The Southland pioneer who never lived here

Columnist Lloyd Esler reports on a slightly distant developer, the region’s first organised vet service and the first motor bus.

James Macandrew was a prominent figure in the development of Southland, although never a resident. He emigrated from Aberdeen to Dunedin in 1851 and promptly involved himself in commerce, establishing a shipping service between Dunedin and Melbourne.

His political career began in 1853, when he joined the Otago Provincial Council, becoming the Superintendent of Otago Province from 1859 to 1861 and from 1867 until the provinces were abolished in 1876.

From 1870 to 1876 he was also the Superintendent of presentday Southland as we had reunited with Otago in 1870.

Macandrew’s earliest involvement with Invercargill began in 1856, when he built Southland’s first store on the corner of the recently surveyed Tay and Dee streets, the site now occupied by the old Bank of New South Wales.

The first sale of Invercargill sections took place in Dunedin on March 20, 1857, with 44 sections sold.

Those sections fronting Esk St in the surveyed blocks were still in the forest, but the half-acre section near the corner of Esk and Dee streets was sold for £20.10s to William Lind for his accommodation house and Macandrew’s valuable section on the corner of Tay and Dee streets was sold to him for £46.

Lind’s and Macandrew’s buildings had both been built prior to the sale in expectation of gaining title to those sections although other would-be inhabitants were in tents awaiting the outcome of the sale before building.

Macandrew was minister for works for a time, and in his final years in Parliament he was known as the Father of the House, as he was the longest continuously serving MP.

He was killed in a buggy accident on Otago Peninsula in 1887. The words of praise for his leadership were copious and the development of the south was attributed to his guidance.

Southland were started by the New Zealand Farmers’ Union with the health of the very valuable horse population the main aim.

The first vet, Mr A M Paterson, was employed to travel throughout the province to attend to sick animals.

He addressed a meeting on the benefits of signing up.

‘‘It would pay handsomely to join the Farmers’ Union, if only to secure the benefits of its veterinary service. The membership fee was 10s a year. Ten shillings! Why, how many of you could say you didn’t have a lame horse or a sick cow or lose sundry sheep or pigs or any or all of these usual farm annoyances every six months, and in nearly every case the proper remedy could be applied surely and quickly by an expert veterinarian. Ten shillings a year, gentlemen. Why, what of that? Just a sum that you could, if you were built that way, easily waste in five minutes in a pub.’’

First motor bus

Southland’s first motor bus was a 16-seater Stirling motor omnibus which was demonstrated on May 6, 1904.

Mr A C Thompson of Timaru had imported it from Edinburgh and toured it in southern centres. It was 12hp and capable of 12mph.

It attracted much favourable attention and comment according to one report. ‘‘The bus is a most comfortable one, rubber-tyred and nicely upholstered, and it ran round the blocks in capital style.’’