CENSUS OF CHRISTCHURCH IN 1861

Press, Volume C, Issue 29536, 10 June 1961, Page 8

CENSUS OF CHRISTCHURCH IN 1861

Town Well Served By Professions

[Sikciatty written for **7he Press" by R. C. LAMB)

A census return of December. 1361, enumerates the Chrirtchurch population according to “rank, profession. or usual occupation.” It records a total of 14 clergymen. 12 doctors, ■nd no bankers. As there were two banks operatihg here then, namely the Union Bank of Australia and the Bank of New South i Wales. presumably their | managers lived out of town. 'The census lists one banker | for Avon, and one for LytI telton. I There was one,doctor for about every 250 of the popuI lation; and their services, j when required, were (speedily available. Thus.

' when a horse-drawn carriage 5 plunged into the Heathcote oh one occasion, quite submerging its three women occupants, it was no time before five doctors were on the spot; and by their united exertions they restored to consciousness the unhappy ! travellers. ; Architects are grouped in this census with civil engineers and surveyors, giving a combined total of i 19 It was the declared ■ opinion of well-nigh half the architects that the majority of the public regarded them as "little better than carpenters,” esteeming them to be “anything but honourable or gentlemanly.” For this was how they expressed them- . selves in a letter to "The > Press” early in 1864. Eight legal practitioners.

according to this return, resided in Christchurch; but, if to that number be added these returned for Heathcote j and Avon, the strength of the local bar stood at 12. Although barristers at that time generally wore full bar costume when engaged in court work, the question as to whether solicitors might do so was one about which the profession had not yet made up its mind. And when, in June 1863, a solicitor appeared in the Supreme Court, in the wig and gownj of an English barrister. he| caused a little amusement.| and led the presiding judge. Mr Justice Gresson. to! remark that he would con-i fer with his brother judges j upon the subject of dress toj be worn in court Christchurch clerks and' accountants. the census enumerates as 52. They are| followed by teachers, tota I - ling 27, and "gentlemen” in which exclusive category belonged 26 of the! townsmen. Brisk Liquor Trade ( The largest occupational | group is that of labourers, their Christchurch representation standing at 299 Domestic servants ranked next, to the number of 289 The Christchurch licensed trade was represented in this census by 21 publicans and 12 brewers. And what a brisk trade it must have been. judging by the quantity of beer, wine and spirits that Canterbury imported that year—over 136,000 gallons. Sometimes the hotel keepers served as caterers in a big way. Thus, when the Ferrymead railway was opened in December 1863. John Birdsey. proprietor of the British Hotel, situated in High street. where McKenzie’s department store now stands, had charge of the catering for the public dinner to mark the occasion He advertised for 60 waiters, as well as for sucking pigs, fowls, geese and turkeys. Once a year, the licensed victuallers treated themselves to a dinner, when, no doubt, they drank one another’s health in nothing but the best that their cellars could provide. As for the brewers, the firm of Ward and Company offered a prize at the Horticultural Society’s annual show, for the best strain of barley grown in the province. Passing now to the butchers, the bakers and the candle-makers, we find their respective numbers to be 26, 25, and 3. Candles, always then a household necessity, were in greater! demand then ever at the, time of the celebrations to( mark the marriage of the! Prince of Wales and Prin-| cess Alexandra of Denmark, in July. 1862. To honour the happy occasion. "The Press” had two hundred candles burning at its office windows. The bakers worked long hours, often 12 hours a day their wages being eightpence an hour. They were supplied with flour toy the local millers, listed in the census as 12; and one of the mills; was situated where the! Hereford street bridge! crosses the Avon. Flour! imported from Otago sup-i plemented the local supply ! In March. 1864. the bakers ! played the butchers at! cricket, and defeated them by the narrow margin of four runs. Carpenters Busy Carpenters and builders, given as 153 in the census, constituted one of the busiest trades in Christchurch in 1861. Most of the houses were built of wood, and that year, 8 million feet of timber was carted along the Ferry road into Christchurch, Carpenters were amongst the best paid tradesmen, their wages being 10s a day. With the rise in the cost of living, these were deemed insufficient by July, 1863, when the carpenters struck for higher wages, and thereafter were paid 12s a day. It was not uncommon for builders then to advertise themselves as “builders and undertakers." No hearses were yet seen in the streets.

and often a town carrier's horse and cart sufficed for the decent conveyance of the dead. Although most of the houses in the town were of wood, the fact that twenty bricklayers and plasterers were accounted for in the census, would suggest that building in brick was an established practice. In the Heathcote vicinity, the presence of good clays; led to the setting up af brickworks, one of which, owned by G. Jackson, was turning out 40.000 bricks a week in 1864. and that in addition to flower pots, jars, tiles, and drain pipes. Stone was little used as » building material then, but soon came into its own. with the result that after 100 years one can point to a number of stone buildings in this city, which were either designed or built soon after the founding of “The Press.” Such, for example, are the Durham street Methodist Church, St John's Church in Latimer square, and Trinity Congregational Church, at the corner of Worcester and Manchestei streets. Eight stonemasons figure tn this early census Closely allied with the building trade was that of the painters, their number being recorded as 24. The ring of the hammer on the blacksmith’s anvil was a familiar sound in our city thoroughfares in 1861, when no fewer than 31 men followed that occupation. Only one or two of them I advertised their business in | "The Press.” The rest, wc ' may be sure, found I advertisement enough in the constant metallic clang that (announced to the world at large the location of their I several forges. The horses that issued therefrom, day by day, had to be fed. groomed and harnessed, while those of them with perplexing ailments would require attention at the hands of the veterinary surgeon The several occupations answering to the needs of the horse are grouped in the census under the heading: “Livery-stable keepers, horse-breakers, and veterinary surgeons” a total of 23. Saddlers are given a separate listing, with their number being eight. There were six people in business at that time as jewellers, watch and clockmakers. By what time, it may be asked, did the townspeople I set their watches then? In iLyttelton, a gun-fired each 'Saturday at noon, served as (a time signa! to the people I there; and shortly after telel graphic connexion had been established between Lyttelton and Christchurch, in July 1862. the "Lyttelton Times" began to ask why the time could not be made to synchronise in the two towns?