There was a time when the name Newton King was as much a part of Taranaki as Yarrows the bakers is today. Just as Yarrows bread products can be found throughout the province (and way beyond), every town around the mountain had a Newton King stock and station agency.
There was a much larger presence in New Plymouth, where there was a whole raft of different Newton King stores in the central business district. On the foreshore end of Currie Street, where Centre City now stands, there used to be the Newton King registered office, a produce department, warehouse, machinery department, garage, showroom, and even pig pens.
Vivian King, the grandson of Newton King, says that before World War One the business was the largest privately owned company in the Southern Hemisphere. As well as extending through Taranaki, Newton King had branches in the King Country, Whanganui and the Waikato. The company disappeared after the 1987 stock market crash.
"Our shares dropped in value from approximately $2.50 to 12 cents, almost overnight" Vivian says. "As a result of that, our shareholding was worth almost nothing and we were in a position where we had to more or less accept what was offered to us." The last trace of the Newton King realm was a wine and spirits store on Devon Street East. It was taken over by Liquorland in the 1990s and is now closed.
Even the Newton King Wharf at Port Taranaki has sunk into the past. It is now known as the Newton King Tanker Terminal, but referred to as NKTT.
"The demise of Newton King is sad," says Vivian (aged 87 when interviewed in 2003). "I didn't think that I, in my life time, would ever see it disappear off the face of the map. Young people today, when you say Newton King, they don't even know who you're talking about."
So who was Newton King? His family say he was a general merchant, shipping agent, auctioneer and businessman, well known for helping out farmers. He also bought and sold land. He had a major role in developing the economic side of Port Taranaki, following on from his father Thomas who was instrumental in getting it built.
Newton King is also the reason New Plymouth people can enjoy nature at Brooklands Park, the zoo and outdoor concert venue the Bowl of Brooklands. He bought the land off Captain Henry King (a distant relation) in 1888, and built a magnificent five-bedroom home for his wife Mary (nee St George) and their children. But that's another story.
While a great deal is known about Newton King as an adult, little has been written about his childhood. It is clear that he was born in New Plymouth on 21 July 1855, to Mary (nee Chilman) and Thomas King, both from London. Newton's parents, who were married in New Plymouth, were at the forefront of pioneering life in Taranaki. Thomas arrived in 1841, on the William Bryan, the first immigrant ship to arrive at New Plymouth. Mary arrived in 1842 on the Blenheim. She was the sister of the local secretary of the Plymouth Company and had been a governess in London. Thomas was New Plymouth's first Member of Parliament, on the Taranaki Provincial Council, and was involved in shipping, the port, farming and trading. He was also the first local manager for the Bank of New Zealand.
Newton King's granddaughter Adrienne Tatham (her father was Eliot King) says Thomas was a compassionate man. Back in the 1830s, when he was a boy of 11, he used to read to illiterate London labourers during his lunch hours. In appreciation of his efforts, these workmen gave him a beautifully crafted cribbage board with an inscription on the back. This is now with members of the Allen family, who are King descendants. "This shows a humanitarianism in the father, which was later to be passed down to the sons" says Adrienne. "They did not get educated in London, they just got out there and did things... pioneering stuff."
One of Newton's brothers was Sir Frederick Truby King, the founder of Plunket in New Zealand. Another brother, Henry, was a successful farmer, and, of course, there was Newton. The latter was known as a generous man, who engendered goodwill by supporting farmers. "He would extend credit or waive their debts. These farmers had the greatest respect for him, because he tided them over the difficult period of the depression" Adrienne says. "It was part of his make-up. He could be very strict if he wanted to be. But he had a really soft heart."
During the 1860s, when the Taranaki Wars were at their fiercest, Thomas sent Mary and the children to the safety of Nelson, in the South Island.
When they eventually returned to Taranaki, the young Newton attended the Richard Crompton School for boys on Eliot Street. "At 16, he left and became a clerk at Webster Brothers" Adrienne says. "Then he went out on his own as an auctioneer with Stanley Shaw as his office boy. He [Newton] auctioned everything and anything - land, goods, horses and stock."
Former Stratford Mayor Leo Carrington, who worked for Newton King for decades, says the businessman established his Stratford headquarters on the north-east corner of Broadway and Fenton Streets in 1898. "This building was the firm's administration and stock department base, covering the area of Central and Eastern Taranaki out as far as Ohura until 1878, when the firm rebuilt where the Club Hotel had been in Broadway central."
Mr Carrington says Newton King was an astute businessman. "His ability to judge men provided the financial input to enable the establishment of numerous successful new farm units. A handshake was sufficient to conclude any agreement, and he was seldom let down."
Adrienne says her grandfather was optimistic and generous. "He would sometimes go a bit far, but he had Stanley Shaw as an anchor. He would rein him [Newton] in over some things. It appears Stanley Shaw was his foil."
But nothing held Newton back when he led his three-day trips to the Awakino sales. The party would start out on horse and traps, trotting to Vin Wells' place at Pukearuhe. "Then they would change to horses and ride to stay at a woman's place at Tongapōrutu, and then ride up to Awakino to have their sales," she says.
The trip with the buyers had its purposes for Newton. "He was shrewd" Adrienne says. "There was plenty of time to be convivial. It was prohibition days and of course there was plenty of grog." Other times, the party would journey up the coast on either of his oil launches, Awakino or the Nukuhakare (now spelt Nukuhakari). The latter launch was named after the 10,000 acre (40,000 hectare) block of land he owned at Waikawau, on the coast between Awakino and Kāwhia.
Newton King bought the sheep station in 1907 and used it to breed horses for sale to overseas buyers, including the British Army in India. He crossed racehorses with draft horses, creating a breed that could leap hurdles at least six feet (1.8 metres) high. "They were really strong, they had to be good jumpers and be hardy." Many of the horses proved to be track stars. One, called Battle Axe, won £1000, a lucrative amount at the turn of the century.
One of Newton King's most compelling traits was taking risks. The need for excitement, to fool around with fate, enticed him to gamble on racehorses, play Poker for money and take up bets. For years, people believed he won Nukuhakari on the card table at the Taranaki Club in New Plymouth. But granddaughter Adrienne Tatham, who lived and farmed next to the station from 1962 to 2001, has another story.
She says her grandfather was in the Taranaki regiment. "He was fighting at Parihaka. The Taranaki regiment was dissolved and they were paid off in scrip, which were pieces of paper, like a cheque, you could exchange for land or money. There was a card game that night and of course he won scrip from his mates and with that money he bought Nukuhakari" she says.
Vivian King has a tale about another time his grandfather backed himself. "He was marvellous at horse and trap. He had these two horses and I think Newton King gave a wager that he would come from Urenui to New Plymouth in four hours. The whole town turned out to watch them come in. I think he came back in three hours, twenty [minutes]."
As a businessman, Newton was also quick off the mark. "He was always able to see into the future more than the people around him" Adrienne says. "He could see an opportunity and grab it." He was president of the town's Chamber of Commerce, and had a major part to play in the economy of the province.
Through his shipping agencies, he scored his first notable arrival on 21 September 1883, when the 188-ton, Oreti, brought a cargo of coal to the breakwater. This consignment was destined for the New Plymouth Gas Company, while all previous cargo had been for the Taranaki Harbours Board.
In 1917, he was the shipping agent responsible for the first meat-carrying steamer to load at the wharf. To honour the arrival of the 6237-ton British ship, Waiwera, on 21 March, a public holiday was declared in New Plymouth. To celebrate, a gymkhana was held on the beach. Newton King closed all the branches of his company throughout Taranaki and invited all staff members and their families to inspect the Waiwera and join the festivities. This momentous day finally realised the dream of the city's harbour finally becoming a deep-sea port. That same year, Newton King became the chairman of the Taranaki Harbours Board.
"He was involved with just about anything going in the town by the look of it," Adrienne says. At the age of 72, Newton was worn out. He had spent his lifetime building up his company, as well as playing hard.
Vivian was himself in hospital with appendicitis when his grandfather took a turn for the worse. Although he wasn't there, Vivian remembers the elderly man had been in bed feeling unwell for a couple of days.
Adrienne, who was not yet born, holds the family story of his final days. She says that in the Brooklands property there was a paddock beyond The Gables, now called the Kauri Block. In this area, which included a boggy patch, Newton kept his horse Paritūtū. On a winter's day in 1927, the horse got caught in the bog and workers were unable to pull it out with ropes. "So Dad [Eliot King] reported to Newton and he said, 'Well, shoot him, put him out of his misery'. So Dad went and shot him and about the same time Newton died."
At 1.30pm on 27 July, the business visionary died of a heart attack. In recognition of his greatness, The Daily News devoted an entire page to his obituary, under the heading: “Mr Newton King is dead.” The story captured the feeling of loss. "Groups of people, assembling at every street corner in New Plymouth, found it difficult to convince themselves that the man whose name had become a by-word throughout the province had been snatched from their midst." Now, even the name Newton King has faded, just like old photographs left in the sun.
Tatham, A. (2006). Footprints of a king: Newton King's life story, 1855-1927. New Plymouth: A. Tatham.
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