This is an account of devastating fires that swept through Napier’s business district following a major earthquake at 10.47am on 3rd February, 1931. Some say the uncontrollable fires caused more...
Asher Asher was a businessman in early Auckland who led the town’s first volunteer fire brigade. But there’s a challenge to this fact in the writings of another pioneer, William Daldy. Based on...
This story of murder and theft involves the innocent occupants of a motor-car as the victims. They were travelling in the course of their employment in a vehicle singled out by a ruthless, armed...
My late father always reckoned that “Queen Elizabeth” made a secret visit to Auckland. He was adamant about this. By chance, when researching wartime shipping events in Auckland, I came across the...
Police arrested a man in Wellington in 1900 for a cold case, a murder-arson which had taken place 8 years before in England. The arrest was the start of an amazing saga of indecision, inconclusive...
It’s more than 60 years since I made the first of many visits to Central Otago. That was in December 1955 and the trip from Auckland in those days took two solid days. With today’s jet services the...
Early in 1841 law and order was falling apart in New Zealand’s first organised settlement and the colonists of the fledgling Port Nicholson (Wellington) wanted protection – not from criminals, but...
In 2014 Justices of the Peace in New Zealand celebrated 200 years of service since the first J.P., Thomas Kendall, arrived in the Bay of Islands. As a further contribution to mark the milestone there...
Justice of the Peace duties have been many and varied since the first JP was appointed in New Zealand in 1814. JPs remained the mainstay of the colony’s primary judicial system until 1868 when...
In 2014 Justices of the Peace in New Zealand celebrated 200 years since the first JP took up office in the Bay of Islands. Thomas Kendall was appointed in November 1814, the first Justice of the...