NEW ZEALAND PREMIERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 998, 14 June 1930, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND PREMIERS

WHERE THEY HAVE LINED TO PARLIAMENT ON A -‘BIKE” Alention of the fact that the Prime Minister, the lion. G. AY. Forbes, lives in a bachelor flat with two of his colleagues lends interest to the following letter from a correspondent: As a lad 1 enjoyed my Saturday mornings in firing brick-bats on to tlio coach-house at the rear of “Arikitoa,” from the vantage point of a high macrocarpa tree next door, on higher ground, he says, writing in reference to the official residence of Prime Ministers in Tinakori Road, Wellington. In those days Sir Julius oS f -d was in residence. He was sueceded by the Hon. Captain Russell (Sir Harry Atkinson residing in liis own home in 'Wellington South). Then came John Bailance, who died there or. April 2S, 1593. Sir Alfred Cadman followed; and in 1900 Sir-Joseph "Ward lived in the house, and was there right up till the time of his handing over the reins of Government to Sir Thomas Mackenzie, five and a-half years after the death of Mr. Seddon.

Mi'. Seddon’s days were those immediately preceding the motor age, and he elected to reside in the Molesworth Street Ministerial residence after the departure of the Hon. W. F. Reeves tc London in 1896. From 1890 until 1895 my .home was next door but one to this house, and my people were continually pestered with telegraph boys inquiring “if this was the Ministerial residence.” Also. I recollect delivering personally to Mr. Seddon. at this house, a “new issue” gold medal railway pass: this was during the first v. eek oj: March. 1897. One of the chief reasons why the Premier (there was no “Prime Minister” until' the first Dominion Day, 1907), Mr. Seddon chose Molesworth Street, was that .Hill Street (well named) was a most difficult walk for him, in hot weather especially. It is the thoroughfare connectmg the Parliamentary Buildings with “Ariki-toa” in Tinakori Road.

Sir Joseph Ward used to ride down r.? -House on a Massey-Harris push bike with yellow wooden rims! Residing in Molesworth Street meant tJiat Mr. Seddon trudged to the old wooden portion of ’the Parliamentary Buildings (destroyed by lire in December, 1908) in a minute or two along a thoroughfare practically level, and an eas y slope down to his office in the “biggest wooden building m the world,” during the recess. When his health began to fail (about 1902) his medical adviser strongly urged horse-riding as a suitable exercise, and to secure the necessary accommodation, Garland’s tin-smithing business—shop and site—were “acquired” under the Public Works Act. .Tt was a rowdy business, the tom-tomming lasting all night at times. It was essential that this business should go, in tho interests also of the Premier’s much-needed hours of sleep—we had the brunt of it on the northerly side. I well remember the caustic comments of the “Evening Post” in regard to this land purchase, in which the transaction was likened to that involving “Naboth’s vineyard” of Biblical fame. Those were the times when Dick, Tom and Stuart Seddon used to leave home at 5.20 a.m. to catch the horsecar at the foot of the street for the Boys’ College in Sussex Square.

After Mr. Seddon’s death, Sir Joseph Ward, as Prime Minister, continued in residence at “Ariki-toa,” and Molesworth Street was the official quarters of tho Hon. Dr. Robert McNab, Minister of Lands. I had occasion to interview the Minister of the subject of the Benraoro leases, in 1908—the year of his defeat. On General Flection night, .1911, a crowd of hoodlums followed Sir Joseph right to his home in Tinakori Road. The defeated staesman never forgot the insult, and shortly afterward (with the aid of motor - travel) he was able to reside at Heretaunga, in the ITutt Valley, and in the vicinity of the golf links there. Meanwhile Mr. Massey came to live at Tinakori Road, and tho residence of Mr. Coates until the end of 1928 in the same place, brings this little piece of history up to date.

It might well be recorded that an act of vandalism was defeated this year, when the decision to cut up the picturesque grounds into business sites was altered. Although the grounds and general surroundings are ..convenient and (for Wellington) spacious, a drawback is the fact that the sun dips behind the Tinakori Hills very early in the winter months, and the property is without any afternoon sunshine at all during four months of the year. This, however, is counterbalanced by the magnificent sunrise effects across the harbour in the direction of the Day’s Bay hills. It might also be a matter of general interest to record that, after Mr. Seddon’s death, the widow and family lived in a house at “Golder’s Hill,” v/hich overlooked the old ministerial residence.