Whangarei Rates In 1860 Totalled £9l'2'll

Northern Advocate, 13 June 1947, Page 4

Whangarei Rates In 1860 Totalled £9l'2'll

(By A. Main)

THE first combined ledger and rate book of old Whangarei, which gives many interesting details of rates levied and work done between 1860 and 1867, has been in our family’s possession since 1868. It is full of interest, and gives an interesting background of the first 37 families who had taken up land in 1860.

Until 1860 no form of administration existed, but in that year the Whangarei Highway Trust was formed and trustees were appointed from among the settlers. The trustees met for the first time as a duly constituted body in 1860 in the old Whangarei Hotel, and held monthly meetings there for several years, paying 2/6 monthly hire for a meeting room. 6D AN ACRE

capital value in 1863 are given in parentheses:— William Bedlington, 117, £2/18/3 (£2/1/8); Captain Brassey, 12, 10/(1/-); Broderick and Potts, 296 £7 8/2 (£2/10/-); Burnett Bros. 395 £9/17/6 £6/5/-); Eugene Cafler, 5 10/- (£6/5/-); William Carruth, 148, £3/14/- (£2/18/4); G. Charon, 55, £1 7/10 (£l/0/10); Edward Dent, 47, £1 3/7 (£6/5/-); Dinniss and Farrow, 96 £l/4/- (left); Joachim Diore, 9, 10/(8/4); Alexander Farmer, 282, £7/1/(£4/3/4); George Fraser, 77, £l/18/7 (£2/1/8); Sir S. Osborne Gibbes, Bart. 273, £6/16/10 (£2/1/8); Henry S. Osborne Gibbes, 95, £2/17/7 (16/8); Mr Gear, 9, 10/- (1/-); James Hamilton, J, 10/- (left); William Harvey, 1, 10/(2£d); Henry C. Holman, 10, 10/(25/-); Francis Hunt, 96, £2/8/3 (3 2/6); Mr Lapham, £, 10/- (left); Isaac Lowrie, 20, 10/- (5/-); Donald McDonald, 20, 10/- (left); James Main, 7. 10/(5/-); Robert Mair, 203 £5/1/11 (4 3/4); William Mair, 181, £4/10/7 (£3 2/6); Alex Lewis Meldrum, 239, £5 19/8 (3/19/8); Alfred Palmer, 106, £2 13/5 (10/5); Dr William A. Perston M.P., 205, £5/2/9 (£3/2/6); Robert Reyburn, 50, £l/5/3 (£5/4/2); John S. Rust, 41, £l/0/8, (£3/2/6); Andrew Scott, 4, 10/- (6/3); Andrew Sinclair, 9, 10/- (6/3); Richard Smith, 20, 10/(4/2); Henry Charles Webb, 24, 12/(16/8); Woolley Bros., 259, £6/9/7 (£4/3/4); William Wrack, 54, £l/7/4 (£2/1/8); F. Potberry, J, 10/- (6/3). Altogether, 37 ratepayers paid £9l 2/11 in rates in 1860, and in addition the trustees were given a cash grant from the Provincial Treasury, of £22 18/11 in 1861.

That year they levied a ratd of 6d an acre irrespective of the location of the property, with a minimum rate payment of 10/- per annum. In 1863 they changed that system to the estimated capital value and a rate of id in the £ was levied. This was fairer, and assisted settlers who had taken up larger areas of farm lands.

For instance, Mr Eugene Cafler who owned a store and five acres in the then hub of the village, paid only 10/- per annum rates, while the Burnett 8r05.., who owned 395 acres ol farm land at Burnett’s Hill above the Whau Valley corner, paid £9/17/6 per annum. With the change to capital value in 1863 both properties paid on the estimated value of £3OOO each. Cafler’£ rates were increased • from 10/- to £6/5/-'per annum, and Burnett’s rates were reduced to £6/5/-. 1860 AND 1863

The following shows the areas of land in acres and rates paid by the settlers in 1860. The rates paid on the same areas of land on the estimated

These moneys in gold were brought from Auckland by Captain Carmichael in a small trading cutter, and he charged 4/- for bringing them. ADMINISTRATION COST

The cost of administration was not very high in the early days. The rate collector, who also acted as clerk to the trustees, collected rates from door to door every half year for the princely sum of £1 per half year. There were no motor cars in 1860, and the first rate collector rode through mud and tea tree tracks from beyond the hospital to the top of Kamo Hill. The first rate collector appointed was William Mair, who collected in 1860 and 1861. He was followed by Robert Reyburn, Junr, who collected from 1862 to 1864; and by Thomas Wakelin, part 1864 and part 1865. Wakelin was followed by Frederick Crippen, who became notorious by increasing the cost of administration by 100 per cent. He demanded and received £2 for collecting the last half year’s rates, instead of the customary £l. Having established this precedent, he was followed in 1866 by John S. Rust, who also received £3 for collecting the rates that year, plus 12/-, being 5 per cent on collecting two iots of overdue rates from settlers who had left for Auckland.

Altogether, five collectors had been appointed by the trustees between 1860 and 1866 at the princely salary of from £2 to £3 per annum.

Apparenly in 1867 there was no demand for this appointment among the settlers, and there were no further takers at the above amount. It is recorded that the trustees in 1867 appointed James Brown at clerk-collec-tor, and he also made history by raising the cost of administration an additional 100 per cent. He received 5 per cent on £l2O/9/rates collected, or £6/0/6 commission, which was double the amount Mr Rust received the previous year. The clerkcollectors provided their own stationery and pens and ink, and the only sundry accounts the trustees paid out from 1860 to 1865 were: One lock for the trustees’ box, 2/6; postage stamps, 2/; one bottle of ink, 2d; stationery, 6d; and legal advice, Whitaker and Russell, £2/2/-, the total office expenses amounting to £2/7/2 for this five-yearly period. VERSATILE DOCTOR

The most versatile of the early immigrants was Dr Perston, who was an M.D. of London. He arrived in 1859, when the number of families had increased to 30.

His medical duties' were partly mending limbs broken through accidents, but principally obstetrical. Appendicitis and such “fancy” ailments were not known in those days—if they were they called them stom-ach-ache arid usually cured or relieved them with a good dose of pain-killer in which they put their faith as a cure-all.

They had no time to get ill. Dr Perston, in addition to being the only doctor in the district, was also the principal public works contractor.

The records in 1862 show that although the total amount collected in rates plus the grant from tne Provincial Treasury did not exceed £l5O, the doctor was paid £l4O/7/6 for work done forming and gravelling roads, he being paid 25/- per chain for forming and 35/- per chain for gravelling. In addition his charge for a man and a horse for drawing gravel for repairs to roads was 12/- per day, and for a man and bullock team £1 per day.

A “day” was from daylight to dusk.

The doctor the same year built a viaduct at the foot of the old Brewery Hill on the way to the Mt Denby golf links for £25. This was a work of major importance, and was only eclipsed in magnitude when Henry Holman built the first town wharf in 1863 for £4B. The wharf took three months to build and there were two progress payments and one final payment. WORK OFF RATES

■ The early settlers paid their rates in cash half-yearly, but by arrangement sometimes they could do work on the roads in lieu of cash payment. The usual charge they made for themselves and a horse and dray from daylight to dark was 6/- a day. In 1863 the estimated population of Whangarei was 200, the rateable value was £39,781, and the id in the £ rate levied that year bought in a total of £B2/0/5.

Since the trustees first functioned in 1860 Whangarei has shown a great record of progress during the ensuing 87 years, but today one should pause and remember with a degree of humility the courage of those first settlers, many of whom lie buried in the old Mission Cemetery at the top of Rust Lane.

Unfortunately for years past and even today it is in a deplorable state of neglect. It is a disgrace to the memory of many of those old pioneers who helped transform Whangarei from virgin scrub and tea-tree into a wonderful town. It should be one of the borough’s foremost memorials —a memorial to the virtues of those pioneers virtues which are sadly lacking in our national life : .^rd work, thrift, enterprise and Christian fortitude.