NAPIER'S YESTERDAYS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 101, 15 May 1937, Page 8

NAPIER'S YESTERDAYS

::::z:: Charles

Price

BY

SOME OLD-TIME BUSINESSES

Napier owes much to its old-time business firms. They ploughed lonely t'urrows through untilled commereial pastures and sowed tho early seeds ot progress whieh later developed into small fields of business prosperity, which were the foundations of the commereial aetivities of Napier 's to-day. Some few, but verv "few, of the old business concerns atiu Isurvive in the original firms or families by Which they were started. Other business establishments served. the citizens well for a shoTt or lengthy period and then dropped out of the running. Still others ehanged in forin of ownership, but xemained permanent as far as the businesses were eoncerned. But all, whether carried on for only a short time, or those that are still going, have played their part in the progress of the town, for as the town grew, so did the businesses expand, still faithful to that grand ideal of sorvice to the community. It is only on such an idestl that any permanent business can be built up, and Napier can point proudly to the many business fiirms ori institutions that have nearly Teached or have paJssed the half-century marlc in the town. Perhaps only after the wreck which the earthquake and fire of February 3, 1931, made did one even faintly realise how the business houses had expended their all in the development of the town as well as the expansion of their own businesses. The trading profits of the years were sunk in. investments in the town, in buildings, in stocks, in machinery. These formed the Sum of Napier '» prosperity, as they marked the outward signs of its growth. But the earthquake and fire swept all these material signs of progress completely away. Nothing was Teft but the courageous epirit which would not bow to adveflsity. Great as was the coutage of those who set about building homes and carving out a niche for, themselves in business in a new country, no lcss was the courago of those who six years ago • took up the challenge to a new adventure, the building of a new town, and who are still sticking to their guns, even though faeed with business opposition from fowns much more favourably situated to suppiy the needs of the people for the time being. And in writing thuS of Napier 's business firins, I should like to inelude those otf "Hastings, "Wairoa and other places affected by the big earthquake of 1931. However, to return to the very early business firms or establishments. The oldest of these up to the day of the big earthquake was the Hawke's Bay Herald, which made its first appearance on September 24, 1857. It still livea, though its identity is now inerged in the Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, and it is still as much a part of the spirit of Napier as it always has been, for it set out to be a Hawke's Bay paper, and not merely a parochial leafiet. it Has maintained, and stfill seeks to maintain that high purpose. The interests of Napier, Hastings, Wairoa, Waipukurau— in fact, the whole provin'ce — are iis interests. The outlook of those whoise horizon is bounded by the boundanies of any one town or district, is a very narrow; outlook indeed. First of those business organisations still carrying on under the old name, or rather the old name extended to take in the descendants of the original founder, is the firm of Kobert Hoit and Sohs Ltd. This business was established. by the late Mr. Bobert Holt in 1859, in Emerson street on a site subsequently occupied by Mr. A. H, Wilsonj ironmonger. Of a very progressi've character it was not long before Mr. Holt moved to a more extensive location in Hastings street, opposite tho ' Albiou Hotel. Here Mr. Holt established a sawmilling business dn addition to that of builder, and with that thoroughness0 which characterised him soon addcd wood-earving and other artistic woodwork to his business, for I think dt can be truly said that, both literally as well as metaphorically, no other business establishment has played so important a part in the building up of Napier as has this firm. Many of the early resddences throughout Hawke 's Bay and inost of the. early chuTches, as well as a large number of the early business places, were built by this firm, and the condition of many of these old buildings to-day is a striking tribute to the fine material and splendid workmanship put dnto them. During its uearly eighty years of existence the firm has kept a very large number of hands going, and this alone has, in no small measure, contributed to the progress and prosperity of the town. A small general store business was established at the Port about 1860 by the late Mr. William Denholm, and is still carried on by his sons under the fctyle of Denholm Bros., and this also has rendered nearly eighty years' continuous service. Somewhere about the same timo, I think, the late Mr. Thomasi Kennedy Newton, who had a grain and produce store in Cariyle street, on the eite now occupied by the Oongregational Church, entered into partnership wdth the late Mr. James Irvine and started a general store at the corner'of Hastings street and Tennyson street. This business has passed through one or two changes, the principal one being the severance of the grocery and drapery branehes of the business, the grocery departmcnt being retained. This was later acquired by Mr. J- 0. Bryant, and Bryant's it is to-day, still on a portion of the Bame section on which it was first established.

In 1861, T think that was the year, fche late Mr. Henry Williams, in conjunction with a Mr. Foane, started an ironmongery and general hardware business in Hastings street, but Mr. Foane was afterwards kiilled. This business grew very rapidly indeed, for its founder was essentially a progresi sive business man, and in addition to | establishing branehes of the business

at Hastings, Dannevirke, and Wairoa, he also assisted in the expansion of, and later took over, the Vulcan Foundry, established by the. late Mr. John Garry. He also took over some years later the American Coach Factory, which had been started by the late Mr. Forster. He was also one of the prime movers in the establishment of the Hawke's Bay Woollen Mills, at Onepoto Gully, an industry which is still being carried on, though it has passed through many hands since it was started. The firm has for many years now been carried on under the styltei pf Henry Williams and §ons, Ltd., 'and is still one of the largest single hardwaTe concerns in the Dominion. Next, I thinkj came the aerated water business of Galberd • and Co., started, I think, in the late sixties, and still going strong, if an aerated water business can be said ever to go strong. It was started by Messrs. James Gatland Gilberd, and Bobert Sweetapple, the latter living to see the business established in the present fine buildings in Kennedy road, the former site in Dickens street havig bqen sold to J. E. Peach and Co. It was in the very early seventies, I fancy it was, when Mr. Wiilliam Bobert Klytho established a generdl drapery, mercery and boot business in Manchester House, Emerson street. The late Mr. Blyth© was, I fancy, tfhe first draper in Napier to institute tkose periodical half-yearly saies which have since become such a feature of drapery business in the Dominaon. He was soon joined in this by Messrs. Neal and Clo.se, and it was this practice of keeping their fashionable stocks up-to-date by these regular saies which caused these two firms to secure the largest shara of the .drapery business of the town and district. The business of Blythe 's grew under its. original founder. When it became Blythe and Co., it grew . still faster, and when it developed into Blythe 's, a limited company, it expanded almost beyond^ recognition, and extended its opcrarions by the establishment of branehes at Hastings and Dannevirke, the former brach being afterwards sold to Mr. Greenfield, who had acted as manager for some time. There is no need for me toi refer to the high position Blythe 's still holds in the drapery business. The book and starionery business now: carried. on by Craig's in Hastings street, is the oldest business of that kind in the town. It was originally established in the early seventies by the Hawke's Bay Herald proprietors, Messrs. Ddiiwiddie, Morrison and Co., as a branch shop, the firin'e main business being in Tennyson street, but becattse Hastings street had by that time become the shopping centre of- the town, especially for the late Saturday night trade, a shop in Hastings -street was deeme.d necessary. The first branch paanager was Mr. Peter Farquhar Colledge, who had been salesman at the Tennyson street shop. After a short period Mr. Colledge, in partnership wath Mr. Nathaniel Jacobs, a tabacconist, started an opposition book and stationery business under the firm name Of Colledge and Co. Mr. John Wileon Craig, the Herald 's accountant, was then put in the Herald 's Hastings street shop to manage it, which. he did most successfully. But after a few years of successful management, Mr. Craig jodned in partnership with Mr. Colledge, and purchased the Hastings street business of Dinwiddde, Morrison and" Co., and amalgamated the two bookselling buvinesses in Hastings street. Some years 4 later Mr. Craig bought out Mr. Colledge 'a intereet in the busdnes and aitered the firm name to J. Wilson Craig, a name that was retained for a long time even after the late Mr. W. A. Clark had purchased tjie business from Mr. Craig. -5 The aerated water business of Thomson and Co. (later to become Thomson and Gifford), at the corner of Battery and Shakespeare roads, was also established about this time. " Mr. A. Waddell, manager for Thomson and Co.,'an Oamaru firm, was drowned, in the wreck of the Boojum, and Mr. Harry Gifford paxtnered, Thomson and Co. in the business, which lastly became the present business of W. Plowman and Sons, Ltd. Almost the half century has run since Mr.1** James Porteus Thomson established himself in business as a draper in Emerson street, xight alongside Blythe and Co.'s shop. Well managed, both businesses grew side by side, if not in beauty, at least iin that steady expansion which. signified 'Jthat each business was fulfillihg a special requirement of the community and doing it well. After some twenty or more years of trading Mr. Thomson sold h'is business and stock to McGruer's, a firm which had its roots in -Oamaru, but its branehes spreading wide over both islands. McGruer's we still have with ua, and it is no insincere wish to express the hope that it is a fiourishing concern. Andther fifty-year-old business, or neaxly that, is Allen's Furnishing Co., . started by the late Mr. C. B. Allen, in a small way in Emerson street, on the same site as that now occupded by the present firm.

Bather more recent, but still old are the businesses of Bingland Bros. (originally Bingland and Thomas), Beardon and Wright, Parker's, J. B. Boss and Co., Barry Bros, Ltd., F. G. Smith and Co., Hanna and Co., Blaek Bros., Simmonds, Ltd. (originally A. Simmonds "and Co.), J. D. Briasco and others. Mr. S. McLernon was fche previious proprietor of McClurg's watchmaking and jewellery business, whieh is the oldest in the town, though as a wo.rking jeweller, Mr. tW"- A. Cooper has probably been at" tho trade in Napier longer than anyone else in the t business. The New Zealand Clothinrr

| ractory (how HaUenstein Bros.) is oue if the oldest business establishments in ;he town, but it, of course, is only a araneh shop. There are many other firms whose >usinesses in the town run back twenty, ihirty and even more years, and who iave all helped in a very material way ;o the development of the town to its present position, I had forgotten the auctioneers. The first that I remember hearing about vas Mr. Vautier Janisch, whose auction room (afterwards used as a volunteer Irill hall) was at the foot of Shakespeare road, opposite the Government lawn. He carried on business for a few years, but eventually found tbe opposition of another auctioneer, Mr. Bdward Lyndon, too much for him. Mr. Lyndon was the first secretary and manager of the Napier Savings Bank, an institution whose office was at the corner of Brownang street and Byron streets, and which was occupied for some years as the Napier office of the Hawke's Bay Tribune, up to and for some time after the earthquake of 1931. Mr. Lyndon had built commodious auction rooms on the corner of Browning and HerscheU streets, on the present site of the Hawke's Bay County Council offices. Here he carried on business for many years as an auctjioneer, commnssioln agent and piano importer. After a considerable number of years the auctioneering business passed into the hands of Mr. Montague Lascelles, for whorn Mr. A. McGlashan was accountant. The business was afterwards -reraoved. to Tennyson street to the' present site of MeGlashan's Auction Mart, and here Mr. McGlashan took over the business from Mr. Lascelles, when the latter feit called npon to devote himself to a higher ealling. Thus the business has had an almost uninterrupted life of about seventy years. The land auctioneering business carried on at various periods by C. B. Hoadley," Hoadley and Lyon, C, B. Hoadley and Son, and Hoadley, Son and Stewart, Ltd., is the oldest business of that deseription, and has been in existence for just over sixty, years. The area pf land sold through its agency in that period would probably amount to considerably more than the area of the whole of Hawke's Bay, and many large bloeks of land have been eubdivided into smaller areaa^ suburban allotments and town sections, and disposed of by this firm, and some. of these have developed into prosperous xural settlements. Another old-established business in the same line is that of Harvey, Fulton and Hill, who are carrying on a business originally started by Messrs. Horace Baker and Walter James Tabuteau, under the name of Baker and Tabuteau, then by W. J. Tabuteau personally, and lastly by the present firm, of whom only Mr. William Harvey remiains. At .tho Port the oldest firm is that founded. by the late Mr. George Edward Gordon Bichardson, which from a comparatively small shipping and indent business developed into a yery big shipping line. The oldest wholesale house is that of Ellisoa and Duncan, Ltd., yrhich has been establisued for well over fifty years, the older firm of Bobjohns, Hindmarsh and Co., Ltd., having passed out at the time of .the 'quake. Of the wholesale, general merchandise and stockbroking firms the ol.dest at the Port is, I th'ink, Murray, Eoberts and Co., Ltd., though I fancy the New Zealand Loan aud. Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., had a town office before them. Shortly after Murray, .Eoberts and Co., Ltd-, came Dalgety and Co., Ltd., and Williams and Kettle, Ltd., though only .the last-mentioned can be classed as a local firm, Mr. Frederie Wanklyn Williams, having been in the office of Messrs. Kinross and Co., and Mr. Nat. Kettle with Messrs Murray, Eoberts and Co., Ltd., before entering into partnership on* their own account. Messrs. Jas. J. Niven and Co., Ltd. (late1 Galloway and Niven 's), is the oldest important industry at the Port, and has been established well over fifty years, constantly expanding until it has now become what is probably the largest business of its kind in the Dominion, and one with a very large payroll. The most important single industry, however, in either town or port ds that of the National Tobaceo Co., Ltd.,, .which was formed some twenty years ago. The strides made by the company in that comparatively short period of time, are without a parallel in any other secondary industry in the provinee, and in the magnitude of its operations, the support is gives to many other New Zealand" primary and secondary industries in absorbing tobacco leaf output or in the manufacture and suppiy of boxes, tins, labels, etc., it is oue of the most important industries of the Dominion. The Sunshine Brewery, formeriy the Napier Brewery, established in the early seventies by Messrs. Eobjohns and Ellis, is another very old industry. I could name a great many more firms that have had a lengthy period of existence in Napier business circles, but which are no lohger carrying on, but the list would be far too long. However, I cannot forbear to mention Messrs. John Close, " John Wainhouse Neal, John Commons McVay, George Henry Swan, James Stanistreet Large, John Helier Yautier, Charles Hugh Cranby, William Plowman, and othei's, who, besides building up successful businesses for themselves, did dmmeasurably fine service for the town in many wa'ys, particularly aa members for many years of the Borough Council.