EARLY HOTELS ON BANKS PENINSULA

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29856, 23 June 1962, Page 8

EARLY HOTELS ON BANKS PENINSULA

Colourful Days Recalled [Specially written for “The Press” by M.R.F.] 'THE announcement that one, at least, of our tourist hotels is to be rebuilt will be welcomed in Akaroa. The proposed hotel for Akaroa, pictured recently in “The Press,” with its three storeys, sun decks, and view windows, will be a far cry from the colourful old hostelries of early Banks Peninsula days. Being, like all new settlements, a seaport town, Akaroa had a steady stream of visiting sailors, especially whalers, and they were thirsty folk.

The first hotel at Akaroa was built by William Green, who had been landed in 1839 by Captain W. B. Rhodes to look after his cattle at Red House Bay. After the town was settled, Green used to buy liquor from seme of the whalers and re-sell it to the settlers. He did not bother about a licence, and the settlers used to stroll around for “a drink of milk at Mr Green’s.”

Seeing the possibilities in this, Green left the employ of Captain Rhodes and built’ a hotel at Green’s Point. It was a building of 40 feet by 30 feet, and he obtained a licence. He later sold this hotel, and built another right in the town, opposite the wharf. Undoubtedly the most colourful of Akaroa’s hotelkeepers was Captain James Bruce. For many years a whaling captain, Captain Bruce sailed about the New Zealand coast for many years. When his ship, the Magnet, was wrecked in a tiny bay on the south side of Banks Peninsula, since known as Magnet Bay, he settled at Akaroa, founding the hotel which is known to this day as the Bruce. He was a very popular figure in the young town, and was often to be seen with his spyglass watching down the harbour for returning whale ships. On sighting a whaler coming into port (according to one story) he would clear his shelves of bottles and replace them with others filled with coloured water. After a few drinks the whalers invariably smashed everything on the Shelves. When it came to settling for the damage, he let them off pretty lightly, as they thought, and acquired a name for being generous. He was a good citizen and did much for the town, among other things getting it made a port of entry. When Sir George Grev visited Aka-

roa in 1847 he stayed at the Bruce.

For a long time, the common route to Christchurch was by boat to Duvauchelle, track to Pigeon Bay, and thence by boat to Lyttelton or Sumner. At Duvauchelle, Francois Le Lievre, one of the original French settlers, built an accommodation house called the Travellers’ Rest. He also kept a boat there and conducted a ferry service to Akaroa for a fare of half-a-crown.

The Travellers’ Rest became a hotel, but was later destroyed by fire and was rebuilt as the Somerset. In 1882, the Somerset was mysteriously destroyed by fire, about the same time as the Pig and Whistle in Little Akaloa met the same fate. It may have been the same firebug who tried to burn three of Akaroa’s hotels in one night in 1882. Gorse was heaped against the walls, and set alight. The Bruce and the Criterion were saved, but the third hotel was totally destroyed. The fire was thought to be the work of some fanatic against the liquor traffic, but no culprit was ever found. Among the interesting characters at the Travellers' Rest was the famous Tichbome claimant, who was “boots” there for some time before he returned to England to press his claim. The Somerset Hotel at Duvauchelle was placed conveniently near to the saleyards, and on sale days farmers tied their horses to the post-and-rail fence surrounding the triangle near the hotel. On the evenings of sale days, everyone came down to the bay to sit on the post-and-rail fence and watch the fights in the triangle. This was regular entertainment and the hotel’s customers never failed to produce a few good battles on a sale day.