JOHN ETHERDEN COKER

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27990, 9 June 1956, Page 11

JOHN ETHERDEN COKER

The Many Ups And Downs Of A Hotelkeeper

tspeeiauy written for -The Pr «e- by GR , MACDONALD] J. E. Coker at the peak of his career Q n probably one of the best known men inNet Zealand 661 ’^— 8 not such a wild statement as it mav seem at fir!t • w T «!? ls he built the hotel which still bears his name " .’-o’ Riccarton races were still far ahead of anv nth ” tle . yea . r ' 8 > country and the Christchurch Shot waZeauallv V’r other shows. November Week attracted neonte V itT d importance from far afield, and as many’of ftem al cJSd be accommodated there stayed at Coker’s. J aS coula De

Zealand. Oak V Wd°inSon PerS d" century, Rolleston at the Grand at’Auckland have nrP^lte\ n e a w?ea f l°a r nd hen,SelVeS - But C ° ker ’ S *

Coker, usually known as Jack Coker (his initials stood for John Etherden) was born at Bath and joined the Royal Navy as a youth. He served jn the Belierephon during the Crimea War, and was reckoned to be one ot the smartest seamen on board. He served his time, got his discharge, and came to Lyttelton in the Mary Ann, one of the Green Line, in 1861 He found employment in David Lewis’s butcher shop as a clerk. He soon learned the trade and he and the foreman took over the business from Lewis, who continued to supply the meat. Lewis had a good farm at Hals well. Coker later took G W Ell into partnership. In those days, all the chief butchers’ shops, following the English custom, made a Christmas display of meat and the newspapers gave full space and detailed descriptions of the whole affair. In fact, the papers went as far as they dared to judge the contest. One may imagine dense' crowds parading the streets at night and looking at one window after another. The various butchers went to great pains to buy the best beasts obtainable for these displays, and the name of breeder and fattener was affixed to each carcase. Further than th'is. all the decorative arts known to the old butchers were used to the full to catch the public eye. Well-known Figure Not only Were all sorts of patterns traced m the back of a sheep while it was still warm by cutting the inner skin with a sharp knife, but a transparent membrane was stretched over the opening cut down to the brisket, and this was sprayed with hot fat and designs were traced on it. .In addition, there were frills and rosettes. This custom gave Coker his first opportunity to s catch the public eye with novelties. His meat displays were always in the front rank. He soon became a well-known figure about the town. He always wore close-fitting cords, top boots and carried a hunting crop. He had a flair for publicity He had. in fact, a strong theatrical strain in him. Nowadays he would be called a showman.

However, Coker and Ell failed, and their assets including a fine farm at Frebbleton, were sold. Both made many appearances in the bankruptcy court in later years. Coker, looking round for something to do, was appointed out of 31 applicants to be Inspector of Nuisances to the new Christchurch City Council. This did not last long. He was not the man to peg along on a fixed salary. He soon announced his new Commercial Rooms and Dining Rooms in Cathedral square. There was to be a reading room as well, where all the papers w r ere to be taken, a private dining room, a writing room. An employment register was to be kept, a message boy was to deliver letters and messages, and a library was on order. Patrcns were invited to use the facilities for draughts and chess. It was goon expanded into a hotel. But Coker’s ideas were too ambitious for his means, and after a few months he was forced to sell. William White, the bridge-builder, was the buyer, and the place became White’s Commercial Hotel, and later still, Warner’s. Only the foundations of the Cathedral existed at the time, funds having run out, and the grounds were surrounded by a paling fence. White used to keep his horses within the Another Failure

Coker soon got someone else to back him and he built a new hotel in Gloucester street which, according to his description, had better bedrooms and diningrooms than any o f ber hotel in Christchurch. It was finished in record time, and was named the Criterion. To coincide with the visit of the Governor, Sir George Grey, he secured the billiards table from the White Hart, and Roberts, the famous billiards professional happening to be in the country, Coker hired him to give exhibitions for a week. With this billiards room he repeated his idea of having fi commercial room with some of the functions of a club. It was called Coker’s Exchange Rooms. He did not last much longer in this hotel than in the last. Evidently he could no longer find a backer for a hotel, for he opened what he called “The London Ham and Beef Shop”— hampers for the races, pork pies, fowls, and soups. This was too small for his large ideas, and he sold it, and by some means or other managed to buy or lease Judge Gresson’s fine property on Manchester street, stretching from Worcester street to Gloucester street and facing east. There was not only a good house, but there was a fine garden. On Boxing Day of ’67, the gardens were brilliantly illuminated, a band Played, and there was dancing. There had been sports during the day, including such events as climbing the greasy pole. He used the house as a hotel and got a licence. The description given during his bankruptcy Proceedings of February, ’69. includes extensive pleasure grounds, a concert hall equipped for balls or private parties, fishponds, aviaries, quoit and skittle grounds. Several very successful flower shows were held there by the Horticultural Society. Once an unfortunate sea lion—which happened to get stranded on Sumner beach—was heaved into a dray, carted up to Christchurch, and exhibited in his grounds. “Speculative Disposition” For years a large watercourse ran diagonally through Christchurch, passing St. Michael’s (where the last remnant of it may still be seen) crossing Cashel street, passing to the east of the Bank of New Zealand and running through Coker’s section. It carried water only at times of heavy rain, but when it ran it was a J'oung river. Coker had filled up that stretch of it which ran through his grounds; but a flood came down, washed out all his filling, and made a terrible mess of his pleasure grounds. Mrs Coker had died during 68. and he put down his bankruptcy largely to the long illness and death of his wife.

Judge Gresson said “he was sorry to say he had seen rather too much of Mr Coker. He appeared to possess a rather speculative disposition.” Judge Gresson was a mild judge; many others could have used much stronger language. Coker carried on his pleasure grounds for another ’ear but he lost his licence. Thomas Major Gee had a school there after he left.

During the next few years we hear ’ f him at the Rakaia Accommodation - ouse, at the Theatre Royal Cafe, u-ing to Melbourne and being given a

farewell supper. During this time he took part in theatrical life in ChristV?urc h. He played in the Licensed victuallers performance which they put on every year, and always took a naval part if there happened to u e u n . °, ne touring company that ne had helped gave him a benefit performance. He again had White’s Commercial Hotel, but his furniture and stock were sold under a bill of sale. Turn of the Tide , s . e , emec l that he must sink under tnis tide of calamities, and it is extraordinary that he kept afloat at all—if one can. describe his position as afloat.” But, in ’72, the tide turned. He married a widow, Mrs Geo. Allen, whose first husband had been a successful nursery-gardener and had put his savings into town property. Included in his estate was a considerable block in Manchester street near the railway station. Not long after he married he went off to Wellington and became licensee of the Occidental Hotel.

Apparently he did very well there, for as soon as he returned to Christchurch in ’7B, he started to build what became known as Coker’s Hotel on one of his wife’s sections. The Bench granted him a licence immediately, and made complimentary remarks about the design and scope of the new hotel. He opened it by giving a magnificent lunch to all his friends —and apparently there were a great many of them. The guests were full of praise of the hotel, the size of the rooms, and the furniture and pictures. At long last, he was not embarrassed for funds and could spread himself lavishly. It must have given him enormous satisfaction to preside at tms banquet in the town which had seen him associated with nothing but failure.

He imported a very fine bulldog from England not long after. It is a reasonable guess that he had hi§ eye on “effect,” and that he hoped a British bulldog standing in the hall would give that touch of character that he was always seeking. The furniture was of oak deeply carved, and was much admired at the time. The remains of it were sold a few years ago: the style had gone comoletely out of fashion, and it hardly paid cartage to the auction rooms. In ’9O, Coker transferred his Lease to Captain Popham. He had bought a house in Opawa, lately the property of the Hon. Edward Richardson, and he spent a good deal of money in refurnishing and doing it up. He was obviously now a wealthy man. He went for a sea voyage for his health. When he re-, turned, he found that a life of’ leisure was not much good to a man of ideas, and he leased the New Brighton Hotel, did it up completely, using all the arts he knew of drawing the surprise and admiration of the public, and had his usual opening party. But he found he was no longer capable of standing up to the strain and worry of managing a hotel. He transferred his lease and died soon after.

Prohibitionists’ Campaign Coker’s was heard of once more before the end of the century. We have all read of the rush to the hotel bars between 5 and 6 o’clock, and how men pour as many beers down their throats as they can get in a .limited time. This is not as it should be; but it is a trifle compared to the drink evil of the last century, when many men ruined themselves and broke the hearts of their wives and families. The acuteness of the trouble produced a correspondingly vigorous urge to reform it. When licensing committees came to be elected, every election was a tough struggle between the New Zealand Alliance and “The Trade.” A key cam paign was fought in the borough of Sydenham, and the “dry” side won all six seats on the committee. The two chief campaigners were T. E. Taylor and the Rev. L. M. Isitt, and their publicly-announced aim was to make Sydenham dry by electing a committee which would refuse all licences. Quill’s Lancaster Park Hotel was chosen as a test case, and the committee having duly refused to renew the licence, the appeal from their decision went before Judge Denniston. He took a wide view, and found against the committee on the grounds that they were elected to exercise judicial functions in a calm and impartial way, not to enforce political o? social doctrines. His judgment was unanimously up held by the Court of Appeal. This was a good example of the broadminded exercise of the judicial func tion.

This was a major setback to the Prohibitionists, but they never relaxed in their exertions, and in 1895 they brought a strong case against Popham for his conduct of Coker’s Hotel. There was a bar in the back, opening on to a small side street, and they had placed spies in a room with a window opening on to this street. The charge was that the bar was the haunt of disreputable characters, and that men got drunk there. The spies took counts of the “bad eggs” going in and the drunks staggering out. Two opposing armies of well-drilled witnesses flatly contradicted each other. Popham got the verdict, but without much to spare. Later, Tommy Taylor, in a speech, in describing Coker’s used a verv rude name. Popham went for £lOOO damages, and was awarded £5O. ,