SUMNER'S SOTRY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19140, 25 October 1927, Page 3

SUMNER'S SOTRY.

LUI'ORTANCEINTHE EARLY DAYS. CANTERBURY'S GATEWAY. rV Hi'' first seven!een ~r eighteen , years of the settlement of Canterbury j after il,e .arrival of the "first four | -diips.". Sumner played an important part in the development of Chri-tchurch J :m !. generally, of the whole province. j li; those days it was-, even in a greater j degnv than Lyttelton, the gai'ewav to I I he plains, providing a for j transport and, after the unnpietinii of i the Lyttelton-Suniner road, a land I route for passengers and goods. The ! steep ascent of the Eridle Path made it impracticable as a mute [or the conveyance of goods, and passengers were compelled to do (lie .journey by foot. Until the establishment of railway communication between Christehurch and Lyttelton, routes via Sumner provided the best means for the transport of passengers and goods. Health ana Pleasure Resort. Apart from the utilitarian transport aspects, it is evident that from the beginning Sumner was intended as a seaside health resort. That it became a popular resort of the residents of the young City of Christcliurch in the early days is borne out by the following extract from "Station Life in Canterbury," by Lady Barker, who, referring to her journey from Lvttelton to Christchurch on October 11th, ISU.j, wrote:— "We were soon rattling along the Sumner road by the seashore, passing every now and then under tremendous overhanging crags. In half an hour we reached Sumner itself, where we stopped for a few moments to change horses. There is an inn and a village here, and people come from Christehurch in the warm weather for sea air and bathing." Since then Sumner has grown in importance yearly as one of the Citv's playgrounds, and the valuable part" it has played in maintaining and furthering the health of thc'people, especially as the City grew and the population became more numerous, hardly can be overstated. As it was the earliest, so it has remained the most attractive and has become the most beautiful of the holiday and health resorts in the vicinity of the City. Splendid as has been Sumner's record up to the present, no one doubts that its future be as brilliant and that the resort, will prove of ever-in-creasing importance to flic City and its residents. Sumner's First Building. During IS4O, the year before the arrival of the Canterbury pilgrims, Captain J. Thomas, the New Zealand Company's surveyor, caused to be erected flic first building in Sumner. It was a si ore for the use of the Company, and

I it st.pod iii the liencl towards the roa.l , leading t0 Clifton, where the hio|, cliff's cm:, and opposite where now is tile tramway viaduct. Captain G. F. Dav .father of Pilot J. Day) and his famifv afterwards occupied the store. Captain ; Day erected another building and intended opening it as an inn, hut a deviation of the main road r suited in ilii' building ijciiip abandoned as it was too far back from the road. The old store was then purchased and converted into an hotel, being either the third or fourth house in Canterbury to which was granted a lieen-o to sell spirituous liquors. This was the original Sunnier Hotel. The building disappeared manv years ago, and the license was transferred to a building at the comer of Grafton and Moduli streets. This license was abandoned some years ago—one of the rare instances in the Dominion of a publican's license having been extinguished otherwise than as a result of a local option poll. The Second Kural Section. At the historic gathering nt the Lands Oliice. Christehurch, on February 17th ami ISth, ]S;j], when the allotment of sections took place. No. - rural section was an area at Sumner. On the dates mentioned 10G land orders were dealt with, the procedure being that tin? names of the purchasers were called in order of priority fixed by a ballot, earli settler pointing out on the' map the section he had selected. Kural suction Xo. '2 + 'ell to Mr Felix Wakefield, brother of Mr E. Jerningham Wakefield, and was an area of 100 acres at Sumner in the valley facing the beach. Twenty-two years later, in 1573. the late Mr C. W. Mount fort, licensed surveyor (he was one of the Charlotte Jane's passengers) arranged to en up this section a township. His son, Mr C. Adnam Mountfort. did the field work in which he was assisted by Alt' Day, one of Captain Day's sons, and a brother of Pilot Day, and Andrew Le Fleming, son of Sir Michael Le Fleming, Bart. In that year Sumner, to the cast of the Lyttelton road, was in its native state, and was covered with J manuka and grass. West of the main road there were houses, including Day's Sumner Hotel (then kept by Mr Hor'niman), and Morton's Marine Hotel. The Sumner area was subdivided into quar-ter-acre sections.'

Other Early Selectors. Other selectors in ISSI were:—Mr 13. Parkerson, 100 acres, further bade from Mr Wakefield's: Mr Edwand Dobson, 50 acres, near the Marine Hotel site; anil the l\cv. J. Cottcrill, 50 acres, afterwards owned by Mr Ming worth. The first of the selectors to settle nt Sumner were the Parkei'sons, who, in 155.1, built a small cob house at the back of their section. Mr Dobson's house ultimately became part of the Marino Hotel. The licv. Mr Cottcrill brought from England with him a, wooden house in sections, and erected it on his land. At the same time that Mr Wakefield's subdivision was in hand, Mr Edward Hamum, a Government surveyor, and a brother of Mr K. J. S. Harmaii, was laying out rural sections on (ho hills r lmd Sumner. Quiet times, comparatively, fell upon Sumner after the Christchureh-Lyttcl-ton railway was opened. . The coaches that brought daily a certain amount of bustle and created a certain amount of interest ceased running, and the shipping fell off. In the seventies, however, Sumner began to come into its own as a health resort, and a favourite picnic ground. Towards the eighties Sumner was coming into favour as a residential locality, and many City men had erected dwellings.

Residents in the Early Eighties. The residences fronting on the Esplanade in the early eighties were those of Messrs J. M. Wheeler (the first Mayor of the borough); C. Newton, a teacher at one of the secondary schools in the City; Arthur Appleby, at that time thief' accountant for Mr Charles Clark, and afterwards a prominent land aud estate agent; C. Todhunter; Geo. Fletcher, tailor; Fred Jones, the principal in a City firm of painters; W. Langdown, and Philip Hanmer. Mr Matson, sen., and Mr E. W. Roper lived in llcberdcn avenue. Mr James Austin Graham was farming the Sumner Vallev farm. Mrs James Rule was licensee of the Cave Rock Hotel, and Mr Fred. Day of the Sumner Hotel. The Marine Hotel was kept by Mr J. Patterson, who. in ISB4, took over the New Brighton Hotel. Mr James Morton, the owner of the Marine Hotel, then went to Sumner to manage it. The propertv known as Rock Villa, fronting on Grafton street, was at one period the residence of Dr. Foster, and later was owned by Mrs A. J. White. In ISS-i there were three houses on the triangle enclosed by Wakefield avenue, Xavland and Grafton streets. In addition to Rock Villa there was a house occupied bv Mr James Crawford, afterwards the Borough Engineer, and another house which was owned by Mr Papprill, father of Mr E. L. Pappnll, barrister and solicitor. _ ■The first genera', store was started m 1573, and in ISS2 was kept by Mrs Terrv who was Sumner's first postmistress. Afterwards, Mrs Terry leased her business to Mr J. Tolan.

Streets and Tracks. Xaylaud street was formed in 1879. Until that year none of the streets was formed with the exception of the main road from Lyttellon. For some years all the back part of the flat was covered with flax, and a portion of Bury street, was hidden by scrub. In ISS2 and for some years after the streets were rough, unformed tracks, and there were no footpaths. ' October Dinners. Mr James Morton, the owner and censec of the Marine Hotel, was held in high esteem as a chef, and his annual dinners on October Ist drew many visitors from the City and elsewhere. At these dinners were served flic first spring lamb, first green peas, first new potatoes, and the first asparagus. "An occasion of fragrant memory" is how one of those who participated described the meal. Mr Morton had been a chef in Ihe kitchen of H.M. Queen Victoria, and came to the Dominion on the staff of one of the early Governors. Trior to going to Sumner he was licensee ol 1 the Langham Hotel in High street, opposite Strange and Co. The kitchen of the Marine Hotel in Mr Morton's day must have been a perfect picture with its display of brass and copper utensils. Another-feature-that is still spoken of with admiration was the portion of the building with adobe (mud) walls, which, 'in the hottest days of Sumner, was refreshingly cool. Old members of the Christchureh Liedertafol still cherish the memory of many a pleasant evening spent at the Marine Hotel. In the eighties Sumner was particularly popular as a late dinner resort, Christchureli folk coaching down to one of the hostelries and getting back to town about midnight.

Coaches and Tramways. Communication between Sumner and Christchureli was maintained in the days before the trains, by coaches, and by private horsed-vchiclcs. The regular coach service between Lyttclton and Christchureli, via Sumner, started in ISSB, the coach having boon imported from London by Messrs Wheeler and Nurse. The first trip was on Saturday, March 27th, and the arrival of the coach in Sumner was an event that only could be fittingly celebrated by a dinner. Although the Lyttclton-Sumncr-Christ-ehureh road opened in 1557 is described as being fit for light traffic only, it was a regular coach route until the opening of the Lyttclton-Christchurch railway ten years later provided a shorter and quicker route. There were two lines of coaches between Lyttclton and Christchureli, via Sumner—one run by Cobb and Co., and the other by Bruce and Co. The services were daily. Cobb and Co.'s coaches left from the front

of the Mitre Hotel, and the other line from the front; of tho Queen's Hotel. The fare was os per passenger. Hill Suburbs. The development of the hill suburbs of Sumner is one of the most iutercsting features of later years. In the early eighties tho areas known as Lower Clifton and Clifton spur belonged to the late Mr A. J. White, and soon after his death they were disposed of to a syndicate which, in turn, disposed of the spur to Mr S. Hurst Seager, the well-known Christehurch architect, who built several artistic bungalows, thereby demonstrating the suitability of the hill areas for residential purposes. Towards the end of 1906 the Morten Estate took the preliminary steps to sub-divide the Scarborough area at the eastern end of the borough, the construction of the road giving access to this sun-exposed spur being put in hand. An extension of this road makes it possible nowadays to motor to Taylor's Mistake. In 1911 the Bprough Council purchased 9i acres on the Scarborough spur for the purposes of Scarborough Park, the Morten Estate giving the municipality ten years in which to pay for the area. About 1910 Mr George Humphreys bought the Richmond Hill Estate from the Morten estate, and put a road through it to the golf links, and then joined it up with the Summit road track to the Mount Pleasant Best House.