CLUB STABLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 July 1938, Page 6

CLUB STABLES

EARLY HISTORY RECALLED. DESTRUCTION BY FIRE. Referring to a paragraph that appeared recently in the “Times-Age” regarding the age of Foreman’s Livery Stables, which are in process of demolition, Mr Charles Bannister, of Masterton, states: “The Club Stables were built by the late Mr H. Bannister Sent-., in 1872. Mr W. King was the builder, Mr Tom McCarthy was the first man to have a lease of it for a livery stable. It was burnt down about 1886. The fire started on the opposite side of the street in Hastwell and Macara’s coaching stable. The two stables wpre burnt to the ground. The Club Hotel, as it was then called, was saved. Blankets were hung out of the windows and were kept wet, water being poured on them from buckets. The hoses were also concentrated on the hotel. It was a marvellous save, considering it was before the Fire Brigade was equipped with the latest firefighting apparatus. The young men of that time could fight fire. Mr A. Elkin Senr. was owner of the Club Hotel then. He kept the fire fighters’ system well lubricated with Speights’ best. Considering the short distance between the stable and the house, only a matter of a few feet, the heat must have been awful. “Connected with the first stable was Tom McCarthy, who trained a mare there for a Mr Gilligan, owner of Abbotsford Station. The mare was called Princess Mary. The first boy to work in the Post Office used to ride her out in the mornings before he went to work. He also rode her in her first race on the Taratahi course. She bolted off the course and fell into a gravel pit. He was badly smashed up and he had six weeks in bed. I helped to nurse him, as he was my room mate at the Club Hotel. His name was Fred Cowper, brother of the late Mr C. Cowpgr. Later Mr P. F. Tancred bought Princess Mary. She was the mother of that great horse Administrator and several others. Administrator won the New Zealand Cup.