Nelson Elegy

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Postmarked at the Nelson Post Office on 10 July 1905 at 9am: A postmark from the final year of the Post & Telegraph Office when it was situated just two doors down from the newly opened 1903 building. The postcard note reads:

Received P.C.'s quite safely last week, very pleased with them, much admired by everybody.  My album is gradually getting filled. Much love, Grace.

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Late 1800's view from Church Hill - #19 in red, gaol above

Through a process of deduction we discovered that this sketch shows part of the Provincial Buildings in the distance, the Explosives Magazine building to the left, and the Sunday School prior to it being incorporated into the Suter Art Gallery in 1899. This is Albion Square!

The old Eel Pond, recently refurbished in 1891, is the centrepiece of the newly launched Queens Gardens. Harris has even sketched in some early commemorative exotic tree plantings...

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As observed by Christopher Vine in 1992...

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^{An earlier wooden building used by Council on the 1903 site}

THE NEW MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS. LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE.

^{Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 77, 16 April 1903, Page 2}

The old building was originally a newspaper office, occupied by the old "Nelson Examiner". In 1875 the City Council occupied the buildings as offices. It was then thought advisable to buy the building, and the owner fixed his price at £875. The Mayor determined to try and purchase it, but there was a good deal of objection raised at the time, and it was only the matter of history repeating itself.

The objections now made were much the same as those made at the time. A public meeting was held in protest, the late Mr J. R. Dodson occupying the chair. The late Mr H. J. L. Augarde, in a long address, opposed the proposed purchase, and moved that application be made to the Superintendent of the Province for accommodation in the Government Buildings.

The late Mr Field seconded the proposition and protested against the purchase of a rotten wooden building put up over twenty years before in 1855, saying that it was not on such a purpose that the rate-payers paid rates. The City Council completed the purchase and occupied the buildings for twenty-seven and a half years, notwithstanding the fact they were condemned as old and rotten. The building, Mr Baigent commented, was made of perishable timber - white pine.

^{Photographs from Nelson Provincial Museum | Watercolour by Edwin Harris, circa 1890}