NEW POST OFFICE OPENED

Taranaki Daily News, 27 May 1931, Page 5

NEW POST OFFICE OPENED

URENUI RED LETTER DAY [POSTMASTER-GENERAL'S VISIT. DISTRICT'S PROGRESS REVIEWED. Yesterday, as Mr. W. J. Polson remarked, was a red letter day in the history of the village of Urenui, the occasion being the presence of the Post-master-General, the Hon. J. B. Donald, to officially open the new post office which has replaced the one destroyed •by fire in March, 1930. The new building has been erected on a site of a quarter of an acre on Ngakoti Street, a continuation of the Main North Road, just past Dunbar’s store and opposite the public hall. The building is a combined post office and postmaster’s residence, and though utility has been the keynote of the design and nothing has been expended .on useless ornamentation, the architecture of the building is pleasing. It is of one storey built on bungalow lines. The foundations are of concrete, the exterior walls being of weatherboard and the roof of corrugated iron. Entrance 'by a couple of concrete steps and through a glass-fronted door leads to a lobby, in which there are private letter boxes and from which one door gives access to the - public office and another on the right to the mail room. The public office is spacious and is well equipped, there being ample desk accommodation for writing as well as a telephone box. The interior is very tastefully finished, the walls being lined dado height with Ailed rim u, whilst above there s white plaster board panelled with oiled riinu battens, the ceiling being finished in the same way. This makes the interior very bright, there being plenty of ’light through the numerous windows Wizard light has been installed. •The quarters attached comprise four rooms and a sleeping porch, together with all the conveniences of the modern home. WELCOME TO VISITORS. In sunny weather there was a representative gathering of residents yesterday. A line of bunting stretched across the street. Mr. R. H. Pigott, chairman of the reception committee, presided, and besides the Postmaster-Gen-eral and his private secretary, (Mr. R. W. King)' there was also on the plat-form-Mr. W. J. Polson, ALP. Mr. Beamish, chief postmaster at New Plymouth, and Mrs. Beamish, were also present. The school children paraded.

On behalf of the residents of the district, Mr. Pigott, himself a resident of 53 years’ standing, extended a welcome to the Postmaster-General, Mr. Polson and other visitors. He expressed the district’s' appreciation of the very-fine building, showing that the progress of the postal work in the district had warranted the provision of up-to-date facilities. In connection with the site chosen it was evident that the authorities had had in view the possibility of enlargements being required in the future. Mr. Pigott thanked the PostmasterGeneral and his department for having acceded to t'lieir request after the destruction of the old office to retain the popular and efficient postmaster (Mr. George Loveridge) who, they hoped, would remain in the district a long time. He also paid a tribute to the workmanlike manner in which the builder (Mr. George Bennett) had carried out the construction of the office. Mr. Polson said the Postmaster-Gen-eral was to be congratulated on making the acquaintance of a district'which he characterised as the Riviera of New Zealand. It was blessed with a climate not excelled anywhere in the Dominion, and he thought it was in the future destined to be one of the finest watering places in the Southern Hemisphere. The district was full cj associations of the, very earliest history of New Zealand, for those ancient mariners had come over in the dawn of history in their canoes and had landed there and fought there. Indeed, there was not a hill or dale that did not bear the impression of the early Maori battles.

As one who knew the district when it was all fern and not a little gorse, Mr, Polson said he realised how progressive its settlers had been, and he foresaw a great future for the district. There was no question that it was capable of greater production, and knowing the sturdy settlers Who were on the land he considered that it would become a considerable centre of population as well as a watering place. He intimated that the ladies of the district had a request to place before the Minister in regard to the disposition of the old site.

Mr. Donald expressc ". his pleasure at meeting “the grandsons and granddaughters of the early settlers of Taranaki.” Though it was his first official visit he 'had frequently visited the district. He agreed with Mr. Polson that it had a great future. HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT. Urenui, said Mr. Donald, was rich in early Maori history. Its European history began with the despatch of a survey expedition from New Plymouth in 1841 to report upon the suitability of the site for the capital of the province. The report was favourable, but apparently because of the progress that had already been made in providing for the capital at New Plymouth, the proposal to have the chief town of the province at Urenui was not proceeded with. It was not until 1864 that the town was surveyed and settled, and it was in this year that the first regular postal servide was established from New Plymouth, which was then .the military headquarters for the outposts of which Urenui was one.

The mails were carried by mounted troopers who followed-the route New Plymouth via Devon Line to Waitara, thence by the sea coast to the Onaero River mouth, and thence overland to Urenui. The troopers and their horses were of exceptional type, performing the service regularly under most arduous conditions, including the perils of fording flooded rivers and of traversing tho beaches when seas were high and dangerous. That method of conveying the mail continued for some time, until in 1878 the mails were conveyed by paekhorse from Waitara, that method in turn being supplanted in about the year 1899 by carriage by five-horse coach, which operated until the advent of motor transport. The first post office at Urenui was opened in 1864 in the charge of Captain Tho'mas Good at tlio redoubt built on the site of the ancient Maori pa called Pihauga. In 1874 Mr. Charles Rowe | built a store on a central and convenient site on the main road corner, and tho post office was transferred. to Mr. Rowe’s charge, his assistant, Mr. G. F. Bertrand, performing the bulk of the postal duties. Mr. Rowe’s store, which was later occupied by Messrs. Fitzgerald and O’Neill, housed the post office until 1903, when the growth and importance of the district made necessary the erection of a departmental building and tho appointment of a postmistress. Mr. Rowe’s successors in the position of postmaster, together With the dates of their appoijjtj&fjfit, were.:, —Miss J. A.

Honan (1903), Miss A. M. A. Hickson (1908), Mrs. M. L. Hovel! (1910), Mr. D. Olver (1913), Mr. F. A. Hansmann (1914), Mrs. E. F. Sullivan (1918), Miss M. McCarthy (1922), Mr. G. Toms (1922), Mr. G. Loveridge, (present postmaster) (1926). Mr. Donald said he was pleased to learn that Mr. Loveridge was giving such satisfaction and that the department was able to retain him in the present office.

A postal-note office was opened on November 8, 1894, a telephone office on June 18, 1898, and a telephone bureau on September 7, 1899. The office was constituted a mpney-ordei - office and savings bank one on December 17, 1903. The telephone exchange was opened on August 26, 1912, with six subscribers. The number of subscribers now connected was 86. THE SECOND FIRE. Urenui had been unfortunate in the matter of fires. In the fire/of March, 1925, the post office building was saved by the efforts of residents who formed a bucket brigade and worked arduously in fighting the lire. Unfortunately the residents’ efforts were not so successful in combating the outbreak which occurred in March, 1930, when the post office building was burnt to the ground despite tho strenuous efforts of the residents to save it. He wished to tell them how much the Government appreciated the work of the fire fighters and of those who assisted in saving correspondence and departmental records, and he was pleased to see that the late Sir Joseph Ward’s letter of thanks to them had been framed and

I accorded a prominent position in the new building. ' Mr. Donald acknowledged his indebtedness to Mr. W. H. Skinner for the information concerning the early history of the district. Mr. Skinner also prepared the Maori history of the township and the district generally and that had been placed on careful record by the department. Mr. Donald then turned the key and declared the post office open. He asked that the children be granted a holiday for the remainder of the afternoon. Cheers were given for the PostmasterGeneral and Mr. Polson, and after the post office had been inspected those present were entertained by the ladies of the district at afternoon tea.

The committee responsible for the organisation of the function comprised Messrs. R. H. Pigott (chairman), A. H. Halcombe, F. Healy, J. F. Phillips, W. J. Frecth, S. Topless, Geo. Fuller and F. D. Des Forges.