A Bone Of Contention

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 6, 2 October 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

A Bone Of Contention

There was a good deal of rivalry between Auckland and Wellington in the early days, and one, really quite trifling, incident, did not tend to Improve matters. The New Zealand Company who founded the city of Wellington were not pleased when Auckland was appointed the capital, and their displeasure was hardly lessened when in November, 1840, Governor Hobson advertised in the Wellington paper, “The New Zealand Gazette and Britannia Spectator,” for skilled carpenters, bricklayers and stone-masons for work in Auckland where there was a shortage of trained men. The company had brought out skilled men specially to found the city of Wellington, and they hotly protested at the Government’s action in enticing men away from Wellington. The position was none the brighter through masters of vessels from Australia, and other parts of New Zealand, putting into Wellington and taking craftsmen away, and blame for this practice was laid at iTbbson’s door. Hobson denied any connection with the ships, and stated that he had advertised not only in Wellington, but throughout New Zealand for men who might be seeking work. His explanation was accepted by the company, though not so kindly as it might have been, but ifi was a long time before the colonists at Wellington forgot the matter which provided only too often a subject for acrimonious dispute.— C.H.F. (Dunedin).