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The History of the Jews in New Zealand

Chapter XXII — The Jews in Arts and Civics

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Chapter XXII
The Jews in Arts and Civics

AS could be expected in a young country like New Zealand, it took time before the community developed its own resources in art, literature and scholarship. Few of the pioneers who migrated to the country had sufficient leisure to devote to the aesthetic aspects of life, or the time to attain heights of renown. Their days were occupied in earning their daily bread or in seeking security. It may have been expected that the Jews, who had a long tradition in the love of learning and music, would soon have produced men and women of prominence in those spheres. However, besides the Jewish population's being comparatively few in number, most of the migrants came to the country when young, and did not have the opportunity to develop any talents they may have possessed. Moreover, the London Jews, after their families had. lived in England for two centuries, had lost some of the enthusiasm for study for its own sake implanted in their forefathers of Spain and Holland. Nevertheless, they did share with the Scots a recognition of a need for education, and when the Presbyterians created the University of Otago at Dunedin and the Church of England later founded the Canterbury University College at Christchurch, quite a number of Jewish parents hastened to take advantage of the facilities to give their children a higher education. It produced results. Some showed promise of their future. F. E. Baume received honours in a number of faculties at the University of Otago. At the same university, Saul Solomon, after a brilliant course, became Otago's second graduate. He took up law, and after admission to the Bar, acted in many celebrated cases. With F. E. Baume he took silk amongst the first King's Counsel appointed in New Zealand in 1907. Besides law, Solomon loved horses. Successful on the turf, he served as Vice-President of the Dunedin Jockey Club for a number of years. The courts knew him as an eminent barrister, and the public as a sportsman who drove a crack team in double harness.

Otago University also produced Phineas Levi, another successful lawyer of note, and Ethel R. Benjamin, the first woman solicitor in New Zealand, who published papers on "Women and Workers" and "Women and the Study and Practice of Law". When she received her degree in 1897, she replied on behalf of the undergraduates, the first occasion a lady did so. Septimus Myers served on the Board of Examiners of the Dental Faculty. He took page 160 a prominent part in public affairs and sporting organizations. Besides being elected Mayor of the Borough of North East Valley, he presided at the North East Boating Club, Tahuna Park Trotting Club, the National County Club of New Zealand, the Otago Cycling Club and the Dunedin Dog and Poultry Society. His interests did not lack variety.

Only one or two New Zealand women have won international fame in music. Madame Asher, the daughter of David Davis of Christchurch, sang at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, as a lyric soprano. Nevertheless, a number of Jews did make a contribution towards the appreciation of music in the country. One of the rare London Sephardi families which retained the Jewish love for learning, the Keesing family, had many of its members associated with musical societies. Maurice Ralph Keesing, recognized as a good amateur musician, worked as a barrister and solicitor. He gave up his profession for the purpose of teaching languages and a memory system of his own, "The Imperial Memory System", which he had devised after intense study in philology and metaphysics. George Cashmore Israel, an Otago educationalist, helped to found the Dunedin Competitions Society and Dunedin Choral Society. If she had not died when young, Martha Myers, a daughter of Judah Myers of Motueka, may have added to her early successes as a mezzo-soprano and as a pianist. At Palmerston North, Maurice Cohen, the branch manager of J. Nathan and Company, and later mayor of the town, besides being interested in polo and cricket, conducted the orchestra for the Orchestral Society of Palmerston North for over twenty years. One of Canterbury University College's most brilliant students on record, Alfred Charles Sandstein, took a prominent part in musical and dramatic public performances in Christchurch. Whilst studying medicine in England he had associated with the Strolling Players Amateur Orchestral Society.

That which the Jews lacked in numbers, they made up for in their remarkable record of voluntary public and civic service, unequalled perhaps in any other part of the world. Wherever they resided they served on city, town and borough councils with devotion and sacrifice and with no thought of personal gain or profit. It silently expressed the blessings of freedom and equality. For Jews it translated in a realistic and effective fashion the teachings of Judaism of loving one's neighbour be he Jew or Gentile, and of working for the common weal. Their election to senior positions in communal endeavour was not merely coincidental. Before education became compulsory in New Zealand, the average Jew had an advantage over the average Gentile. Whilst the majority of Gentile migrants came from homes of the labouring classes who had not been taught to read or write, the Jewish migrant, with very rare exceptions, no matter if he came from the poorest surroundings, would at least have a knowledge of Hebrew and the page 161 Bible besides an acquaintance with secular subjects. The religious background and upbringing of the Jews gave them a dignity and honesty of purpose which may have been lacking in others. Poverty and town life had made them alert and quick witted. The Englishman who had resided in London usually possessed a cockney sense of humour which, together with his friendliness, won him popularity wherever he went. The Polish-German Jews, because of their intensive training and education, easily won respect and confidence.

In spite of difficulties of language, Bendix Hallenstein became Mayor of Queenstown and Louis Ehrenfried Mayor of Thames. They both came from Germany. Myer Caselberg, Mayor of Masterton, and Samuel Edward Shrimski, Mayor of Oamaru, originated in Poland. Born in Posen, Shrimski joined Joseph Moss in business at Oamaru, and together they built the first stone building in the district. They both served on the Town Council, and Moss, a keen sportsman, accepted a unique honour for a Jew—a directorship on the Caledonian Society. Treasurer of the Hospital Trustees and founder of the Athenaeum, Shrimski originated and acted as first chairman of the Waitaki High School Board. He influenced the school to choose a Biblical motto, "The Lord is the source of wisdom", which appears in Hebrew letters on the crest on the wall of the school and on all school stationery.

The names of English Jews appear more frequently than those of Polish or German Jews as members of councils in the smaller towns of New Zealand. Amongst the more prominent Jews, Solomon Abrahams served as Mayor of Palmerston North, Henry Nathan as Mayor of Wanganui, Moss Jonas as Mayor of Timaru and J. H. Levien as Mayor of Nelson. Hyman Phineas Cohen served on the Napier Borough Council and as Chairman of the Hawkes Bay Hospital and Charitable Aids Board, and Abraham Goldwater on the Borough Council of New Plymouth. A relative, D. L. Goldwater, was appointed to the executive of the New Zealand and Australian Natives' Association.

In the four largest cities of New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch, the contribution of Jews towards their city's advancement has been impressive. In Auckland a council had been formed about 1852, but the English Government disallowed the Act upon which its finances were based, and the Council disbanded. A Board of Commissioners conducted Auckland's affairs from 1869 to 1871 with Philip Aaron Philips and Asher Asher, the Chief of the Auckland Fire Brigade, amongst its members. Philips, one of Auckland's leading citizens, introduced the Municipal Corporations Act, and the Council, which met in a bookseller's shop in Queen Street, elected him as its first mayor. The city also elected him as its representative on the Provincial Council until its abolition in 1876. A good leader, Philips introduced many innovations into municipal life such as the estab- page 162 lishment of the Free Public Library, the foundation of the Mechanics' Institute, of which he was President, the building of a city market and the acquisition of an adequate water-supply. His business suffered because of the depression after the Waikato War, and after his retirement as mayor, the city appointed him as town clerk, a position which he filled with success for twenty-seven years. He was on the Harbour Board and Education Board, and took a deep interest in Freemasonry and the Auckland Hebrew Congregation, of which he was President for twenty-five years. Besides contributing to the Auckland newspapers, he acted as a regular correspondent for the Press in London and Australia. The Jewish community considered itself honoured when Philips retired as mayor and the city fathers elected a coreligionist, Henry H. Isaacs, to succeed him. Another prominent Auckland citizen, Laurence D. Nathan, also served as a councillor, whilst A. H. Nathan was elected Chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board.

Although no Jew was elected Mayor of Wellington, W. H. Levin, the first Chairman of the Harbour Board, had been offered the post but refused to accept it. Another Jew, Lionel Lewis Harris, contested an election for the mayoral position but lost. He had been one of the first Jewish men in the Hokitika gold-rush and the first man to cross the Okarita Bar. He saw the riots at Okarita and at Bruce Bay, where the infuriated miners sacked every shop in the area. In Wellington he started business as a private banker, which fact almost automatically elected him to the Finance Committee of the Council. He also organized the city's Fire Brigade. Lewis Moss, who had been elected to the first Wellington City Council in 1870, acted as the captain of the brigade. Harris's uncle, Lipman Levy, who assisted in the establishment of the Tram Board, had two Wellington streets named after him, Levy Street and Lipman Street. He shared that honour with Samuel Salek who named two streets he constructed Salek Street and Te Whiti, the latter because he had been sent as one of the Oamaru Guards to Taranaki to assist in the arrest of Te Whiti.

One of the youngest men to be elected to the Wellington City Council, Joseph Myers, a son of Judah Myers of Motueka, was a brilliant debater, and won a gold medal for his ability in this field. A keen sportsman, he earned election as president of a number of football clubs. Other Wellington councillors of the Jewish faith included Ralph Levoi and Frank Moeller.

At Christchurch, Charles Louisson, a pillar of the local synagogue, was four times elected mayor. An important figure in the district, he served on a number of charitable boards and on the committee of various racing clubs. In 1888, the Government appointed him one of the country's representatives as a commissioner at the Melbourne International Exhibition. Another pillar of the synagogue who occasionally conducted the services, David Davis, served as a member of the Canterbury Provincial Council.

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Councillor Alfred Isaac Raphael handed down a sporting tradition to his two sons Henry Joseph Raphael, President of the Canterbury Bowling Club and Fred Raphael, Secretary to the Cricket Council of New Zealand. He entertained all overseas cricket teams which came to Christchurch. Marcus Sandstein, another city councillor, raised two distinguished sons, Alfred Charles and Ernest Max, who won honours in medicine and optics.

At Dunedin, besides Mark Cohen, the acknowledged leader of the progressive party on the City Council, Abraham Solomon and Bernard Isaac also served with sincerity on the same municipal body. Isaac was responsible for the opening on Sundays of the Athenaeum in Dunedin. He said that if a Gentile would not work on Sunday he would be prepared to enter for three years into an arrangement to attend as a Jew.

In civics as well as in commerce and the Press, the Jews in New Zealand could reflect with pride and satisfaction upon their record. For their numbers, they compared more than favourably with any other denomination. They represented an influence for good. They were men of responsibility who accepted their duty as a privilege. New Zealand could be gratified that she had such men in her midst.