Ormondville Rail Preservation Group Inc.
A History of Ormondville - as it was in November 1888
Parts 3 & 4 of a series of four articles, entitled 'Ormondville' by "Our Own Reporter"
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Bush Advocate 1 November 1888 2[6-7] (Part 3) Note: Additional notes are in [ ]'s
Some twelve months after Mr Webber had opened his new building a Mr Steffensen thought that Makotuku would support more than one store, and accordingly entered into partnership with another man and commenced business. This venture, however, did not seem to answer the expectations of its sanguine promoters, and after a little time Mr Sugden bought out their interest and soon afterwards removed the business to the other side of the line, to a site where the Beaconsfield Hotel now stands. Mr Sugden's house is one of those structures that seem smaller than they really are, and there are comfortable rooms at the rear of the shop that one would scarcely think were to be found there.
The shop, or store, is not as large as others in the same line, being 24 x 14 feet, but Mr Sugden finds it large enough for present requirements, and owing to the walls being high a very varied assortment of all that is necessary in a flourishing place like Makotuku is kept on hand, and arranged in such a manner as to please the eye.
As settlement progressed the want of a building in which to hold divine service was felt, and in 1887 a pretty Anglican Church was built owing to the exertions of Messrs Brabazon, Hall, A.G. Webber, and some others, and in this building the Rev. A.S. Webb holds service once, and a lay reader once every Sunday.
In 1888 Mr W. Robinson, who had been some years previously in charge of the oldest established store at Ormondville, and who was by then in business as a storekeeper at Waipukurau, turned his attention to Makotuku, and seeing the great future that is in store for this place, determined to add his name to the list of those dealing in general merchandise there. Mr J. Hobbs had a building on hand that suited Mr Robinson, and that had been used as a public hall, for which purpose it had been, in fact, built, and in this large building Mr Robinson opened as [a] general storekeeper. The main saleroom of this building measures 40 x 30 feet, and is lighted with Defreis' patent safety lamps, of 100 candle power each, at night, while by day the large and showy windows admirably answer the chief purpose for which windows were intended.
On entering the saleroom the general store department is on the right, and here everything from patent medicines to tinned provisions can be obtained, while local industries are represented by butter, eggs, etc. On the left is the drapery department, where not only materials making both male and female clothing (trimmings included), but also ready made garments are for sale at prices that bring a good outfit within the reach of even the poorest. At the lower end of the beautifully polished counter (which is in figured grown rimu, grown in this district) is a stock of hats of every conceivable shape and price, while across the end of the room is a splendid stock of boots, and also tools wherewith to earn money for purchasing the goods so invitingly displayed. Down the centre of the shop is a stand on which hardware, crockery and glassware invite inspection, while great coats, rugs, oilskins, waterproofs, etc., are hung from the ceiling, and heavy articles stand underneath and on the floor. At the back of this room is the receiving store, which is 40 x 20 feet, and in which such necessary goods as potatoes, flour, sugar, etc., etc. are stored ready for supplying orders.
In addition to the sale and store rooms the rooms occupied by Mr Robinson and his family are in the building. Protection from fire is afforded by means of a force pump and hose attached to the magnificent well of water on the property, by means of which a fire could be subdued in a very short time. Besides Mr and Mrs Robinson it is found necessary to employ an assistant, in order to keep pace with the business, and a very efficient storeman was found in Mr Chaldicott. This place bears the appropriate name of "The People's Store."
During the first days of settlement no accommodation for travellers existed beyond the abundant hospitality of the settlers, but after a time, Mr McKnight (referred to in a former letter [see part 1]) opened a boarding house at Ormondville; and some attempt was made in the same direction at Makotuku. After a time, Mr J. Daly opened the Settlers Arms Hotel, and Mr D. Smith obtained a license for a house near the Makotuku School.
For a time all went well, but at length one of the new settlers, a man of forbidding appearance and of surly manner, who sometimes drank very freely, began to give some trouble to the police, and also to some of the settlers who resided near him, they being frequently called in to protect his wife from his violence when under the influence of liquor. I need not dwell upon the harrowing account of what followed, nor relate how the whole of the settlement was paralysed with horror on learning that one of the most awful tragedies that have ever been enacted in New Zealand had taken place in this peaceful settlement and that on the calm Sabbath evening the trusting mother and her little children had been rushed into eternity. But the shock was succeeded by a desire to take some action, and the result was that all the hotels in this licensing district were closed.
Not long after this happened Mr J. Kuhtze sent an agent to the Bush, and, after a little time elapsed, he came to the conclusion that a good opening existed for a brewery here, and this led to his adding a brewery to the list of our local industries. Having secured a site from Mr Bai, of the Danish line, Mr Kuhtze began business, but a fire destroyed the fruits of his toil, and he had to make another beginning. He rebuilt the brew house which now stands on the site of the one destroyed by fire, and is now doing a very fair trade, and the business is expanding rapidly as the quality of the article supplied becomes known.
The front portion of the brewery is 60 x 32 feet, is very high, and is well ventilated and cool, this being a very necessary condition, if good beer is to be brewed. On the right is the storage cask or tub, which contains 800 gallons of beer in stock. The mash tub has a capacity of 1,000 gallons, and is supplied with water heated to a temperature high enough to raise the mash to about 170 deg. from one of two boilers built in a high brick setting in the back of the brewery, which, although contained in the building described, is walled off from the storage and fermenting room in order to avoid any rise in the temperature of that room. From here the wort is pumped into the second boiler (the boilers have a capacity of about 200 gallons each), and after boiling is run into a cooler which is situated in an uncompleted room behind the brewery. The cooler has a capacity of about 242 cubic feet, or, roughly speaking, about 1,500 gallons.
When cool enough the wort is run off into a vat of 800 gallons capacity, technically named the "underbeck," being afterwards pumped into the fermenting tub, which stands on the stage raised about ten feet from the floor, and contains about 1,000 gallons when filled. From the fermenting tank (or tub) the liquid - which I suppose I can now begin to call beer - is conveyed by means of a hose to the casks, where it is made to go through the cleansing process, and while this stage is progressing great care and attention are bestowed upon it. As the beer works it requires to be added to so that the casks remain full, as otherwise the impurities could not work out of the casks, and when the beer has ceased to work the casks are ready for bunging, and sale.
A plentiful supply of good water is on the ground, and is pumped by means of a force pump to any part of the brewery where it may be required, and this necessitates the use of a considerable quantity of piping as well as pliable hose. In the boiler room there is a very powerful malt mill which has been intended for driving by either horse or steam power, but at present neither is used, the crushing being done by hand power. An open and partly used bale of hops of beautiful quality gave me a hint that brewing also encourages another industry which I hope to see developed here in time. A very clear and tempting beer is brewed here, but as I make it a rule never to taste beer when gleaning particulars such as those contained in these letters, I can only say that I am informed that the beer brewed here, is excellent in quality as well as in appearance.
Of course, as I do not happen to be a practical brewer, I am indebted to Mr Kuhtze for a considerable portion of the information recorded here, and if I have not done justice to such an important local industry as this the fault is entirely mine, as the information given me was lucid in the extreme. Some idea of the magnitude that this trade may yet attain to can be gleaned from the fact that on the day of my visit to Mr Kuhtze's brewery six hogsheads of beer were sent away to customers along the line, and as, during the time that has elapsed since then, about 14 days, he has been busily engaged in delivering further orders, it may be inferred that the trade is still expanding.
Such is the instability of popular opinion that no sooner had the hotels been closed than a fierce struggle to get them reopened commenced, and as the idea had entered the minds of some of the Ormondville resident of getting the place declared a Town District, the thought of a new licensing district very naturally made those who repented of their action in closing the hotels look with favour on the proposed change, for the furtherance of which Mr Groom was obtaining signatures to a petition, and after a little time spent in negotiations Ormondville and Makotuku entered the bonds of wedlock under the name of the Ormondville Town District.
As this letter is already long enough I must conclude for the present, but will return to the subject in the next issue, when I hope to do justice to the splendid accommodation for travellers to be found in this district.
Bush Advocate 6 November 1888 2[6-8] (Part 4) Note: Additional notes are in [ ]'s
After a long struggle for the mastery had ensued between those who favoured granting licenses and those who were adverse to such a course, the new licensing district was proclaimed and licenses granted to the three hotels now open. The first opened was the Makotuku Hotel, which had been built on a site obtained from Mr J. Hobbs. This comfortable hotel is managed by the proprietor, Mr Essex, and his good lady, in such a manner as should make it a favourite resort of all who wish to pass a quiet evening, with the additional inducement of good liquors, good beds, and courteous attendance.
This hotel contains twelve very comfortable bedrooms of an average size of 16 x 10 feet. Some of the rooms are larger than this, but others are a little smaller, and they are all furnished with spring mattresses and chairs, while cheerful wallpaper and pretty pictures are met with not only in the bedrooms but all through the house. There are in all five sitting rooms, two upstairs and three in the lower storey; these are luxuriously furnished, and have fireplaces in them. The dining room has a floor space of 28 x 17 feet, and is very comfortably fitted up. The kitchen is perfect in all its appointments and capable of supplying an even larger number of guests than is likely to make a demand on its culinary capacity.
A beautifully toned piano by Foster is ever ready to respond to the touch of musically inclined guests, and should further sources of amusement be required, a good bagatelle board and a shooting gallery are open to choose from. In addition to the rooms already mentioned there are the bathrooms, where both plunge and shower baths are to be had at any time. Means of escape are provided by three inch ropes coiled away at all the windows, and the windows work freely so that no time would be lost in opening any of them.
The ceilings, mantles, skirtings, and doors are very nice pieces of workmanship, and all in native woods locally grown. The hotel is lightened with the Defreis safety lamps, which aggregate a candle power equal to between 500 and 600. The front is shaded by a flat verandah or balcony, supported on round columns, and at night this is lighted with a brilliant lamp equal to 100 candles.
The next hotel to open was the Ormondville Hotel, and this, like the one mentioned above, is a very imposing building, and adds must to the appearance of the place in which it is situated. I was shown over the hotel by the proprietor, Mr Leach, and obtained the sizes by measuring the rooms with his assistance. In this hotel are four sitting rooms, measuring 16 x 16 feet each, a dining room 40 x 20 feet, nine bedrooms 14 x 10 each, a bar 20 x 16 feet, and a spacious kitchen fitted with (a) patent Leamington range amongst other useful appliances. Here, to, the skirting, dados, and ceiling show excellent workmanship, as also the doors in figured rimu, beautifully polished. Some very pretty oil paintings adorn the walls, and handsome wallpaper shows of the woodwork by contrast.
The furniture is all new and manufactured to order by Mr Sebly of Waipawa. New carpeting and oilcloth are also laid down. The commercial room is beautifully fitted up, and when one gets comfortably seated there in a yielding spring chair the temptation to remain is very strong. In the bar parlour one feels this temptation growing stronger, and if there happens to be a good piano player at the magnificent piano by Collard & Collard, nothing is so annoying as to recollect that the printers will want "copy" in the morning, and one cannot stay as long as he would wish.
Comfortable beds with spring mattresses invite the weary travellers to repose, and if provided with the "nightcap" there should be as the Americans say "a power of sleep in those beds." In planning this hotel the chance of a night alarm of fire was not lost sight of, and a ladder is built into the wall within easy reach of the large window at one end of the passage in which all the bedrooms open. The window works very freely, and an iron bar projects from the wall outside the window, such as is found ready for grasping at the side of railway carriages. A strong step, or platform, runs under the window, from which, while grasping the iron bar - one can step on to the ladder and descend in safety to the ground. In order to test the practicability of this means of escape, I opened the window and stepped onto the ladder, and having descended without any trouble - although the night was as dark as pitch, and I moved as awkwardly as I could so as to bear some sort of similarity to a man or woman wakened in the dead of night from a sound sleep - I then returned by the ladder into the passage, confident that the means of escape would answer all requirements.
From inquires I found that none but good brands of liquors were kept in stock, and though, of course, I did not sample all the stock, what I did taste was of the best quality.
The walls are all 12 feet high and the ventilation supplies enough fresh air to meet a far greater consumption than is likely to be required. At the time of my visit the hotel was lighted up to about 300 candle power, but I was informed that the light was not up to full strength, as it was a quite evening, or to put it in other words it was one of those evenings experienced by all hotels when customers are few. A large concrete cellar is under this hotel for storing liquor.
The Beaconsfield hotel was first erected at Kopua, but when the railway was finished as far as Makotuku, the proprietor (the late Mr Drower) had the hotel removed to that place and built in the station yard there. As there was an hotel there already (that of Mr D. Smith), and as the proprietor of this hotel had been refused permission to build in the yard, he naturally objected to Mr Drower getting a license for a house which would take all the trade from him (Mr Smith), and the ratepayers joined with him in his objection, with the result that no license was granted to this hotel. After a time, however, Mr Smith compromised the matter by moving into the old Beaconsfield Hotel, but only in time to find his license refused with those of the other hotels.
After the new licensing district had been proclaimed the old hotel had to be removed out of the station yard, and this was accordingly done, the present Beaconsfield Hotel being built and opened under the care of Mr Smith. A short time, however, had only elapsed when Mr Smith became "full up" of hotel keeping, and the present genial proprietor, Mr Harry Gasson, took charge. This hotel presents much the same appearance at the Ormondville Hotel, being in fact nearly a counterpart of that building. Like that hotel it contains nine comfortable bedrooms measuring 16 x 10 feet, has four sitting rooms, including commercial room, and a cosy bar parlour, and like its counterpart the sitting rooms are 16 x 16 feet, and has a spacious and well appointed kitchen and a well furnished dining room 40 x 20 feet. The same fire escape ladder built in the wall with iron hand rail and step under the window, opening on a similar passage which runs between the two rows of bedrooms, a broad stairway, 12 feet walls, and roomy cellar.
A good trichord piano by Steimacher stands in the snug bar parlour, and is seldom silent in the evening, and can frequently be heard in the daytime. Some very good singing can be heard here almost every evening, and the host being a thorough bushman, is just the man to make his guests feel at home. Mrs Gasson, too, has a knack of making one feel comfortable, and the other members of the family fulfill their part so well that the visitor is not very anxious to leave when duty calls away, and many a pleasant evening has your faithful scribe spent beneath this hospitable roof.
In the early days meat was supplied from Norsewood, and after a time Mr D. Smith, who was then residing at Kopua, began to supply this place with meat as well as other articles of food. When Mr Smith removed his business to Makotuku he of course supplied that place with meat, and by coming down to Ormondville at regular intervals, was able to still supply his old customers there. After a time, Mr K. McKenzie opened a butchery at Norsewood, and Mr Smith gave up business in the butchering line in order to attend to his duties as publican. The butchering seems to have passed through a number of hands, until, finally, the business fell under the care of Mr W.L. Siddles, who had made his home at Makotuku and supplies a first-class article, kept sweet in a clean, well ventilated shop.
The Ormondville butchery has also changed hands, Mr F.W. Redward, who had from the earliest days conducted the butchering business, first for Mr Drower at Norsewood, and then for Mr McKenzie, who had left the district and opened a butchery at Kaikoura, or, as we spell it, Kaikora. (When dealing with the subject of Maori names some day, I will give the legend connected with this place) Mr Redward finds that the business will repay him for a little outlay, and is therefore about to have a new shop built instead of carrying on the business in the place used by him at present.
There remains a great deal to be written on this place, so much in fact that I must bring this letter to an end for this issue, as I cannot hope to exhaust the subject in a letter of any reasonable length, but I think that in [the] next issue I can conclude my remarks on this interesting place.
[Note: There is no trace of any subsequent letter as late as the end of 1888.]
Some notes relating to the return of licensed hotels to Norsewood - from research by Val Burr...
The election of pro-Temperance people to the Norsewood Licensing Committee in March 1884, only weeks after Roland Edwards killed his family, resulted in the closure, in June 1884, of the hotels at Ormondville (x 1), Makotuku (x 2), Matamau (x 1, which was promptly dismantled and soon reopened as the Mangatera Hotel [at Dannevirke] under another less radical licensing committee), and Norsewood (x 1).
The Junction Hotel at Norsewood, at the junction of the main road (now SH2) and Norsewood-Ormondville Road, remained within the Norsewood Licensing Committee's jurisdiction and so remained closed after the new Ormondville Licensing Committee decided to reopen its hotels in June 1887.
The Hawkes Bay Herald of 10 March 1888 announced that the Norsewood district had elected its licensing committee the previous day and that four of the five successful candidates (Breitke, Pomerantz, Mathieson and Petersen) favoured relicensing. Meanwhile, the fifth (Hansen), had been supported by both the 'for' and 'against' factions. A catch was, though, that the electoral roll used was that of the Waipawa Council Thus only people who had paid their rates by 31 March 1887, and whose names had therefore appeared on that roll, had been eligible to vote. In an impoverished district such as this, many worthy (male) citizens would have been deprived of a vote. Perhaps this was not lost on the election's organisers.
Accordingly, with the next sitting of the Norsewood Licensing Committee due to occur on 9 June 1888, the townsfolk anticipated a return to licensed hotels. However, on 16 March the great Norsewood fire occurred and much of the town and district was devastated. The former Junction Hotel, which had been struggling to survive for four years as an accommodation house, caught fire three times, but was saved. Its stable was lost. The irony was noted that the nearby Lutheran Church was destroyed while 'Satan's House' survived.
Dannevirke's brand new Bush Advocate (est. May 1888) then takes up the story. It advises (12/5/1888) that there were two serious contenders for new licenses in the Norsewood district and that a third might also. The latter briefly considered establishing a hotel near what is now the intersection of SH 2 and Garfield Road. The two serious contenders were Arthur Wright, proprietor of the Junction Accommodation House (formerly Hotel), and Englebret Olsen, who aimed to license the "Crown Hotel" in Upper Norsewood. The former hotel contained 16 rooms (i.e. bedrooms for hotel guests), while the latter supposedly had 14 rooms.
The committee met on 9 June and quickly approved the Junction's license. However, the police objected to the Crown receiving a license as it "had not the accommodation required by the Act and consequently was not in existence." The Bush Advocate (12/6/1888) advised its readers that the Junction's license would be applicable from 1 July 1888, but the Crown must wait until its accommodation did exist and must have this prior to the next quarterly meeting of the committee.
Both hoteliers, therefore, set about meeting their obligations. The by now shabby Junction (because accommodation alone did not provide an adequate income without the proceeds of liquor sales) underwent an overhaul with new painting and paperhanging. The burnt stable was also replaced. Upgrading the Crown - which must have previously been a minimal establishment and had certainly not previously been an 'hotel' - was now the subject of architect Mr Wundram's attention. Messrs. Youngman Bros. duly received the contract for "the building of the Crown Hotel, Norsewood" in the latter part of June 1888.
Meanwhile, the Junction had been serving its devastated community as urgently needed accommodation following the huge fire, and this role had extended to accommodating the pupils of the burnt-out Norsewood School each school day. With the official reopening of the hotel set to occur on 2 July, the teachers had to give their lessons in rooms in private homes (BA 28/6/1888). By this time, work was clearly advanced at the Crown, and landscaping was also underway. The not quite complete Crown finally opened for business amid celebration on 25 July 1888. The Bush Advocate (26/7/1888) added that until the reopenings, Norsewood had been without accommodation "for tourists and pleasure-seeking travellers."
Meanwhile the pro-Temperance faction, still smarting from the impact of the huge fire, had other views. Napier's Daily Telegraph of 25 April 1888 recorded the words of Norsewood's Methodist minister, the Rev. Edward Nielsen, who had lost his home, and almost his church, in the fire. He had said: "With regard to the cause of the fire, I look upon it as a judgment from God for the wickedness of the people, who refuse to repent after hearing so much of God's Word, although thank God there are a few God-fearing people there. About four years ago the Norsewood people by their own votes closed the hotel in the township and three others in the district. Only a week before the fire the people voted to open the hotel again, and did so with much joy. If others cannot see, or will not see, God's hand in this calamity, I can see it, and I know the people well, having been acquainted with them for thirteen years. May the visitation be a warning not only to Norsewood, but to the whole colony."
The Daily Telegraph cynically tacked on a comment below this report: "Yet the church was burned down and the pub escaped."
The original Junction and Crown were both lost to fires, the Crown on 17 September 1916 and the Junction on 16 January 1934. Both were duly replaced, however, the Junction (Mk II) closed as a hotel on 11 June 1976. The building was finally disposed of to permit construction of the new Norsewood Fire Station to begin on the same site. The latter work started in late 1997. The Crown Hotel (Mk II) remains in active service in Coronation Street, Norsewood.
Fires also claimed at least two of the other hotels mentioned above. The "50 year old" Makotuku Hotel burnt down on 8 May 1933, however, its successor survives today. The Settlers Arms/Ormondville Hotel has suffered destruction in at least two, perhaps three, fires since this time, however, again, its eventual replacement survives today.
