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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Warkworth

page 540

Warkworth.

Warkworth is the county town of Rodney, and lies at the head of the Mahurangi river, forty-two miles from Auckland. The district is noted for its fine fruit-growing qualities, and as the seat of an important industry in the manufacture of hydraulic lime and Portland cement. There is a considerable population in the township, which has a post and telegraph office, a courthouse, public school, and three churches—Church of England, Presbyterian and Wesleyan—a hotel, two temperance boardinghouses, three large general stores, a blacksmith's shop and carriage factory, a livery stable, and a newspaper office which prints the “Rodney Times.” Two steamers ply to and from Wark-worth, and it has also a line of mail coaches, which run thrice a week both ways, between it and Auckland.

Mr. John Sheehan first entered the Parliament in New Zealand in 1872 as member for Rodney, which he represented until 1879. He was then elected for the Thames, for which he sat until 1881. At the general election of that year he stood against Mr. J. D. Ormond in Hawke's Bay, but was defeated by that gentleman. On Captain Morris, member for Tauranga, being called to the Legislative Council in 1885, Mr. Sheehaw became a candidate for the vacant seat, in opposition to Mr. William Kelly, whom he defeated by twelve votes, after a severe contest. He never entered Parliament again, however, for just as he was preparing to leave for Wellington he became ill at Petane, near Napier, and died there of inflammation of the brain on the afternoon of the 12th of June, 1885. His death caused great regret, for he was not only fluent and effective as a speaker on political subjects, but possessed exceptional ability as a public man and a lawyer, and had those personal qualities of good humour, liberality, and general social agreeableness, which endear a man to his friends and make him popular with the public. Mr. sheehan was not thirty-six when he died, for he was born at Auckland in 1850. His father, Mr. David Sheehan, was one of the early settlers, and was for many years a member of the Auckland Provincial Council. He gave his son the best education which was obtainable in Auckland in those days, and articled him to the study of the law, in the practice of which he afterwards achieved distinction, especially in its relation to business in the Native Land Courts of the colony. When a mere boy, young Sheehan served as a sergeant in the Auckland Cavalry Volunteers during the Waikato campaign, he was, also, barely twenty when he entered the stirring though limited arena of provincial politics and was returned for the Northern District, which had formerly been represented in the Provincial Council by his father. In the year in which he entered the Council, 1869, Mr. T. B. Gillies was elected Superintendent of the Province, and notwithstanding Mr. Sheehan's youth, his talents were even then so apparent and so generally acknowledged, that he became one of the members of Mr. Gillies' Executive Council, as Secretary for the Gold-fields. Before entering provincial politics Mr. Sheehan had been a prominent member of the Auckland Catholic Institute, which had really been a training school for his native talents as a debater and speaker on public subjects. Those talents were rther educated by his experience in the Provincial Council, and when he entered Parliament he had, as an orator and debater, a reputation, which he succeeded in maintaining in that assembly. When Sir George Grey entered Parliament in 1875 as member for Auckland City West, Mr. Sheehan's position in the House was such that he became Sir George's lieutenant in the organisation of New Zealand Liberalism; and when Sir George Grey's administration was constituted on the 15th of October, 1877, Mr. Sheehan became Native Minister and Minister of Justice, and held both portfolios until the Ministry went out of office on the 8th of October, 1879. Some time afterwards Mr. Sheehan settled at Napier, and extensively practised his profession as a lawyer in the Native Land Courts throughout the North Island. He was well acquainted with Maori character and customs, and had great influence with the aboriginal natives of the country, of which he himself was one of the most brilliant of the early European natives. Mr. Sheehan was the first European born in New Zealand to sit in the Parliament of the colony.

Warkworth Post And Telegraph Office, which includes a Money Order Office, Post Office Savings Bank, Advances to Settlers Office, and an office for the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, is situated a short distance from the wharf. The building is of wood and was erected twenty years ago. Mr. John Ramsay is the postmaster.

Post and Telegraph Office, Whangarei.

Post and Telegraph Office, Whangarei.

The Warkworth Courthouse And Police Station, which was erected in 1880, is a wooden building with a lock-up at the rear and is situated about a quarter of a mile from the wharf. Sittings of the Stipendiary Magistrate's Court are held quarterly, and the local justices of the peace sit when required.

Mounted Constable Samuel Stacey, Officer-in-Charge of the Warkworth Police Station, has had a varied experience both at Home and in the Colonies. He was born in Dublin, and when sixteen years of age, joined the Royal Irish Constabulary, and three years later entered the London police force. In 1862, he joined the Life Guards and served for ten years, during five of which he was Corporal of Horse. page 541 Mr. Stacey next emigrated to Queensland, and was a member of the police force of that colony for seven years, for a part of that time as sergeant and as cavalry drill instructor in the mounted branch. Owing to ill-health, he removed to New South Wales, and after remaining in the force there for about a year, he took a trip to Suva. A year later, he came to New Zealand, and in 1882. joined the police force under Colonel Reader. Mr. Stacey has been successively stationed at Christchurch, Dunedin, Duntroon, Wanganui, and Hunterville, and in 1895, received his present appointment.

Mr. S. Stacey

Mr. S. Stacey

Wilson, J. and Co., (Nathaniel Wilson and James T. Wilson), Proprietors of the Portland Cement Works, Warkworth. Mr. Nathaniel Wilson first established this industry in 1872, and he was joined by his two brothers in 1885. By consistent perseverance and hard work, the firm has built up a very successful business and overcome the early prejudice against the colonial manufacture. The firm always puts the qualities of its cement to practical tests, and in spite of competition and reverses, it has proved equal to the imported article, as well as cheaper. The firm has executed large orders for the New Zealand Government and for the Napier Harbour Board, to which the Messrs Wilson supplied 100 tons weekly for about a year. The firm also supplied 700 tons of cement to the Waihi battery, Upper Thames goldfields.

Mr. Nathaniel Wilson was born in Glasgow, in 1836, and came out to New Zealand by the ship “Duchess of Argyle,” which arrived at Auckland in 1842. He afterwards visited Victoria, where he had five years' experience on the various fields. Returning to Auckland, he subsequently settled down at Warkworth in 1859, where he began limemaking, and from the beginning then made grew the large business of the present firm. Mr. Wilson was for twelve years a member of the Rodney Council, and eight years chairman of that body, and for some years he has been the chairman of the Upper Mahurangi Road Board. He also takes an active interest in the temperance movement, and is an honorary member of the Rechabites. Mr. Wilson is married to a daughter of Mrs James Snell, of Matakana, and has five sons and five daughters. Four of the sons are employed in the cement works, and the fifth is a school teacher in Auckland.

Mr. N. Wilson.

Mr. N. Wilson.

Mr. James T. Wilson was born at sea in 1842 in the schooner “Duchess of Argyle.” He began life in New Zealand as a blacksmith in Auckland under his father. Subsequently he was engaged at the copper mines at the Kawau and Great Barrier Islands for twelve years. Mr. Wilson then established himself in business at Warkworth, and then joined his brother, Mr. N. Wilson, at the cement works, where they have one of the most successful industries in the colony.

Mr. William J. Wilson, Engineer-in-charge of the Portland Cement Works, Warkworth, is the eldest son of Mr. N. Wilson, the senior partner, and was born in Warkworth in 1864. He served his apprenticeship with the firm and has been in charge of the engineering department since 1884. The greater part of the machinery has been erected under his supervision, Mr. Wilson making a special study of cement machinery in general. He takes an active interest in the Band of Hope, Rechabites, and local Wesleyan churches. Mr. Wilson is married to a daughter of Mr. Isaac Phillips, of Mahurangi.