The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]
Accountants, Auctioneers, Etc
Accountants, Auctioneers, Etc.
Including—Agents (Commission, Customhouse, Chartering, Estate, Financial, Insurance, Patent, Shipping, Station, Stock, Tourist); Auctioneers; Auditors; Average Adjusters; Sharebrokers; Valuators.
Abbott, John, Financial and Mining Agent, Queen Street, Auckland. This business was founded by the late Mr. John Abbott, who is referred to at some length in the section devoted to old colonists.
Alexander, Edward Beatty, Accountant, Auditor, and General Agent, 321 Victoria Arcade, Auckland. Mr Alexander was born in Omagh, North of Ireland. He left London in 1880 to join the National Bank at Wellington, and has, since his arrival in the colony, filled various posts in its service, including that of manager at the Port Chalmers and Tauranga branches respectively. Mr. Alexander was appointed manager of the Newton branch of the National Bank in 1896, but resigned that position in 1898, and set up in business on his own account. A year or two ago he was appointed auditor for the School Fund Accounts, and still retains the position.
Arthur, Richard and Co., (Thomas B. Arthur, auctioneer), Estate, House, Land and General Auctioneers and Commission Agents, Queen Street, Auckland. Telephone 201. P.O. Box 43. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. This firm was founded by the late Mr Richard Arthur, who arrived in Auckland in the year 1857, and carried on business there almost continuously until his death in July, 1895. He served with the firm of Messrs Bam, Grahame and Co., for several years, and then entered business with his father under the style of Messrs C. Arthur and Son, as land agents, auctioneers and accountants. This firm continued in existence with varied success until about the year 1864, when Mr. Richard Arthur took over the business and carried it on in his own name. His ability as an auctioneer, and his unswerving rectitude, very soon secured him a large connection. In the year 1886 the business had assumed such large dimensions that it became necessary to reconstruct it; he was accordingly joined in partnership by Mr. J. F. Buddle, and the new firm became known as Arthur and Buddle. This arrangement continued until June, 1891, when the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Arthur continued the business under his own name. In February, 1895, he was compelled through illhealth to give up selling, and was ordered to take a trip to Australia, in the hope that the change might restore him, but the malady from which he was suffering was too deep-seated, and he died the day following his return to Auckland. During his illness, his second son, Mr. T. B. Arthur, successfully conducted the business, and has continued to do so since his death. Mr. Arthur married, in 1863, the second daughter of the late Rev Thomas Buddle, and his widow, two sons, and two daughters survive him.
Barr Brown, R., Land and Estate Agent, Hotel and Share Broker, and General Commission Agent, Exchange Lane, Auckland; branch at New Plymouth (G. [gap — reason: illegible]. Mitchell, manager). P.O. Box 202. Telephone 1134. Bankers, Union Bank of Australia. Mr. Barr Brown was born and educated at Auckland, and is a son of the late Mr. Barr Brown, of Waiuku. He started his present business about 1895, having had a previous experience in valuation and general commission work—an experience which is now of inestimable value to him. His business increased so much that he was requested by a number of clients to start a branch at New Plymouth, where he has already formed a large connection. Mr. Barr Brown is known in Auckland as a most energetic and trustworthy business man, and he is sure to earn a similar reputation in Taranaki. He was well known in his earlier days as an athlete, and he is still a keen sportsman. Mr. Barr Brown is married and has one child.
Mr. R. Barr Brown.
Clayton, Matthew Thomas (Captain), Surveyor of Lloyd's Register and General Shipping Agent, 23, Palmerston Buildings, Auckland, was born at Selsey, Sussex, in England, in 1831, and is the fifth son of the late Mr. William Clayton, of Glynn House, Selsey. He was educated at the Northgate Chichester Boarding School. In 1844 he was apprenticed to the sea, and joined the ship “London” (Captain Gibson), but in 1846 was transferred to the “Statesman, on which he served until 1850. Mr. Clayton became third officer in 1819, second of the “Simla” in 1850, chief officer of the “King William” in 1851, chief officer of the ship “Hope” in 1858, chief officer of the ship “Kent” in 1856, and master of the same ship on the 1st of January, 1859. During those years he traded to all parts of the globe. In January, 1859, he became commander of the ship “Kent,” belonging to the celebrated Black wall Line, owned by Messrs Money Wigram and Sons, and held the command until 1863, when he was commissioned to bring the Australian Steam Navigation Company's paddle steamer “City of Brisbane” to Sydney. It was then his intention to settle in New South Wales, but in May, 1864, he arrived in Auckland and joined the New Zealand Insurance Company, as Marine Surveyor, a position which he has held ever since. In 1876, during the Premiership of Sir Julius Vogel, Captain Clayton was appointed examiner of Masters and Mates in Seamanship; also surveyor under the Wrecks Act. He held the former position for twenty years, and the latter until the Act became obsolete. In 1876 he was appointed surveyor to Lloyds Register for Shipping. Captain Clayton is a marine artist of considerable skill, and his pictures command a ready sale all over the Colony. He is a zealous member of the Anglican Church, and acts as Lay Canon of the Cathedral Chapter, and is also a member of the General Trust Board.
Hanna, photo.Captain M. T. Clayton.
Cook, Thomas and Son (Robert Angus, manager), Auckland. The business of Thomas Cook and Son was originated in 1841 by Mr. Thomas Cook, through the simple idea of running an excursion train at very low prices in connection with a temperance conference. Thence it developed into “conducted parties” to Scotland and on the Continent, and gradually included the distant, and then little frequented parts of the globe, within the scope of its operations. Mr. Thomas Cook was the originator, but his son, Mr. John Mason Cook, developed the business and managed and conducted its affairs at the time of its rapid growth. Mr. J. M. Cook recently died, and the control of the business is now in the hands of his three sons, who are assisted by the heads of departments who have grown up in the business. The firm has offices and agents all over the world, and there is no ticket nor combination of tickets which Messrs Cook and Son cannot issue; whether the passenger wishes to take a simple drive round a town, or a tour round the world, the firm can with equal ease make the necessary arrangements. In 1888 the firm extended its business to New Zealand, and since then the whole of the colony's wonderland and beautiful scenic resorts have come under the scope of Cook's tickets. The head New Zealand office at Auckland controls nine offices and sub-agencies in the colony, and the present manager, Mr. Robert Angus, joined the firm's service at the opening of the business in this colony. The business in New Zealand is under the general control of Melbourne, which is the headquarters for the Australian colonies, and the general manager is Mr. George Hatch.
Cotton, Henry E., Licensed Custom House and Shipping Agent224 Queen Street, Auckland. This business was established by Mr. H. E. Cotton in 1889, and since then it has made steady progress.
Hanna, photo.Mr. J. J. Craig.
Mr. W. T. Davidge
Garland, George Joseph, Land, House, and Estate Agent, 6 Coombes' Arcade, Queen Street, Auckland. Private residence, Bond Street, Archhill.
Grosvenor, Charles, A.N.Z.A.A., Public Accountant, Legal Manager, Mining and Financial Agent, Auckland. Mr. Grosvenor was born at Hunslet, a suburb of Leeds, England, in 1858, and was educated at Parnel College, near Harrogate. He is the eldest son of the late Mr. Bower Grosvenor, one of the firm of Charles Grosvenor and Son, ironmasters and colliery proprietors, Leeds, and a descendant of the late Mr. Joshua Bower, a president of the Chamber of Commerce, Leeds. Mr. Grosvenor was trained at Home for a civil engineer, but was prevented, through a combination of untoward circumstances, from obtaining his diploma. In 1884 he migrated to New Zealand, and was subsequently appointed confidential clerk and draughtsman to the Bay of Islands Coal Company at Kawakawa, but returned to Auckland in 1892, when he commenced business, as a public accountant and financial agent. Mr. Grosvenor is one of the patentees of the New Hydro-Carbon Gas Generator. He has been successful in forming a company to develop the patent in New Zealand and Australia, and occupies a prominent position in connection therewith. The name of the company is “The Premier, Light, Heat, and Power Company, Limited.” Mr. Grosvenor married Miss Effie Hipkins, daughter of the late Mr. David Hipkins, a retired Staffordshire ironmaster, and sister to the Rev. F. C. Hipkins, M.A., of Repton Priory, Derbyshire.
Mr. C. Grosvenor.
Baldwin And Rayward (Ernest Smith Baldwin and Henrie Hampton Rayward; E. Brooke-Smith, manager), Chartered Patent Agents, Queen Street, Auckland. Head Office, Wellington.
Mr. Edward Brooke-Smith, Manager of the Auckland Branch of the business of Messrs Baldwin and Rayward, was born in Birmingham, England. At an early age he went to Port Elizabeth, Cape was born in Birmingham, England. At an early age he went to Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony, and entered the service of a firm of merchants, in which he eventually became a partner. During a residence of about twenty-seven years in the colony he took a keen interest in public affairs. He was for many years honorary treasurer of the Port Elizabeth Club, and a member of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce, also a director of five local companies, including the Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage Railway Company, which initiated the first line of railway in the Eastern Province of the colony. The commercial depression which followed the retrocession of the Transvaal, depreciation in the value of his property, and a heavy loss in ostrich farming deprived him of the results of previous prosperous times, and in 1886 he came to New Zealand. For some time he was interested in mining operations on the West Coast of the South Island, and was the first to obtain special claims on the beaches for dredging purposes; the Hon. W. J. M. Laranch, Minister of Mines in 1887, granted him 200 acres on the Five Mile beach to assist him in initiating a new method of treating ground considered unworkable until that time. The Okarito Gold Dredging Company, Limited, was formed to exploit the venture, and Mr Brooke-Smith returned to Europe to procure the machinery. Owing to want of experience with the work, this plant was found to be far too small, and the company went into liquidation. While in England, Mr. Brooke-Smith promoted the New Zealand Beaches Limited Mining Company, and on its behalf took up a claim on the Three Mile Beach, which was worked by a powerful Welman hydraulic dredge. This plant proved perfectly satisfactory both as a dredge and as a gold saver, but, unhappily, the quantity of gold expected was not in the beach, and the enterprise was abandoned when almost within reach of success. Beach dredging thus received a check from which it has not yet (1900) recovered. After leaving the West Coast Mr. Brooke-Smith was for five years in business as a grain merchant in Oamaru, and in 1897, he visited America, Canada, England, and the Continent of Europe in connection with patent business. He returned to New Zealand about the end of 1898, when he settled in Auckland. Mr Brooke-Smith is married, and has one son and five daughters living.
Mr. E. Brooke-Smith.
Mr. J. M. Lennox
Stock Exchange, and has been connected with Auckland mining from its infancy. He was chairman of directors of about the first company formed; namely, the Karaka Goldmining Company, and was chairman of the Cale-donian, Hazelbank, and many other important and well-remembered companies. The passing of the Act prohibiting stockbrokers from sitting as directors of mining companies necessitated Mr. Lennox's retirement from these and similar positions. In the old military days Mr. Lennox went with the volun-teers to the front. He was for seven years a city councillor and was for a similar period a member of the Education Board and the Board of Governors of the Auckland College and Grammar School. He was also chairman of Trustees of the Remuera highway district, and of the Remuera school committee, and a member of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank, Commissioner of Education, Superintendent of St. Luke's Sunday School, Remuera, clerk of the session for fourteen or fifteen years, first president and then vice-president of the Auckland Chess Club. As an Oddfellows, he is attached to the Fountain of Friendship Lodge. Mr. Lennox was married in 1872 to a daughter of the late Mr. W. Scott, of Canada, who for many years was a member of the Canadian Parliament.
Lewis, Gabriel and Co. (Gabriel Lewis and Louis Lewis), Auctioneers, Indenters, Manufacturers' Agents, etc., 48 Queen Street, Auckland. Telephone, 125. Bankers, National Bank of New Zealand. Mr. Gabriel Lewis, the senior partner of this old-established firm, founded the well-known house of Messrs Lewis Bros., soft goods merchants, in the year 1861. The business afterwards merged into that of auctioneering, and now the firm ranks as one of the leading houses of Auckland. Messrs Lewis and Co. are also indenters, manufactures' agents, valuators and appraisers, and promoters and floaters of first-class mining properties on the London market through their bankers, Messrs Malcolm, Brunker and Co., St. Mary's Aix, London, E.C.
Morrison, W. B. A., F.S.A.A. (Eng.) Incorporated Accountant, Auckland Club Buildings, Shortland Street, Auckland. Mr. Morrison, son of the Rev. W. R. Morrison, M. A., who at the time of his death was vicar of St. Paul's, Canonbury, London, was educated in London, and spent some years in America before coming to New Zealand in 1878. He was for many years connected with the Bank of New Zealand, and was accountant to the Bank of New Zealand Estates Company, Ltd., at the time of his resignation to start in business as public accountant in Auckland in 1895. Mr. Morrison's office is the office of the Thames Gas Company, Ltd., of which he is secretary.
Stone Brothers (T. L. White and J. Bennett, successors), Shipbrokers, Licensed Custom House Agents and General Merchants, Fort Street, Auckland. Cable address, “Stone”; Code A.B.C. Telephone 37. P.O. Box 119. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. This old and well-known firm was founded in 1852 by Mr. C. J. Stone, a highly esteemed citizen, who died about 1882. The business was carried on from 1864 to 1874 by Messrs C. J. Stone and Sons. Mr. C. J. Stone then retired, and Mr. C. B. Stone successfully continued the business until 1891, when the present partners took his place. The firm's ramifications extend over the Australasian colonies, in connection with grain, produce, shipping, and general merchandise. They are agents for Calley's Torbay Paints; Hayward's Sheep Dip, etc., and for Messrs William Schulze and Co., of Galashiels, Scotland, woollen manufacturers, and Messrs William Oddy and Co., Bradford, England, manufacturers.
Waymouth And Son (Oliver Bryant Waymouth), Public Accountants and Average Adjusters, 28 Shortland Street, Auckland. Private address, Avondale. Bankers, Bank of Australasia.
Mr. Waymouth was born in Auckland in 1863, and is the youngest son of the late Mr. John Waymouth, once well-known and highly respected as an accountant. Mr. Waymouth was educated at the Auckland College and Grammar School, and spent two years in the employment of the South British Insurance Company, and subsequently joined his father as junior partner of the firm of Waymouth and Son. Since the death of Mr. Waymouth, senior, in December, 1892, Mr. O. B. Waymouth has successfully carried on the business, and has been favoured with his share of the general prosperity which has recently fallen to the lot of Auckland. Mr. Waymouth was one of the first members of the New Zealand Institute of Accountants, from which he has since, for private reasons, withdrawn. He is the local secretary of the Northern Union Steamboat Company, of which he became a director in 1897. Mr. Waymouth has acted as judge at the local regattas. His own yachts have been prize-winners, and on one occasion he won the championship prize of the New Zealand Yacht Racing Association, Wellington. He is a Freemason, and is well-known in cricket circles as a member of the West End Cricket Club, in which, for one sea-son, he obtained the best bowling average. Mr. Waymouth is married to a daughter of Mr. Charles E. Nelson, Whakarewarewa, and Las a family of five.
Williamson, C. R. and Co., Land, Estate, and Financial Agents, 93 Queen Street, Auckland. Telephone 78. Bankers, National Bank of New Zealand. This business was established in 1876, in Vulcan Lane, by Mr. C. Williamson, who, in 1897, removed to the premises which the firm now occupies. In the early part of 1900 the founder of the firm retired, leaving his son, Mr. C. R. Williamson, who had gained a wide experience with his father, to carry on the business.