DEATH OF MR JOHN PLIMMER

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1715, 11 January 1905, Page 60

DEATH OF MR JOHN PLIMMER

AN EVENTFUL CAREER. OYER SIXTY YEARS IN WELLINGTON. Fall of years, respected by the community in whose midst he spent his long and useful life, Mr John Plimmer, so well known as “The Father of Wellington/’ by reason of the indelible association of his name with the public affairs of this city, died on Thursday morning at twenty minutes to 4 o’clock. It Was recognised for some weeks that the end was not far off. Mi' Plimmer had long exceeded the allotted span of human existence —his age at the time of ids death was ninety-two and a half years; but though he had been in failing health for the past four years, his rigorous constitution and clear, unfailing intellect withstood in a singular degree the process of the years. Only a few days before his death, which was really the outcome of old age, he was able to converse clearly about general topics with a friend who visited him. Ry the death of Mr John Plimmer Wellington loses the best-known of its early pioneer settlers —a man who had been a good oitizen in the broadteet sense of that appellation for a longer berm of years than most of us have lived. Eindly and benevolent to a degree, he was distinguished also for his enthusiastic public spirit and his strong faith jn the future of his adopted city. It may be said that he was the most larseeing and progressive of the early band of colonists who laid the foundations of the city of Wellington. Mr Plimmer was born on June 28th, 1812, at Up ton-Under-Amon, near Shrewsbury, in the County town of Shropshire, England, and was the youngest but one in a family of twelve. His father, Isaac Plimmer, was descended from an old tu ritan family that is known to have ourished at least as far back as the time of Oliver Cromwell. Entering manhood, Mr John Plimmer became a master builder and plasterer, with a large general knowledge of many outside matters. His father had taken up his residence at Willenhall, in the adjoining county of Staffordshire, where Mr Plimmer plied his vocation until his attention was attracted to New Zealand by the colonising efforts at Home of the New Zealand Company. The opportunities of life in a new and untried land strongly appealed to his fancy, and at length he wound up his affairs in the Home Country, and left Gravesend with his wife and two sons, Isaac and William Plimmer, in the barque Gertrude (Captain Stead) on June 11th, 1841, under the auspices of the New Zealand Company. The voyage occupied the comparatively short times of 111 days, though some rough weather, was experienced. There were 250 immigrants and thirty passengers on board, and among these there were three deaths and as many births on the voyage. The ship having dropped anchor in ■Port Nicholson on October 31st, 1841, the new settlers were landed at Kaiwarra, and lodged in some raupo huts which had been built by the Maoris. With what strange feelings the pioneers must have looked across from the deck of their ship upon the unknown territory before them, and tried to realise the great work they were now called upon to do! The little level land they saw was overgrown with flax and scrub, the hills around were covered with thick forest, and the few huts on the beach were the only signs of human habitation.

“Where are you going to settle?” a fellow-passenger asked Mr Plimmer, as they surveyed the scene before them. “I will settle there,” was the confident reply, as Mr Plimmer pointed to the •wild jungle at the spot which is now the top end of Ingestre street, below the hill on which the Terrace Prison stands. The reply was characteristic of the man, in his strong resolution, his enterprise, and strength of purpose. Mr Plimmer, fortunately for himself, was better equipped than most of the others to carve out a home in" unknown country, for the woodsman’s craft had been his from his youth upward. Accordingly, he went to the spot to which he had pointed, the bush on the site of Ingestre street, and there built a cabin, prior to the erection of a decent six-roomed house. For that acre he paid the then large rental of £42 per year, with a lease of twentyone years, and this lease he afterwards converted into a freehold. He lived there for a great many years, and the pi operty is still in possession of a member of the family. Lambton quay, now a wood-blocked thoroughfare, the’chief street in the capital city of the colony was then a beach, and Te Aro an impassable bog.

Among Mr Plimmer’s enterprises was the erection of a warehouse on the hull of the barque Inconstant in 1851, on the spot where the Bank of New Zealand and the National Mutual Buildings now stand. This vessel had been beached at Te Aro after striking a rock at the^entrance to the harbour. 'After some negotiations she was purchased by Mr Plimmer for £BO. She

was got off, towed round to Lambton quay, and there firmly beached. When she had been cleared to the main deck a large building was erected over the hull, and used as a warehouse and auc tion room by Messrs James Smith and Co., one of the earliest firms of auctioneers, while the lower hold was utilised as a bonded store by Mr Plimmer himself. Messrs James Smith and Co. having ceased to occupy the building, Mr Plimmer carried on a general merchant’s business for a considerable period. At tihe request of the authorities, he erected a wharf at the spot to enable immigrants to land and to facilitate the storing of their luggage. The building was known as “Noah’s Ark,” and retained that name throughout its existence. It Was finally pulled down, after a long period of usefulness, in order that the National Mutual building should be erected on the site. The last of the sound timbers of the old vessel were discovered when the foundations of the present Rank of New Zealand were being laid, and the ohairs in the board room of the hank still testify to the lasting qualities of the brave old oak. In many other directions Mr Plimmer interested himself in the commercial activities of the city. He erected many fine buildings, including the Albert Hotel, the recently-demolished Barrett’s Hotel (now rebuilt in four stories by Messrs J. A. and O. Plimmer), the City Hotel, and many other very substantial buildings in Manners street, Clyde quay, Boulcott street and “Plimmer’s steps.” Mr Plimmer took up his residence at “Plimmer’s steps” more than fifty years ago, and there he lived ever since. The sentiment that hung around the ancient timbers of the “Ark” is perpetuated on his residence by the symbol of the dove above the following line in gold lettering:— “That Noah's Ark existed there is nothing left to prove, But here is mine attested by the presence of the dove.” The dove originally figured on the hull of the Inconstant, and the explanation of its presence on Mr Plimmer’s house is that when the building was purchased to be pulled down, the buyer presented the dove to Mr Plimmer.

Right through his long life Mr Plimmer gave evidence of keen business foresight, and seldom, if ever, were his judgments at fault, he the matter one of public interest or private concern. In his hale days he was the keenest advocate for reclamation along the foreshore of Wellington, and he and his sons were the first to commence this work, by filling in the beach round Noah’s Ark, where the Bank of New Zealand at present stands. - That land, with only a twenty feet depth, changed hands recently at £163 per foot, and the Barrett’s Hotel section, which Mr Plimmer gave £6 per foot for, is now probably worth about fifty times that sum.

Mr Plimmer was one of the first to foresee the benefits which would result to Wellington from the construction of a railway along the West Coast of the North Island, and so, in the eighties, he urged by voice and pen that great enterprise, which has resulted in eiormous benefit to Wellington, the institution of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, whose operations be tween Wellington and Palmerston North have opened up a magnificent area of country along this coast. There was great difficulty in carrying out Ibis work. The Government had appointed a special Commission to investigate the proposed site of the railway, and the possibilities of its being a profitable undertaking. The report of the Commission was completely opposed to the construction of the line, the statement being made by the Commissioners that it -would not pay_jixle-grease. A number of enterprising men j>f that day in Wellington, headed by Mr Plimmer, strongly resented this view of the possibilities of the Manawatu district and the West Coast generally. They knew from their own practical experience that tile country was especially rich for grazing and dairying, and that it only required to he opened up by a railway to become of great value. A preliminary meeting, attended by about thirty citizens, was called, and resolutions were carried in favour of the construction of a private railway. At this meeting, held in 1880, the first resolution, to the effect that the railway should be formed, was proposed by Mr W. T. L. Travers and seconded by Mr Plimmer, who said it would be the life of Wellington to have this line. He knew they could save some hundreds of thousands a year to Wellington in what could be produced in the district, if the West Coast line was completed. The motion was carried, and the next resolution, proposed by Mr Plimmer, was unanimously agreed to:—“That it is the opinion of this meeting that to give a practical form to the matter, a preliminary committee be at once appointed to make the necessary inquiries, and take proper steps to form a company to be called the North Island and West Coast Railway Company, and to report to another meeting as early as practicable, preparatory to bringing the whole subject before the public.” Solely owing to the courage and public spirit of Mr Plimmer, a share list

was started, which he headed by an undertaking to take several thousands of shares. A vigorous canvass by himself brought in promises sufficient to justify the establishment of a company, and in all something over £IOO,OOO was raised, principally through Mr Plimmer’s exertions. He became one of the first directors, and remained a director until about five years ago, when lie resigned in favour of his son, Mr J. A. Plimmer, who is still a member of the board. Without the personal energy and whole-hearted enthusiasm of Mr Plimmer in connection with this work, the construction of the Wellington and Manawatu railway would probably not have taken place for very many years, and the development of the city and district of Wellington would have been retarded to an extent it is almost impossible to estimate. It is now admitted that the construction of this railway has been the means not only of developing the trade of the city and the commerce of Wellington, hut of adding many millions of pounds to the value of the whole of the country lands served by the line. Apart altogether from Mr Plimmer’s early pioneer work, and the enterprise and ability displayed by him in every direction as a citizen of Wellington, this latest work, undertaken by a man of about seventy years of age, was a proof of the vigour of his physique and mental attributes even at that late stage of his life. On his retirement from the directorate, and in celebration of his eighty-eighth birthday, Mr Plimmer and his work were eulogised at a representative meeting of citizens at the Chamber of Commerce, at which the Mayor of the city presided; and there Mr Plimmer was presented by the Premier of the colony with a large life-size oil painting of himself and a life pass over the railway in the form of a gold medal—the only life pass issued by the company. Ob his ninetieth birthday he was presented with an illuminated address from the Mayor and citizens of Wellington. Deceased was intensely patriotic, and his letters to the press on the outbreak of the war in South Africa might have been written by a man of thirty instead of one within measurable distance of the century. When fimds were urgently needed for the equipment of the New Zealand contingents Mr John Plimmer headed the list with a hundred guineas, and promised another such amount if neWled within six months. This promise was more than fulfilled, for his total contributions to the funds of the various contingents amounted to between £6OO and £7OO. Again, he was a man of deeply religious spirit, to whom no worthy cause ever appealed in vain. His contributions to church work were large, and his subscription of £SOO to the Anglican Cathedral fund is well remembered. In the commercial and public life of the city, as has been said, he took a prominent part for many years. He was a member of the first Chamber of Commerce in Wellington, and was indeed at the time of his death its only surviving member. He was a City Councillor at one period of his career, but resigned from that body in 1871. He was elected to the Provincial Council during Dr Featherstoil’s term of offico as Superintendent, and was successful in having a bill passed which vested in the city for all time all that remained of the city lands. He was appointed by the Government one of tho Commissioners in Wellington for the visit of the Duke of York (now Prince of Wales) in 1901. Amongst his other business interests, he was for many years one of the directors of the “New Zealand Times” Company. Mr Plimmer was a strong advocate for the completion of the North Island Main Trunk line, and wrote several letters to the newspapers on this subject. He was a frequent' contributor to the columns of the press upon topics of public interest, and all his letters manifested that strong confidence in the future of the city in which he lived. One story illustrative of his enterprising spirit may he given here. He was unfortunate enough to lose money in a contract for the supply of timber for an important public work, his sawmills at the Upper Hutt were burned down, and a schooner in which lie was interested, the Acadian, was wrecked. All these misfortunes occurred within, a few weeks, and cost him about £IO,OOO. His spirit, however, remained undaunted. He pluckily made a fresh start, raised the required sum, £IO,OOO, at heavy interest, and went on as if nothing had happened. Prom the day he arrived in the colony in 1841, Mr Plimmer was not absent more than a week from Wellington. The occasion was a trip to Christchurch, and the aged pioneer always related that he was intensely unhappy during that short space of time, .so great was his love for the city that had grown up under his eye. Mr Plimmer was twice married—in England to Miss Eliza Roden, who died in Wellington in 1862, and subsequently to Miss Janet Anderson (a sister of the late Mr John Anderson, at one time editor of the Wellington “ Independent,” the predecessor of the “ New Zealand Times”). His second wife still lives. He was predeceased by two sons

—Mr William Plimmer (the younger of tlie two bora in England, the father of Mi' Harry Plimmer, of theatrical note, and Mr Harcus Plimmer, of this city), and Mr James Plimmer (one of hist sons by tlie second marriage). The members of his family living are Messrs Isaac, John A., Henry and Charles Plimmer, all of Wellington, and Mrs Herbert Gaby, sen., of Newtown, Mrs William Richardson and Mrs Charles Brown, of Upper Ingest re street; and by his second marriage Mr George Plimmer, of Palmerston North. In a telegram of condolence sent to Mr J. A. Plimmer from Greymouth, the Premier savs of the deceased:— “He ever proved a worthy colonist, and his far-sightedness and public services, his energy and perseverance, assisted materially to promote the best interests of both the province and city of Wellington, in which he lived for so many years, watching its development from but a small village into one of New Zealand’s finest cities. His place will be hard to fill, and his good works will live after him.”