THE HISTORICAL BOROUGH OF PONSONBY AND GREY LYNN: STREET NAMES
Hargreaves Street Joseph Hargreaves was born in Liverpool in 1821. While still a young man he emigrated to New Zealand, settled in Auckland and purchased a property in East Tamaki where he lived for many years. The colony offered ripe pickings during those early times with Crown Land Grants favouring speculators and pastoralists who were allowed to take up large tracts of land, while those who hadn’t the wherewithal turned to market gardening or dairying on small farms. This was the main pattern of settlement back then and small farming didn’t thrive when wool became the major export which placed favourable emphasis on large properties. Hargreaves eventually sold his station and removed to the Kaipara where he purchased a large tract of land from the local Maori, or natives, as they were referred to back then. He was elected to represent the Auckland Suburbs in the House of Representatives in 1860 and was also a member of the Auckland Provincial Council. He married Miss Spain, daughter of Mr Spain who was Land Commissioner and an eminent barrister. Records differ as to how many children he sired, one source claims he had four sons and two daughters and another that he had only one son. He was a keen sportsman and particularly fond of field games but otherwise led a very retiring life. Being a successful breeder of racehorses, he must have relaxed his retiring habits from time to time because he was always conspicuous on the grand stand at Ellerslie meetings. Mention must be made of Mrs Hargreaves, who landed here on Christmas Eve 1841 after a journey that was adventurous to say the least. She sailed from England in the Prince Rupert which had to put into Bahia in order to set ashore the captain, who had fallen sick. Another captain took command, but provisions ran out and the ship had to stop at Capetown. The new commander mistook the anchorage and the vessel was totally wrecked. The passengers lost all their possessions and had to wait in Capetown till a small brig, the Antilla, was chartered to bring them to Auckland and, for Miss Mary Spain, to a life of happiness and prosperity. By the time she died in 1880 at the age of 84, she was one of Auckland’s oldest settlers. Like many of those who purchased land from the Maori in the early days, they did so without knowing much about titles, relying upon the sellers’ word or bond. They took possession of the land and enjoyed undisturbed occupation believing the transaction was completely valid. Many in subsequent years found themselves subject to inquiry before the Maori Land Board, one of them being W.H. Hargreaves. Joseph had predeceased his wife and when she died her executors forwarded a petition to parliament asking for title validation of 185 acres he had bought for £100 between the Utamatea and Oruawhare Rivers. The block adjoined his property and the transfer was signed at the time but no trace of it could be found. Upon completion of the purchase, Hargreaves took immediate possession and fenced the land in with his existing property. From that time forward he and his family remained there in undisputed possession and occupation with no attempt ever being made to oust them. Hence the executors’ petition was the only means of securing the title that had been lost. When the matter came before the Maori Land Board, the original Maori vendors’ successors opposed the application. Evidence was given by Aperanika Wi Karaka and his sister, Makareta Kerei Mu, both declaring that their father, Wi Karaka had told them the block had not been transferred by a sale and that payment for use of the the land was a horse. Now they wanted money instead of a horse. Both stated that they had not objected to the Hargreaves’ occupation of the land. President of the Takurau Maori Land Board, Judge T. H. Wilson, reviewed all the stated facts and decided after having heard all the evidence, was satisfied an actual sale of the block had been made to Mr Joseph Hargreaves and that the transfer from the Maori owners to him should be validated, much to the relief of the worthy man’s descendants. PN (DEIRDRE ROELANTS) F
108 PONSONBY NEWS+ May 2015
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