MEN OF YESTERDAY

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 43, 14 November 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

MEN OF YESTERDAY

Earliest Citizens Still Remembered “THE FATHER OF WELLINGTON”

MEN of initiative and resource came to seek their fortunes in Wellington a hundred years ago, and to contribute to the development of the city in those historic yesterdays. They are dead, but their memory lives, not only in the dusty archives, but actually in the minds of many present-day citizens who knew them, or who have heard their fathers speak of them and what they did. For it is no more than a long lifetime ago that they came and went in the streets of

ONE of the most notable of AVellingtoii's pioneer settlers was the late John Plimmer. whose name is perpetuated by Plimmer’s Steps, in the centre of the city, andby the picturesque seaside town of Plimmerton, on the Main Trunk railway. Air. Plimmer, who its said to have been given the name of “The Father of Wellington'' by the late Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon, Premier of New Zealand, was born in Shropshire, England. Accompanied by his two infant sons and daughter, he came to New Zealand in the ship Gertrude in 1841. AVith other passengers they landed at Kaiwarra, but immediately shifted into Wellington.

Air. Plimmer soon erected a temporary dwelling near the beach. Later he built one of the first regular residences in IngestreStreet, the grounds of which extended to the Upper AViliis Street corner. His practical knowledge of building stood him in good stead in those early days. He acquired the site of the present Barrett's Hotel and the hillside behind it from Sir F, A. AVekl, for which he paid £6/10/- per foot, and when the Provincial Government wanted the old Barrett’s Hotel (on the site of the Hotel Cecil), the license held by “Dickey” Barrett was removed to Air. Plimmer’s property, which has remained with the family ever since. Air. Plimmer showed foresight and business acumen when he purchased the American .barque Inconstant, when she was tO'wed into AVellington after striking a rock near Pencarrow Head. Gaining the consent of his friend, Sir George Grey, he had this stout wellbuilt vessel beached at Clay Point, on what is now the headquarters of the

Bank of New Zealand, on the corner of Customhouse Quay and Lambton Quay. Having propped the vessel up securely, he reclaimed the land round her, and built a wharf at the seaward end. The building was turned into a bonded store, and became celebrated as "Noah’s Ark.” This structure remained in being for over 25 years. The land reclaimed (with .spoil taken from Clay Point) on that occasion was the first area won from the sea in Lambton Harbour, and was the forerunner of huger schemes. Mr. Plimmer was a member of one of the first Provincial Councils, ami also the town board which preceded the formation of the first Wellington City Council, of which also he was tin early member. Probably the work that stands out most boldly in his career was his staunch find persistent advocacy of railway development throughout the North Island. He was the founder and most ardent promoter of the Wellington and Manawatu Hallway Company, which established rail communication between Wellington and Longburn (near Palmerston North). Hist spoken and written advocacy was supported by his own money, and he personally canvassed the town for support for the project. He became a director of the company, and for his work in connexion with its establishment was presented -with a handsome gold medal as a life pass over the tracks which opened up West Coast-Wellingtou trade. The railway company’s assets were subsequently taken over by the Government, the purchase price being £1.000.000. Mr. Plimmer was also the persistent advocate of a main trunk railway to Auckland until it was finally put in hand by the Seddon Government. Mr. Plimmer’s prose and poetical writings are preserved in “The Life of John Plimmer.” compiled by the late Mr. John Young, who was for some years headmaster of the 'Terrace Grammar School. His good deeds and line citizenship were recognized on his

eighty-eighth birthday, when, at the Chamber of Commerce, in the presence of ti notable gathering of representative citizens. Air. Plimmer was presented witli a life-size oil painting of himself. The Rt. Hon. R. J, Seddon made the presentation. That portrait now hangs in the City Council Chamber along with those of Edward Gibbon AVakefield and Edward Jerningbam AVakefield. Air. Plimmer was 92 years of age when he died in AA'ellington on January 5, 1905.

For many years before he died Air. Plimmer resided on Plimmer’s Steps, at the rear of the Prudential building, where he had a lovely old-world garden. Many boys—now hoary-headed citizens —who attended the old Brothers’ School (no longer extant), and the Terrace School, will have cause to remember the pear trees which overhung the garden wall. The ancient oak tree, immediately above the Rutland Hotel on Plimmer’s Steps, which still puts forth a pleasant canopy of foliage, was planted by Air. Plimmer. It grew from an acorn which Sir George Grey brought with him from South Africa, a handful of which he gave to Air. Plimmer. Air. Plimmer’s family is still represented in AVellington in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The Hunters George Hunter, senior, arrived by the Duke of Roxburgh with his family, ami established himself a merchant and prominent citizen of AVellington. AVith Air. Kenneth Bethune he founded the firm of Bethune and Hunter, still in business. Its premises in Old Customhouse Quay, the oldest business

offices in 'Wellington, are soon to be demolished: the firm has only in the past year shifted its headquarters. As is mentioned in the history of ■Wellington. Mr. Hunter was the first mayor. His son, George Hunter, also arrived with his father at the age of 19. He was a Legislative Councillor till 1553, when the new constitution was introduced. He was a provincial councillor, city councillor, and Member of Parliament. McKenzie Father of the Wellington Press, Thomas Wilmor McKenzie came from Newfoundland and London to .Britannia, which is now Petone, by the ship Adelaide, in February, 1840. He was then 13 years old. He served his apprenticeship on the settlement’s first newspaper, "The New Zealand Gazette and Britannia Spectator,” and after it went out of existence founded the first of die three generations of great, newspapers of which "The Dominion" is the youngest. Ih conjunction with three fellowjournalists. Mr. McKenzie launched "The Wellington Independent.” of which he later became sole proprietor and editor. He then established the "New Zealand Mail” and the "Wellington Almanac.” These three publications he sold out to "The New Zealand Times” Company, the name of the “Independent” being changed accordingly. The "Tinies” in turn gave place to "The Dominion,” the present national morning paper. Mr. McKenzie, however, took no further part in newspaper work. He led a vigorous civic public life for many years after his retirement from his profession. As a boy Mr. McKenzie was an outstanding swimmer. He saved at least three lives by his ability, two of them before he was fourteen. He was a .prominent elder of St. John's Presbyterian Church, and played a leading part in the Masonic movement.