1902: Ashes of Accountability in Tauranga
November 16, 2024
By AHNZ
Today in New Zealand history, 16 November, 1902, the Government Buildings in Tauranga burned to the ground leaving only 7 smoldering chimneys (image, left.)
This first purpose-built government building in Tauranga was also the second largest timber building in the entire Colony of New Zealand when constructed in 1875. It was full of government things: the 2 local government organs, the Post and telegraph, courtroom, etc.
It was an anomaly.
Why such a grand building for such a little town still in its infancy? Tauranga had a population of less than 600 souls and just 143 houses. This was enough government for a city! That it was Pork Barreling is a given since this was, after all, a Julius Vogel Ministry. Politicians get their money by breaking things or building things but not maintaining existing infrastructure. A new and expensive government castle would put money in the pockets of Vogel and his patrons.
Another reason that occurs to me for creating such a magnificent palace in 1874 is the concentration of power. Vogel was in the process of abolishing the Provinces of New Zealand and mustering power to Central Government. The wonderful early Anarchy of our country would take one of its great blows with the Abolition of Provinces Act (1875) which made New Zealand a unitary state. Ref. 1875: Abolition of Provinces, AHNZ
When a new Ministry cannot easily capture an organ of a previous regime it will frequently resort to simply creating a new one of its own. New name, new CEO, new building, new Department. The old organ withers away and those with good survival instincts jump ship to the new administration. Tauranga’s previous government building was an ex-Church Missionary Society structure repurposed as a Commissariat for the Imperial Troops. It had been a hospital during the seige of Gate Pa before becoming public offices.
These offices were attacked at the time by the Bay of Plenty Times (“I should fancy it to have been the offspring of the opium laden brain of some inspired Mongolian..” Ref. Jinty Rorke.) As a bastion of the Auckland Provincial Council it was essential that Vogel destroy and replace them with his own castle if he was to prevail. Another important move, for example, had been the termination of the Auckland Provincial Police Force in 1870. Now Auckland was losing its Bay of Plenty stronghold. On 24 March, 1875, George Grey himself was installed as Superintendent of Auckland Province with an express purpose to fight back against the Abolition of the Provinces. It was too little, too late.
“The first purpose built Government Buildings opened on the site at the corner of Willow Street and Harrington Street in 1875. This large timber building was designed by the Colonial Architect, William Clayton. All government departments represented in Tauranga relocated there including the Post Office. It also housed the Borough and County Council Chambers. It was destroyed by fire in November 1902. New masonry Government Buildings were constructed on the same site and opened in 1906. This building still remains.” – Tauranga CBD Heritage Study, Tauranga City Council (2007)
“In 1874 Tauranga boasted the second largest wooden building in New Zealand. No mean feat for a town with a population of 579 men, women and children occupying a mere 143 houses…the town was still very much in its infancy. That the splendid building erected in Tauranga in 1874 would have been as much an anomaly in Gisbourne as it was here seems clear.” – Government Buildings, Tauranga. Jinty Rorke (1988,) Tauranga City Libraries
“After a useful life of almost thirty years, the 1874 building was destroyed by fire in November 1902, taking with it all records generated by local and central government departments in Tauranga to that date.” – ibid
Finally, as a reason for the unfortunate firey destruction of the Provincial Era buildings (1874-1902) there is the Anarchist History Principle of Ashes of Accountability. This is also sometimes to be called the The Inflammability of Red Tape. It is simply the observation of a trend that objects inconvenient to the government frequently catch fire. (Or, as an extension of the same idea, they sink on ships or are hit by trucks etc.)
As Tauranga Historian Jinty Rorke showed in 1988, all the local and central government records in Tauranga were wiped out today in history along with the wooden building (left.) She did not suggest, as I do, that government property catching fire in New Zealand is a prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition.
This was a time when the Provincial High (First Turning¹) was giving way to the Vogel Adventure (Second Turning.) For the new era to be birthed the old one had to die, memories wiped, the ledger cleared. Any number of promises, credits, debts, titles, evidence, and documents must have existed that could get in the way of the new story that Vogel and his, the The Continuous Ministry, wanted to write.
The old accountability in Tauranga was, from today, ashes in the wind. The way was clearing for Vogel to do away with the provinces. Paved with fire!
—
1 Strauss-Howe parlance
Image ref. Tauranga City Libraries. AHNZ enhanced (2024)
Like Comment Share
