Early motorists and motorcars in Manawatū
While in England for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee in 1897, Wellington businessman and ardent spiritualist William McLean hopped the channel to visit some motorcar factories in Paris.
Seeing the shape of the future and liking it, he ordered two Benz internalcombustion models. Once landed at Whanganui a Tara, these became New Zealand’s first motor vehicles.
On arrival home McLean discovered he could not legally drive them in Wellington. Luckily, as a member of Parliament, that was something he could fix.
He moved the McLean Light Locomotives Bill, which Parliament obligingly passed in October 1898, as the McLean Motor Act. This piece of legislation is interesting, though probably not unique, as enacted entirely for one person’s benefit.
By 1902, car ownership in New Zealand had expanded somewhat beyond McLean. But at the prohibitive price of £750 (some $165,000 in today’s money), uptake was limited to wealthy sheep farmers and professionals.
Doctors were quick to adopt motorcars for house calls and to attend accidents. Traditionally, those accidents involved horses. Not too far into the future, however, there would be motor vehicle accidents as well, some of which were blamed on horses.
Manawatū newspapers, perhaps sensing a future source of advertising, carried glamorous reportage that was bound to hook reader interest in the new mode of transport.
The Feilding Star reported that the Queen of Portugal had bought into the technology in 1902. Not merely that, but also she could ‘‘now manage her own car without aid and make long expeditions’’. It was the same for the Greek royals.
In 1903, the Manawatū Times was rhapsodising over Madame du Gast, a celebrity on the French motor racing circuit even though she professed to hate cars: ‘‘Horrid, smelling, noisy things – fancy driving about town in one!’’
The Times also reported that two relatives of the fabulously wealthy William Kissam Vanderbilt, railway entrepreneur, were driving at 100 kilometres an hour when a tyre burst, ‘‘dashing the car against a tree”. Only the driver survived the crash.
It doesn’t seem that McLean ever tried a drive from Wellington to Palmerston North. Had he done so, he could not legally have exceeded 20kph, only 20% of the speed achieved by the Vanderbilts.
The first Manawatū sighting of the motorcar came when Auckland motorcar and cycle dealer George Henning and his wife Mamie Veronica (nee Barry) arrived in Palmerston North in 1902 on their honeymoon.
To the admiration of a growing crowd, they did a circuit of The Square in their steam-driven Locomobile. In Feilding they took mayor Edmund Goodbehere for a spin. In Whanganui they stole the show at the civic Coronation Parade.
Reports from overseas continued to build motorcar awareness. The Manawatū Times reported that a certain Doctor Marcelle had used a car in his elopement with ‘‘a daughter of ex-Senator Lapley in Paris’’.
The Manawatū Standard of January 2, 1903, explained how the elopement was engineered. The doctor, a handsome man of 30, had a friend called Madame Bob Walker. This versatile lady was ‘‘the proprietress of an automobile establishment in the Avenue de la Grande Armée and had previously been famous as a music-hall artiste, circus rider and lion-tamer’’.
Marcelle arranged for her to ‘‘hold a speedy motorcar in readiness, night and day, with a crew of two mechanics’’. As soon as she received word that the ex-Senator’s daughter had left the family home and was walking down the street to her music lesson, Madame Walker dispatched the car.
The musical mademoiselle and her medical beau made good their escape to either London or Turin, depending which report – if any – you believed.
In Palmerston North, a doctor purchased a motorcar the following month. The Manawatū Times had the story but didn’t identify the doctor.
Other Palmerstonians were also awakened to the possibilities of the motorcar. The Times suggested local hoteliers might hire cars out to their guests.
Anticipating a point of view you still hear today, it noted that ‘‘visitors to Palmerston are frequently at a loss as to the best methods of putting in time”.
“It would be an enjoyable outing for them, and a grand advertisement for the district, if they could be taken out on a motorcar to get a view of the superb pasture lands which extend from the town in every direction.’’
James Pinkerton, proprietor of the Provident Store and Bakery at Terrace End, saw a different sort of possibility. Having purchased a car in 1903, he commissioned W A Browning’s coachbuilding firm to convert it into a bread van.
Browning installed a thick asbestos lining to shield the loaves from engine heat and smells.
Early agents for motorcars were G H Scott, representing Oldsmobile from 1903 at his cycle shop in The Square. W M Service, representing Rex motorcars, which were fitted with De Dion Bouton engines, had premises in Broad St (now Broadway Ave).
By far the most senior of the early adopters was 80-year-old George Howe, licensee of the Royal Hotel in Palmerston North, a role he combined with treasurer and deacon of the Congregational Church.
Howe opted for the Locomobile, for which Henning was the sole New Zealand agent. Its features included a ‘‘strain water lift’’, which enabled water to be taken from creeks during the journey if the vehicle was running out of steam. No need for range anxiety.
Howe did some test drives from Palmerston North to Feilding ‘‘at a fair rate and entirely without expert assistance’’. He found the car ‘‘exceptionally easy to control’’.
Unfortunately, a subsequent outing did not go so smoothly. When Howe tackled a bend at the top of Mt Stewart the car capsized. The five passengers escaped unscathed while Howe sustained minor injuries. The Locomobile was damaged beyond repair.
Despite such mishaps the future had truly arrived in Manawatū. By 1906 the newly-formed Manawatū Automobile Association could field 30 cars on its opening run between Palmerston North and Cheltenham, a fine itinerary if you wanted a vista of rich pasture lands.
It would be an enjoyable outing for them and a grand advertisement for the district, if they could be taken out on a motorcar to get a view of the superb pasture lands ...
You can read more about early motoring in Aotearoa at: TeAra.govt.nz/en/cars-andthe-motor-industry/page-1
Manawatū Times