Mount Roskill (Puketapapa) Historical Society Newsletter August 2013

7/27/2019 Mount Roskill (Puketapapa) Historical Society Newsletter August 2013

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Issue 4 Volume 2, August 2013

MT ROSKILL

(Puketapapa)HistoricalSociety

NewsletterVisit us on the web:.

https://sites.google.com/site/roskillhistory/

AUGUST MEETINGSunday August 4th, 2pm

St David's in the Fields

202 Hillsborough Rd - Coin donation

appreciated to cover rental of the lounge.

Guest speaker: David Wong,

Chinese New Zealand Oral History

Foundation. Dave will talk about the

foundation, what they have done, how they

do interviews, issues that arise in recording

oral history, and more....!

As the Historical Society is looking at

undertaking oral history in the future, this

will be a useful workshop so hope to see as

many of you as possible there.

Have you paid your $10 subs??Due now!

Maungakiekie -The First 100 Years by GarthVipond , 115 pages

Thanks to the generosity of member Margaret

Ting we have been able to add this new

publication to our collection. This well researchedhistory details the development of the

Maungakiekie Golf Club, firstly at the One Tree

Hill site up to the 1941 eviction, when they then

moved to the second and current Mt Roskill

location. The very specific nature of the subject

material limits reader interest but it is still an

important contribution to the overall history of

Mt Roskill Puketapapa. The book is well

illustrated with a good collection of photographsand has good lists of staff, Club champions and

elected officials. My one and only complaint is

that we see yet another history publication

without an index.

Garth Houltham

PS Currently there is talk that the Club could be

struggling and may have to be sold possibly to

developers for subdivision. Should this be the

case the publication has come at a very

opportune time.

UPCOMING TALKFilling the cradles: private residential

maternity homes with LISA

TRUTTMAN

Wednesday 14 August, 12pm - 1pm

Central City Library, Level 2. Book by phoning

the Research Centre on 307 7771.

From late in the 19th century until World War II,the practice of midwifery developed into the

organised establishment of public maternity

hospitals such as St Helens at Pitt Street.

It also spread to include private residential

maternity homes operated by licensed nurses

and local GPs in suburbs of towns around New

Zealand.

Little has been recorded about these private

services or the nurses who ran them who saw a

considerable percentage of New Zealanders into

the world up until the 1950s.Join Lisa as she discusses her knowledge of

private residential maternity homes.

... Someone who may be interested in joining

the society?

If so, please forward our information on to

them. See back page for details.



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SPECIAL FREE EVENTFor Family Historians

Find Your Past: a day with Josh Taylor

Monday 5 August, 10am - 7.30pm at the Central

City Library, Whare Wānanga, Level 2Bookings essential - Central Auckland Research

Centre on 09 307 7771.

Make real progress in your family history

research with a full day of advice, tips and tricks

from Josh Taylor, one of the lead genealogists at

family history research website FindMyPast US.

Josh and other experts will help you break down

any brick walls you've reached in your research

and find your way back into the past.

It has been has been quite some time since we

published the second article in the on-going story

about the Cyrus Haley Affair. In this 3rd

article we

publish a write up about Cyrus that was in the

Otago Daily Times in 1875. Unfortunately there is

no record of the source of all the informationcontained in the article so the accuracy of the

details it contains could perhaps be suspect. It

does give us an interesting insight detailing

aspects of the life of Cyrus Haley. It clearly shows

how unstable he was and how vindictive he could

be thus explaining the events that took place at

the Pah Homestead..

HALEY'S CAREER

IN ENGLAND AND INDIA.

Haley began life as agent in Glasgow for his father, who was a clothier in Bramley, near Leeds,

and who carried on his business at an

establishment known as the Waterloo Mills.

Haley's wild manner of living in Glasgow got him

into difficulty, which resulted in his enlistment

into the Royal Engineers. Shortly after, he was

drafted to India, went through the Persian war

and got wounded. He next got into difficulty at a

place in India, the name of which we cannot

correctly ascertain. He was under the charge of

an officer, to revenge his spite on whom he buried a chest of money in order to get him into trouble.

For this offence he was tried by Court Martial,

and found guilty- He was sentenced to six year

penal servitude. Owing to his insubordinate

conduct in prison, and his escaping on several

occasions, the Government, in order to have him

confined more closely, had him forwarded to the

penal establishment in Portland, England. After

remaining in Portland for four and a-half years,and getting tired of his lonely seclusion in that

island, he made overtures to the authorities that

if the Government deemed it desirable to send

him back to India he would discover to them the

treasure that he had concealed. He went back to

India, or rather was taken there, fulfilled his

promise, showing where the treasure was hidden,

the whole amount was recovered, and the Officer,

who had had to make good the deficiency, got his

money back again. At the expiration of the term

of his sentence he was allowed to leave the Royal

Engineers, owing to the disgrace into which he

got himself. Through the good offices of a

gentleman in Bombay, who was a Bank manager

there, and who was acquainted with Haley's

father, he received an appointment as

storekeeper on the line of the Bombay and

Baroda Railway. While there

he got on so well as to be able to mix in good

society. However, he determined on a change,

and his resolution came about in the following

manner —He was invited to a Government party

in Bombay. But prior to its taking place he found

that his old acquaintance, Major Hancock, the

officer the treasure confided to whom he had

buried, was to be one of the party, and fearing

that he might be detected and exposed as being

an ex-convict to those at the party and in Bombay

generally, he not only did not go to the party, but

he left speedily for England. Soon after arrival he

got married in London. We next hear of him in a

way in which his sharpness comes to the fore. He,

with the assistance of his father, formed a Coal

Company, called "The Pall Mall Guinea Coal

Company,' being an opposition to the well-known

Guinea Coal Company, Pall Mall, of Messrs Lee

and Jardine. Messrs Lee and Jardine, were a

powerful firm, and did not want to see their name

traded upon; Mr Lee, at that time, was M. P. for

Maidstone, Kent. A suit was instituted, and the

result was that the Haley's were involved in the

whole of the costs, which were very heavy. Cyrus

Haley thereupon absconded, wandered about

Liverpool and Manchester for about six months;

his wife this time was living in London. Hearing

that the bailiffs were after him, Haley returned to

London, and determined on a course which well



Page 3

shows what the character of the man was. He

was aware that on a certain day and hour Mr Lee

would be in the fulfilment of his business present

at a place he knew of. Haley provided him-self

with a pair of six-chambered revolvers and a

screwdriver. He repaired to a coffee-house, where

he loaded the pistols, and then went to theLondon Parcels Delivery Company's Office, Rolls

Buildings, Fetter Lane, where the Board was

sitting at its half-yearly meeting. The door opened

by a spring from the inside—when it was closed,

it could not be opened from the outside. Haley

applied the screwdriver, forced open the door,

and gaine admittance to the room where the

Board was sitting, of which Mr Lee was chairman.

Before anything could be done, Haley, to the

amazement of the astonished members of the

Board, produced pistols, and extorted from Mr

Lee, with a pistol pointed at his (Mr Lee's) head, a

premise that he would withdraw the warrant out

for his (Haley's) apprehension. The warrant was

withdrawn on the understanding that Haley

should leave the country. Haley, however, did net

leave the country, no one dared to have the

warrant put into effect against him, and Haley's

next step was to become the landlord of a hotel.

Haley had previously been a director of the

Parcels Delivery Company, knew everything as to

their time of meeting, and the arrangements of

the place, and when he presented the pistol at Mr

Lee, his (Haley's) brother was present in the Board

room, and held the position of Secretary to the

Board. The hotel Haley kept was the' Vernon

Head, North Audley Street, Grosvenor Square.

This was in about 1869. He was a restless man,

and his next move was to emigrate to Auckland.

His doings there are well known; he was pre-

eminently "the fire-raiser." For his destroying the

kerosene stores, Mechanics .Bay, no motive could

ever be assigned and his reason was that there

was at that time a number of men out of work,

and he wanted to give them employment. In

order to foil the detectives in regard to the

burning down of his restaurant, he gave the key

to his manager, and the manager, being

examined, swore to the fact. But the explanation

was that Haley had filed down an old key which

he had till it was similar in wards to the key he

gave to the manager, and with, the old key he

effected an entrance and set fire to the place. We

have it on the best authority that had Haley

succeeded in escaping from, custody, it was his

intention to murder his wife and commit suicide,

as he had reason to believe that she had been

exposing his villany. That he, knowing from the

gaol chaplain where Mrs Haley was, had made up

his mind to trace her, lying in ambush till cover of

night, when he would have attacked and

murdered her, and then committed suicide. In

Lee's case he had determined if Lee would not

withdraw the warrant to shoot Lee and thenshoot himself. After hearing that his children were

confined in the Industrial School, he said that

rather than have his children made criminals of

he would have killed them all, and his demeanour

showed that he meant what he said. The

following are specimens of Haley's writings. He

was much given to essays:— " As regards prison

drudgery on Bell Hill, if it does not in the end bring

down the percentages of relapses gloriously

reformatory prison discipline must be a delusion.

Those who seek to inaugurate it are chasing a

bubble, and the best thing society can do" will be

to hang, shoot, or decapitate every man whom it

can catch and prove to have committed a crime.

In another place he says, writing of the devil :— "

As he passed by Dunedin gaol, He saw the dark

solitary cell And the devil was pleased, for it gave

him a hint, For improving his prison in hell!" These

lines are on solitary confinement. He winds up by

saying :— " All punishments the world can render,

Serve only to provoke the offender; The will gains

strength from treatment horrid, As hides grow

harder when they're curried." They are all

quotations, but they show what his mind most

ran on when reading. The first quotation is

slightly localised . Otago Daily Times 9 October

1875

A BLAST FROM THE PASTA HOME FOR OUR VETERANSAuckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 115, 16 May 1902,

Page 4

For the cause that lacks assistance, for the wrong

that needs resistance, For the future in the

distance and the good that we can do.

At yesterday's meeting of the Empire Veterans’

Association, His Excellency the Governor brought

under discussion a matter to which he had

already referred when distributing decorations to

our veterans a short time ago. His Excellency then

mentioned that he was communicating with theIncorporated Soldiers' and Sailors' Help Society

with reference to the objects of that

organisation, and yesterday he read a' letter on



Page 4

the subject which he had received from the

secretary. The letter stated that the purpose of

the Society is to provide homes for British sailors

and soldiers throughout the Empire, and though

New Zealand "had not yet been included in the

Society's programme, the secretary Sees no

reason why the benefits of the scheme shouldnot be extended to this colony. It was to rouse

interest in this matter that His Excellency

addressed the Veterans’ Association yesterday.

Most people will be astonished to learn on the

unimpeachable authority of Capt. DAVENEY that

there are now in New Zealand about 7000 old

Imperial soldiers, whose service dates back us far

as the end of the Maori wars. Many of these have

suffered throughout their later lives from the

privations or physical injuries that they have

received in fighting for our homes and families or

for the Empire. Few soldiers who have not risen

above the ranks are ever able to make any

comfortable provision for their old age and with

the sense of personal dignity, inseparable from

true courage, few old soldiers are willing to

receive charity. Their pensions are in most cases

quite inadequate to their requirements, and

many of these men, whom we should be proud to

honour for what they have done for us and their

country, have drifted down through want and

destitution to a pauper's grave. Then we have to

remember, that we have sent over 6000 men, to

South Africa, and that the majority of these will

return far less capable than before of making a

successful struggle in life. Even those who have

not lost a limb, or ruined their constitutions in

South Africa, have in many cases surrendered

positions -which they cannot expect to regain.

Moreover, as His Excellency pointed out, large

numbers of our young men not attached to any

of our contingents have done good work for the

Empire in South Africa, and these too, should be

considered in estimating the debt that we, in

common with the whole Empire, owe to our

defenders. The Government cannot be expected

to make satisfactory provision for all such cases,

and we have to face the certainty that for the

next two generations the country will contain a

large number of men who are less able than

ordinary civilians to provide for, themselves, and

whom we are under a serious obligation to treat,

if not with especial honour, at least with the

amount of consideration involved in providing for

their material needs in extreme old age. These

are the facts that have aroused His Excellency's

generous sympathy, and he made a powerful

appeal to the Veterans Association on behalf of

his scheme. His Excellency has already written to

H.E.H. the Princess Christian, who is President of

the Soldiers' and Sailors' Help Society,' and also

to the Prince of Wales, explaining his views, and

has formally applied to the Help Society for its

assistance in establishing a veterans’ home inNew Zealand. As His Excellency remarked, such

an institution would naturally be located either in

Auckland, or Taranaki, as the great majority of

the old veterans have settled in these provinces.

The home which His Excellency contemplates is

not to be a duplicate of the charitable institutions

where old soldiers are now often compelled to

drag out the last few; years of life in a

monotonous existence little removed in their

eyes from penal- servitude, and to .'them almost

as degrading. His Excellency spoke feelingly of the

want of liberty and Independence from which

men in such a position must suffer, and he

protested against j the compulsory separation of

husband from wife, a restriction so unendurable

that many of these old men submit to abject

poverty rather than obey it. In such a home as His

Excellency desires all reasonable freedom shall be

allowed, husband and wife shall spend the end of

life together, and every effort shall be made to

provide at least some small degree of comfort for

their declining years. We think that His Excellency

can be sure that his kindly words and generous

enthusiasm on behalf of our veterans will

command a large degree of public sympathy. The

establishment of such a home as he suggests,

with accommodation for-forty inmates, is, of

course, a matter of considerable expense. But

when we hear what reply the Help Society, with

which His Excellency is corresponding, gives to his

appeal, we hope that the Veterans’ Association

will take the matter up in earnest. There are

certainly few objects 'which the general public

would be so fully justified in supporting in a

generous and open handed way; The example set

by the United' States after the Civil War is

certainly not to be followed by us; but even the

indiscriminate and reckless American pension

system was the creation of generous and

patriotic impulses, and we would do well to take

the lesson to heart. The English nation has been

in the past far too careless of its obligation to

those who spend the best part of their lives in

upholding the Empire on sea and land., The

niggardly and grudging way in which British

sailors are treated is a dishonour to our splendid

naval traditions; and in spite of all the enthusiasm





Page 6

1866 at the Auckland Government House [Daily

Southern Cross, 25 May, 1866 P4]. Machell was

employed subsequently as Aide De Camp for the

Governor General, Sir George Bowen (1821-

1899), during the early 1870s.

We know nothing about what became of Mrs

and Captain Machell. Did they retire back to

Britain? There is some evidence that suggeststhey lived at Onehunga, owing property here.

[Source: New Zealand Herald , 11 March, 1871.

P4]

MT ROSKILL(PUKETAPAPA)

HISTORICAL SOCIETYAGM - Abridged notes

Held at the Fr ey be rg Ro omMt Roski l l War Memoria l Hal l

Sunday June 9th 2013

Guest Speaker: Bill McKay AucklandSchool of Architecture was our guestspeaker speaking on NZ War Memorials’

War Memorial Project Update: ThePresident provided an update about wherethe War Memorial Upgrade Project was at.

The design competition has beenlaunched. The winning entries will bedisplayed following judging in August. Atthat stage fundraising will begin in

earnest. It is hoped that the first stage of the upgrade will be completed in time for ANZAC Day next year.

Financial Report:. Thanks to a grantreceived from the Puketapapa Local Boardand the Roskill history book, we are inquite a healthy financial situation.

The President then moved that themembership subscription remain at $10.

Election of Officers: The election of officers then took place. The followingnominations were received.

President: Garth Houltham

Vice President: Lisa Truttman

Secretary: Margaret Ting

Treasurer:Peter McConnell

Minutes Secretary: Susan Sweetman

Roskill’s People: ‘The Treasury Thames’ -The President reported on the Roskill’sPeople Index with indexing continuing. Hedrew people’s attention to ‘The TreasuryProject’ based in Thames and suggestedthis may be a suitable format for presenting the material to the wider community. He invited members to look atthis site on the internet for feedback at a

future meeting

CONTACT DETAILS

President, Garth Houltham,[email protected]

Newsletter Editor: Joanne [email protected]

Committee:John Adam, Lisa TruttmanAnneli Torrance, Basil Pinhey

JOINING INFORMATIONOne year subscription: $10Contact Garth [email protected] for joining informationor write to:Puketapapa Historical Society

Garth Houltham, 15 McIlroy StreetHillsborough, Auckland 1042.

mailto:[email protected]









Documents

Mount Roskill (Puketapapa) Historical Society Newsletter August 2013