The architect, William H. Clayton, was the first and only Government architect, though his choice of Gothic architecture for the building remains a mystery, likely intended to convey respectability and moral authority.

The construction of the Custom House began in 1869 and was completed in 1870 as the residence of H.M. Collector of Customs. The first residents, Edward Binney Laing, his wife Zenobia, and their children, planted the Moreton Bay Fig tree in the front garden. During this time of prosperity, Mr. Laing managed overseas shipping and even acted as Postmaster when the position became vacant. After 15 years of service, Mr. Laing retired and was honored with an illuminated address signed by 49 notable county figures and a purse of sovereigns.

Benjamin Bailey succeeded Mr. Laing as Customs Officer, but in 1890, the Customs office was closed due to reduced shipping activity and merged with the Harbormaster’s duties. The Custom House was left vacant, later rented to tenants for 5 shillings a week, and eventually repurposed by the Police Department to serve as a new Police Station.

In a repeat of history, the aging Police Station on the Strand, next to the Public Library, was abandoned in favor of the former Custom House, which has remained the Police Station ever since. In 1931, the building survived a fire at the original Gables next door, though the south wall was so severely scorched that paint wouldn’t adhere for years.

Review by Brad Mercer

The Māori economy is a powerful player in the New Zealand economy, growing at 5% a year. It’s predicted to reach $100 in assets by 2030, having gone from $16 billion to $70m billion in just 20 years. This follows decades of government policies that first of all destroyed a flourishing Māori economy and then made it virtually impossible to resuscitate it. The late Dr Mānuka Hēnare uses his 40 years’ of research and consultancy experience in the field of Māori and Indigenous business enterprise and development economics, to cast a critical eye over the historiography of the early to mid 19th century in Aotearoa, and its largely European emphases and biases.

As Dame Anne Salmond says in her Afterword; ‘his observations are apt and original, and often surprising…laying the basis for a new kind of historiography based on whakaapa…..and the recognition of Māori innovation and creativity in a new and ever changing world.

His main thesis largely involves the ‘six important events’ he sees as crucial to the process of Māori nation-building. First, the historic meeting between King George IV and the Rangatira Hongi Hika and Waikato, and that all important handshake that has echoed down the years and resonates still, particularly in Te Tai Tokerau. Second, the letter sent to King William IV by 13 Rangatira from the Hokianga /Bay of Islands areas in 1831. In this they explicitly refer to the particular and discrete authority of their nation in relation to other nations (Britain and France);  and thirdly the arrival of the British Resident for Nu Tireni, the Scot James Busby, who arrived in 1833 and was instrumental in the adoption of the first indigenous flag, known as Te Kara. Hēnare is scathing about the next ‘event’, which Busby was also instrumental in. He Whakaputanga o Rangatira o Nu Tireni of 1835, known as the Declaration of Independence: how its importance was denigrated at the time and largely ignored since then.

This concatenation led to the final event in the moves towards establishing a Māori nation, the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi. The greater weight and relevance given to the Treaty Hēnare  suggests was both misplaced and calculated to disadvantage rangatiratanga and Kotahitanga.

He concludes with a warning, ‘historians should beware of the tendency to write history in terms of winners and losers, citing the dismissive attitude to He Whakaputanga, ‘little credence is given to Māori agency or its place in nineteenth and twentieth century history…rather, the narrative focuses on Māori leaders ceding sovereignty, and consequently their agency…in the British inspired Treaty…Māori become part-time, marginal players in narratives driven by European, specifically British ambitions.’

With this book Dr Hēnare goes a long way to setting right that one-sided and Euro-centric view of the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and as Dame Anne suggests ‘laying the basis for a new kind of historiography.’

Only limited copies of the book were printed which means the book is more expensive than usual. The Museum has them for sale.

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