MANY YEARS IN POSSESSION

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21987, 11 January 1937, Page 8

MANY YEARS IN POSSESSION

j OWNERSHIP OF HISTORIC I OLD HOTELS TWO NEW CLAIMANTS FOR AN INTERESTING RECORD A Palmefston North hotelkeeper who died recently was stated to have established a world's record by having held his license continuously for 37 years, but ih the case of at least two South. Island hotels, this claim can be bettered, one by 12 years arid another by four. The Palmerston North case was mentioned in a Press Association message last week, announcing the death Of Mr H. B. Tucker, the owner and licensee of Tucker's Club Hotel there, and making the claim; but as is so often the case where such claims are made, the announcement has led to the discovery of other Claimants. It has now been pointed out that Kellers Hotel, Hokitika, was licensed to the owner, Christian William Keller, continuously for 41 years, while the Ellesmere Arms Hotel, T&i Tapii, was licensed to John McKenzie, for a continuous period of no less than 49 years. In fact when Mr McKenzie died quite recently, he held the fiftieth successive license. To add to the interesting history jof both these hotels, in each case they have remained in the possession of the same family for many years. The Keller' family, relinquished ownership only this year, after an association of 71 years with the same hotel, and the Ellesmere Arms Hotel Is still,, in the possession of the McKenzie family* Both hotels have been associated .with events and developments which have made the history of the West Coast and Canterbury so colourful. Attracted by Gold-rush Christian William Keller was a notable figure on the West Coast for many years. He went from his native town, Wurtemburg, to London to study hotel management, and from London to Melbourne. There he was in the -hotel business for 10 years, the Otago gold rush attracted him tb Duneditt, where he managed the old Commercial Hotel. In 1863 he heard the first whispers of a rush to the West Coast, and immediately answered the call. When he purchased a small hotel in Hokitika in iß6'6 there were nearly 50,000 diggers there, so historians of the province say. That was 71 years ago, but parts of his original hotel are still discoverable behind the | more ornamental and imposing ar- | chitecture of the present one. The original licensee died in 1907, after ' holding the license continuously for 41 years. Members of the family renewed it and kept the hotel one of ! the most notable oh the West Coast, its record being, crowned j when the Duke of Windsor, then Prince of Wales, made it his headquarters durihg his visit there* Mr W. Keller was then the licensee, and although the family has relinquished possession, he is still managing the hotel until his departure from New Zealand. In Coaching Days The Ellesmere Arms Hotel has a history which is as interesting as its old-world name, for it was fambus as an inn .during Canterbury's coaching days. The hotel was in Tai Tapu when Mr John McKenzie arrived there in 1877. It had been built by Edmund Shakespeare.- The McKeljzie family still has in its possession the original transfer of the license from Joseph, Judge, to John McKenzie, made out in 1883, 'in the office of the Akaroa County Council. From that date until his death'in 1932, Mr McKenzie was continuously the licensee—and, as in the case of Keller's Hotel, a licensee with an unblemished record. Mr J. H. McKenzie took over the hotel from his father, and is still ih possession, having brought the family's period of association with the place up to 61 years. In that long span, the coaches which used to put up at the Ellesmere Arms have given place to motor-cars, and the old slush-light which guided travellers has passed through the candle, acetylene, and oil stage to the white glare of electricity. The hotel claims another record—for approximately 70 years it has sold'the same brewery's draught beer.