It is now the 9th of the month and the cheques for the salaries for May have not arrived. Would you kindly forward mine without any further delay. In future I should be much obliged if I could have mine the day after the Governors' meeting."
In November, 1889, came the first indication that Miss Edger was again contemplating resignation, this time because of her impending marriage to the Rev. W. A. Evans, one of the most stimlating young preachers in the town. This news was received with the greatest regret and at the break-up ceremony that year Mr. Fell said that the Governors appreciated the work of Miss Edger to a depth he could not express in words. By then it was known that Miss Edger had consented to return after her marriage but her third and final resignation came in March, when she asked to be released in June.
Her imminent departure was the signal for a major reorganisation. The Matron was given notice and the Principal's position was advertised at £250 a year with the very clear proviso that she must live-in and be responsible for the general supervision of the Boarding School. Even at the lower figure, 20 applications were received and a Miss B. Gibson of Christchurch was appointed. We get the impression that the first seven years had been weathered with some difficulty and that the school was now being battened down for any storms which might follow.
Place names become established only by usage and the more appropriate the name is to the feature the more readily it is accepted. Inappropriate names usually fall into disuse as soon as a more suitable one is found. Descriptive names are the most common and most popular because they help to identify the feature concerned, and this is the purpose of place names.
Place names can be divided into four broad groups: descriptive, historical, commemorative and miscellaneous. The examples which follow have been selected mainly because of their local interest.
Descriptive names:
Historical names are directly associated with the feature and usually record something of its history such as ownership, discovery, establishment, etc.
European Examples:
Examples of Maori historical names:
While many Maori place names are based on historical events others are based on legends and it is sometimes nigh impossible to differentiate. The original Maori name probably described the whole event but usage has reduced it to a few words which have later been run together. One which has been preserved possibly in its entirety is a little hill near Porangahau, Hawkes Bay, named
The origin of many Maori place names has been lost even to the Maoris themselves and some were lost long before the arrival of the first Europeans. William Colenso, when enquiring as to the meaning of Maori names received the reply: "Friend Colenso, there is but one meaning of those several words, the name of the place itself."
To take a Maori name and break it up, then with the aid of a dictionary give each part a meaning, can be most misleading. The result is likely to be similar to the late Sir Apirana Ngata's example as to what can happen to the word category; cat, e short for he—masculine, gory—bloody, so category means sanguinary torn cat—or doesn't it?
Commemorative names have no direct connection with the feature and are usually bestowed as a compliment. The name of Nelson itself and its associated street names in the Nelson pattern are examples. Many Maori names should truly come under this heading but to separate the legendary names from the commemorative would be a mammoth task and the result of doubtful value. In more recent times Maori commemorative names have been bestowed on places and these are still traceable.
When European personal names are used in place names the historical can be distinguished from the commemorative as the former is usually in the possessive form such as "Rutherford's Birthplace" whereas "Rutherford House" and "Rutherford Street" are commemorative. Unfortunately this is not always the case; Captain James Cook used the possessive for some commemorative names. Queen Charlotte's Sound and Hawke's Bay are both commemorative and while usage has removed the "s" from Charlotte, Hawke's Bay is still more commonly used than Hawke Bay. This is particularly the case in conversation where the "s" makes pronounciation less stilted.
Miscellaneous names are those that have no apparent connection with the feature and if there is a reason for them the story has been lost.
Patriotic names, especially those of Victorian statesmen, generals, admirals as well as land and sea victories, abound, but the names given to Murchison streets in early days mostly show strong Republican sympathies.
When the settlement was founded in 1865 it was named Hampden after John Hampden (1594–1643) leader of the Roundheads in the English Civil War. This name was retained until 1882 when a
The name Hampden has been retained in Hampden Street and Hampden Hotel, and eight other streets commemorate the English Civil War:
Early explorers and surveyors were often hard pressed to think up names to bestow in features in an almost nameless country. Their party usually included some local Maoris who were relied upon for existing Maori names, but after that they had to use their own imagination. So we sometimes get the names of the party, their friends and relatives, characters from books and poems and names in the news of the day.
If place names are regrouped in chronological order they become more interesting and often a pattern evolves.
Maori names are our earliest, and two local ones, Motueka and Takaka, are said to be of great antiquity and to have been brought from Tahiti where they are also associated.
Unfortunately the history of many of our local Maori names has been lost and possibly some names themselves, due to raiders from the North decimating the local population.
Abel Tasman in 1642 was the first of the early navigators and he left us only two names in this area.
Captain James Cook in 1770 was next and while he left many names around our coast only three are in our immediate vicinity.
D'urville's Names:
Captain Dumont D'Urville in 1827 was the first European to make a survey of Tasman Bay and he gave 45 names to costal features in this area most of which are still in use.
This is a complete list.
D'Urville named several features after members of his ship's company but in his journal he gives no reasons for having done so. If we presume a connection between the persons and the features these names must also be classed as historical.
Miscellaneous names:
D'Urville does not give any suggestion for his selection of two names on D'Urville Island so these fall into this group.
Guilbert Point to the south of Astrolabe Roadstead is not mentioned in D'Urville's journal and does not appear on his charts but is on the Acheron chart of 1851. Lieut. Guilbert of the Astrolabe was responsible for the hydrographic work.
Two creeks flowing into Astrolabe Roadstead have recently been named after members of D'Urville's Company: Lesson Creek in Stillwell's Bay and Simonet Creek in Appletree Bay.
Although D'Urville was a good linguist and able to speak Maori he recorded only three Maori names in Tasman Bay, none of which are now in use.
Our early settlers called many local places after their home towns and these names can well be called nostalgic, examples are:
When Mr. W. Hough named Wakefield after his home town he said it will also be a compliment to Captain Arthur Wakefield so this name falls into two groups.
Place naming by explorers and surveyors is a continuing process and the names themselves often give an indication of the period in which they were given. The Crimean War names bestowed by Mr. W. T. L. Travers indicate their period as do the group of Second World War names in the Spenser Mountains and more recent "space" names in the Wangapeka-Karamea area.
The poetic pattern of naming in the Spenser Moutains was started by Sir Frederick Weld when in 1853 he named Lake Tennyson and the mountain above it "The Princess" after Tennyson's poem, first published in 1847. In 1855 Mr. Travers named the mountains the Spensers and peaks after characters in Spensers "Faerie Queene." Then were added names from Tennyson's "Idylls of a King," still following a similar pattern; later naming, however, did not conform.
In 1860 Julius von Haast surveyed the south western portion of Nelson Province and while most of his place naming followed the usual patterns he introduced variety by naming some features after European scientists who were prominent members of the Royal Society, e.g. Mt. Owen after Sir Richard Owen; Mt. Murchison after Sir Roderick Murchison and the Lyell Range after Sir Charles Lyell.
The selection of a place name is not just a matter of chance; to be acceptable it must be easily pronouncable and euphonious, and fall into one of the first three groups. Sometimes a name suits a place so well that it is never questioned; Millers Acre in Trafalgar Street, between Halifax Street and Ajax Avenue is an example. From 1852 to 1867 it was the site of the Windmill, Dr. Bush's flour mill, a prominent Nelson landmark. Later it was Mr. John Scott's timber mill and later again Mr. Andrew Miller's timber mill.
In recent years it has become fashionable to dispense with the possessive form in all personal names used in place names, irrespective of whether they are historical or commemorative. This has the undersirable effect of a person whose only claim to fame is that he lived at the end of a certain road, or occupied some land in a certain bay, being promoted from the mere historical to the commemorative in such illustrious company as Queen Charlotte, Lord Nelson, Lord Rutherford, Captain D'Urville and others.
by J. E, Tomlinson, holds the reader's attention as he moves through threequarters of a Century. A retentive memory, an acute perception of people and places, and a deep interest in all he has seen, contribute to make this book very pleasant reading.
The story centres round the Molesworth, Tarndale, The Rainbow, Top House, Lake Station and the Upper Motupiko area, but excursions take one into the Upper Wairau Valley, to gold fields, hunting wild sheep and cattle, army experiences, and associated with these one meets, on the road, innumerable unusual characters—some good and some not quite so good.
The names of people who, over the past century, have made this area what it is, appear on every page. Successes, failures, drama and death all have their place.
The sheep runs of the area are well described and this will have an appeal to the farmer as the same problems recur and will continue to do so.
Residents of Marlborough and of Nelson will find here very interesting reading as it gives a picture of places that are at our back-door, and of the lives of those who lived on them. The reader from further afield will enjoy the book for its humour and the presentation of a way of life in this period.
To sum up, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I suggest that when a reprint follows, a map of the area should be included.
—the story of the Church of England in the Diocese of Nelson, N.Z., 1858–1958, and earlier accounts, by H. F. Ault, formerly Archdeacon of Waimea, Nelson, is still available from the Diocesan Office, 218 Trafalgar Street, Nelson. This interesting and informative work contains 384 pages, 28 photographs, and is still the original price of 3 dollars.