Part of the many enterprises of the Moller Group of companies was
established in the Bell Block area in the 1970s. Henrick Hansen Moller
was born in South Taranaki in 1899. His parents had emigrated from
Denmark and had established a farm near Awatuna. As a youth Henrik
bought a motorcycle and at the age of 19 had established a reputation as a
racing enthusiast. For three successive years he held the New Zealand
championship, establishing world grass track records with each ride in
1925,1926 and 1927.
In 1926 he rode in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophymeeting, then the world's premier motorcycling racing circuit, butengine trouble forced him to pull out. He opened a small motor vehicleservice station in 1929 and five years later established the firm of H. H.Moller Ltd (later Moller Motors Ltd) in New Plymouth. For the next 40years it was one of the leading vehicle dealers in the town. In 1970 amove was made to widen the firm's sphere of activities, and ten yearslater the Moller group of companies' influence was nation-wide in many
areas of transport, engineering, computer services and property development. Henrik's eldest son, the group's managing director, bears
the name of the motorcycle on which Henrik established his international
reputation-Norton R. Moller. His second son, Russell, is in
charge of the group's present interest in motorcycling, Yamaha (NZ).
Other major industrial and engineering concerns to become established
at Bell Block include the Newcan Pipeline Construction, which
owned or was established with several New Plymouth companies;
General Foods Ltd, NRM Feeds Ltd, Tolley Industries, Atlas Industries
(now owned by the Moller group), and the city's milk treatment station.
By 1980 development of this area was extending as far as the old New
Plymouth airport and earning the tag 'Taranaki's industrial heart'.
Many of the hundreds of shops in the city in 1980 were established
before the turn of the century. New Plymouth was only a sprawling
village when, in 1872, Devon House was opened by Mrs M. Ross as a
clothing store. One hundred and eight years later it had grown from a
little two-storey wooden shack to become a specialised mens and boys'
wear store under the name of The Kash, given it in the 1970's by later
owners, W. H. Broome and A. Thompson.
Hallensteins, founded in 1883, White and Carter (now Whites Ltd)
1888 and C. C. Ward, 1895, are still among the city's leading fashion and
department stores.
In addition to the two city newspapers (referred to in a later chapter)
New Plymouth has been well served by commercial printers. One of the
oldest firms still in existence in this field is Thomas A very and Sons Ltd
in Devon Street which began in 1874 as Edmondson and Avery. Thomas
A very took over in 1883, ad vertising as a 'printer, sight-tester and seller
of spectacles', and 12 years later a new shop and printing works were
established on the present site, where books, stationery and fancy goods
were sold. The business was conducted by Thomas and his three sons.
The printing department became a separate company, Avery Press Ltd,
in 1947, and merged with McLeod and Slade in 1965 when the name
Masterprint was adopted. Thomas A very shared the first premises
(opposite the existing Avery book shop) with his brother John, who
operated as a sports dealer and tobacconist. Today John Avery Ltd, of
Currie Street, is one of the largest wholesale merchants in the city.
Since 1889 New Plymouth has had its own chamber of commerce, a
'body of business and professional men working together to advance the
interests of the town; to encourage its development and prosperity; to
improve and extend its trade facilities; to encourage growth of local
industry; and to make its area healthy in the field of business, and
culturally and educationally progressive'. Its first president was
Newton King, who held office for two years and again in 1897, since
when most of the town's prominent business personalities have been
elected annually to this post. The chamber has dealt with thousands of
trade inquiries; has brought its considerable influence to bear on local
bodies in a wide variety of matters such as rating, transport, bylaws,
town planning, education and health. Through its parent body, the New
Zealand Chambers of Commerce, it has made recommendations to the
Government on taxation, immigration, overseas borrowing, trade
agreements, employment, the removal of price control and, in more
recent years, a reduction of Government expenditure. In 1979 the New
Plymouth chamber had a membership of 190.
The most powerful influences, ranking close to that of the Government,
behind the growth and expansion of New Zealand's economic and social
life have been banks and bankers. The need for such an institution in
New Plymouth was foreseen by the New Zealand Company as early as
1846, when the Wellington Savings Bank was established, with Colonel
William Wakefield as a trustee. Four years later Governor Sir George
Grey visited New Plymouth, held discussions with clergymen, Justices
of the Peace and other 'men of substance', and recommended 'the
immediate formation of a Savings Bank' .8 Grey was president of savings
banks in Wellington and Auckland, and, shrewd administrator that he
was, realised that if settlers could be shown a way to help themselves
they would be less likely to lean upon the State in times of crisis. There
was no crisis at this time; the settlement was thriving, and its 600 adult
inhabitants, not yet alarmed by the prospect of impending troubles, were
keen on saving even the smallest sums, given the opportunity to do so.
Thus, on May 6, 1850, Captain Henry King, Resident Magistrate,
forwarded a list of Justices of the Peace 'and others willing to act as
Trustees for the Savings Bank about to be established in this place'.*
Grey proclaimed the establishment of the New Plymouth Savings
Bank on June 7, 1850, and at the first meeting of the trustees on July 18,
King was requested to permit the deposit of the bank funds in the
'Treasury Chest for safe keeping'. J. C. Sharland, a storekeeper with a
chemist's stock as part of his business, was appointed accountant at a
salary of $40 a year, 'but he would be content to receive for the first year
whatever sum the Bank may be in a position to afford'." Which wasn't
much, for funds were scarce. The first deposit was $68 (£34), 'a
considerable sum in those days, made by a Maori from Mokau, Waitera
to Karei. There is nothing in the records to denote whether the depositor
was a man or a woman.
By the end of the first year deposits were $228.75; there was a balance
in hand of$43.10, but the accountant's salary for the quarter, $10, had
not been paid and $24.50 was due to the central government for
stationery. Trustees were barred by statute from becoming depositors.
In 1856 the bank acquired a safe for $6, and in the same year the first loan
on mortgage, $100, was recorded at 5%. For the first 10 years of its
existence the bank lost money annually, and with the shadow of war
looming over the province in 1855, withdrawals ($1452) exceeded
deposits ($1250). When the fighting started there was fear the bank could
go to the wall. In fact, the stationing of Imperial troops brought a
prosperity of sorts, and for a time deposits grew. Peace came, bringing
with it a need for reconstruction and more strains on the economy, but as
the settlement gradually gained in strength, so did the bank, and by the
mid-1880s deposits had more than doubled their 1865 figures. Depression
which hit the world between 1886 and 1891 had its effect in
Taranaki, and it was not until 1895 that the upsurge in the dairy industry,
a revival of public works and the availability of more land, enabled the
New Plymouth Savings Bank to report any increase in business.
Some idea of subsequent growth of the bank (and the province) can be
gained from figures of deposits between 1905 ($39,976) and 1920
($91,932). Despite two world wars, with the great depression in
between, by 1950, after a century of business, there were 24,330
depositors with $5,630,086 to their credit. In 1978 there were 92,243
depositors with $51,206,222 on deposit; mortgages numbered 2700,
which represented nearly $25 million.
The New Plymouth Savings Bank (its name was changed in 1964 to the
Taranaki Savings Bank) has occupied several sites. Built in 1978 at acost
of$2.5 m, its present headquarter 'on the flat' in Devon Street is a far cry
from its beginnings. First meetings were held in 'the police office' on Mt
Eliot; at the Post Office: in various buildings in Currie Street, Brougham
Street, Devon Street and Sy Aubyn Street. In 1883 the trustees decided
that a room in Alexandra Hall be rented for one year at $80 a year, three
months' notice on either side to be given at any time, 'that G. Hall's
tender for counter desk be accepted, that a table be purchased and any
other necessities be purchased' .11 Seven years later the hall premises
were vacated and the bank's business was held in Mr Morton's office in
St Aubyn Street.
After years of discussion, during which the St Aubyn Street premises
were described as ' a stable in a back street' I 2 it was decided in 1921 to
move into part of the New Zealand Insurance Building in Devon Street,
then nearing completion; but it was not until 1929 that the bank had had
its own permanent home. This site had been selected by J. Veale in 1858
and was issued to him by Crown Grant No 52.13 The land was then well
below street level because Devon Street had been raised and graded to
that ofEgmont and Queen Streets. The section was sold for $62 'per foot
frontage' and when excavations for a building began, the contractor
discovered the former bed of the Mangaotuku Stream, which had at one
time crossed Devon Street at this point. It was necessary to sink
foundations seven metres to find firm grounds.