New Plymouth-born Mr Justice Wilson, of Christchurch, presided over the first Supreme Court session in the new courthouse on May 15, 1976, and congratulated all concerned on its completion. Justice Wilson, who was educated at the New Plymouth Boys' High School, was the son ofJames Edward Wilson, Mayor of the town in 1914-1915 who was later appointed to the Bench in Auckland and ultimately became Chief Justice in Samoa.
The fire which destroyed the first little courthouse (and the rest of the Government offices) in 1859 made the settlement aware of the lack of any fire-fighting equipment, apart from that possessed by the military on Marsland Hill, and stirred the Provincial Council into action. A public meeting in 1866, after the Taranaki Herald's persistent campaigning, demonstrated that the public realised a civil fire-fighting body of some sort was overdue. A band of 50 enthusiasts, with J. H. Holford as captain, formed a fire brigade and a fire station was built at the southern end of Queen Street. Insurance companies offered to supply an engine which, when it arrived from Australia six months later, was so deficient as to be useless. Before-and after-a new hand-pump arrived from England in 1868 more fires were fought, the most serious of which destroyed the Royal Hotel in which a youth died. The insurance companies, dissatisfied with the heavy cost of the fires, asked the Magistrate's Court to let them have their engine back. The magistrate agreed, and the Provincial Council bought it. Shortage of piped water, high insurance rates and frustration caused by continuing disputes between the Provincial Council and the town board, resulted in the brigade being disbanded, re-formed and disbanded again, and when the borough council came into existence in 1877 there was no brigade. Under Mayor Arthur Standish the brigade was re-formed; the town at last acquired a piped water supply, the fire station was relocated in Brougham Street (where the library now stands) and by 1883 there was an enthusiastic 30-man volunteer brigade, a new engine-but no uniforms. The Herald, praising a successful demonstration of the men and their engine at the Masonic Hotel in November, 1884, commented: 'As a uniform is necessary for the men we think the least the Borough Council can do is to provide one.' Within two years they had uniforms-and a waiting list of prospective members. As in so many other spheres in the town's development, the Bellringer family wielded great interest over the fire brigade. The 'Bellringer regime' began in 1891 when Mayor James Bellringer, 'a typical and leal-hearted Englishman who, as a soldier-settler after the Maori wars fathered a family who continued in his tradition, '27 initiated a move to build a fire station in Powderham Street. This was opened in March,
1895, and is still in use as a service depot for the Automobile Association (Taranaki). His sons, C. E. Bellringer and F. C. J. Bellringer, were elected captain and lieutenant respectively in 1892 after some close personal infighting and resignations. In 1898 F. C. J. Bellringer was elected captain, a post he filled with firmness and efficiency until his death in 1923. During this period great changes occurred. Horse and hand-drawn equipment gave way to motorised engines; administrative changes included the establishment of fire boards under the Fire Brigades Act of 1908 which ended the brigade's struggle for finance; a fire station was established at Strandon (and later another at Moturoa); Bellringer was awarded the first coveted gold star (for 25 years' service) in 1910; a new central station in 1915 was built by F. W. Grayling on the Liardet- Street-Courtenay Street corner (which served the town for half a century until the present building across the road was opened in 1965); and, of course, the brigade fought fires. Spectacular blazes in churches, hotels, banks, theatres, schools, the hospital, shops and private houses received (as they still do) prompt and efficient attention during the Bellringer regime. When neighbouring towns called for assistance, this was (and still is) promptly forthcoming. In the drought of 1886 flames from a bushfire spread into the heart of Stratford and threatened Midhirst. New Plymouth's brigade went by train to help. More than 30 homes and farms were destroyed by the blaze which spread over 50 square kilometres. In 1890 a serious fire threatened Brown's timber mill-and perhaps much of the town of Inglewood. Bellringer and his men were there. And, much later, in April, 1979, when a disastrous blaze at Borthwick's Waitara freezing works caused $10 million damage, New Plymouth firemen were among the 133 from Waitara and surrounding stations who turned out. There was a potential disaster from risk of a large-scale ammonia leak, and 25 nearby homes were evacuated for three hours before the danger was minimised.