Spa weathers the law, floods over the years

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 50, 25 June 1974, Page 3

Spa weathers the law, floods over the years

Facing an uncertain future is nothing new for the historic Spa Hotel. Built on an Armed Constabulary camp site in the early 1800s, the hotel's fortunes have waxed and waned in recent years. A claim by a former owner for $380,000 damages against the Taupo Borough Council is still pending in the Rotorua Supreme Court. Lodged by J. W. Birnie Ltd., the writ relates to flooding at the hotel in December, 1969, and February, 1971. After running the Spa for 21 years, Mr Birnie and his wife were forced to let it go to auction on January 29, 1972. Since then, the hotel has changed hands three times. The present owners, Sentinel Holdings Family Trust, Auckland, bought the hotel from Spa Properties Ltd. recently. The liquor licence expires on June 30, and the company is making inquiries into the licensing committee's refusal to renew it. The Spa is the oldest hotel in the Taupo district

and has a colourful history. It was started by Edward Loffley when, as a quartermaster in the Armed Constabulary, he was given permission to sell liquor to the troops. Then a constabulary depot, the hotel was operated with a canteen licence. This dubious form of licence apparently satisfied the requirements of the day — until Loffley sold out to Joseph Joshua some time in the 1870s. When Joshua took possession, he found he had no title to the land. He negotiated with the Crown for what became known as Joshua's Lease. It was not confirmed until several j years later. J. W. Birnie Ltd. finally purchased the freehold from the Crown in 1954. Somewhere about 1895, Joshua, who had catered extensively for tourists and fishermen, sold the Spa Hotel to Joseph Gallagher. Another former member of the Armed Constabulary, Gallagher already owned the Lake Hotel, established in the centre of Taupo in 1878. Things did not run smoothly for him. The couple he installed to look after the Spa left it unattended for a period and the canteen licence was lost. Before the Spa was really in business again Gallagher had bought and closed down the Taupo Hotel, because it conflicted with his interests in the Lake Hotel, and transferred its licence to the Spa. But this took two years. Legislation permitted the transfer of a licence only one mile a year. Not to be daunted, Gallagher set up a temporary bar in the Spa Road area. He moved down to the Spa Hotel when the second year had elapsed. The Gallagher family ran the Spa Hotel until after World War I. Then there were several changes before Mr T. A. Heath took it over. In 1951 it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Mr Jim Birnie, whose wife, Eunice, is the daughter of ■ the late Mr Heath. The Birnies met and married at the Spa Hotel I and lived there for 21 years, before relinquishing it for auction after the flooding. Since then successive owners have had ambitious plans for developing the hotel and the surrounding seven acres of land. Some necessary upgrading has been done, but finance appears to have hindered any further work. The Spa's older buildings are reminders of New Zealand a century ago, typical | of the architecture brought i by European settlers. One | accommodation building is ) the original Armed ConI stabulary headquarters. I Probably the hotel's biggest draw card is its Maori , meeting house, which is I used as a lounge. Joseph J Joshua bought it for $150 , and it is now insured for thousands of dollars. Known as Tiki Te TamaI mutu, the meeting house I had been virtually aban-

doned at the Oruanui Pa when Chief Tamamutu moved to Taupo in 1850. It is believed that the carvings in the meeting house were the last set done by the Maori master carver Wero. They have been dated at between 1800 and 1810. Wero's carvings in the Spa meeting house are thought to be the first done with metal tools. Before then stone and bone implements were used. Reputed to have been one of the great Maori

carvers, Wero is said to have com pleted five meeting houses. Two either decayed or were destroyed, one ended up in a museum in Vienna, Austria, and the carvings from another adorn a church in Hamburg. But there is no danger of the Spa Hotel meeting house being sold overseas. During the early 1900s Parliament rushed through a Bill prohiting its removal from New Zealand. Apparently a wealthy United States tourist wanted to

buy it. The meeting house was used at the Spa as a dining room during the early days, when many famous people, including European royalty, stayed there. However, meeting houses are not traditionally for eating in, and a tapu was placed on the Spa's dining room. Until 1935, when a dining room was added to the back of the meeting house, licensees had difficulty ,employing Maori waitresses because of the tapu.