[Chapter III]
Progress and a Slump: 1871-1900
The three decades from the ’seventies to the ’nineties are characterised by distinct features. At the opening period the city, which was just recovering from the effects of the Maori War, was making steady progress. This advance culminated in a boom in the ’eighties, which brought forth the usual sequel in the following decade—a financial crisis, from which it recovered before the opening of the new century. The official census reflects these features. The population of the city in 1871 was 12,937, an increase of 4948 over the figures of 1861. In 1881 the number had risen to 16,664, an increase in ten years of 3727. Five years later the residents of Auckland City totalled 33,161, an accession to the population of a hundred per cent. In 1891 the number had diminished to 28,613, but was again on the up-grade in 1896, the population at that date being 31,424, and before the end of the ’nineties it had approximated to the number of people which the city contained in 1886, fourteen years previously.
The phenomenal increase in the population of New Zealand in the mid-’seventies was due largely to the control of immigration passing from the provincial councils to the general government, and the vigorous policy inaugurated by it. In 1874 and 1875 no fewer than 50,000 immigrants arrived in the Dominion. Judging by the census returns, the city did not gain largely by this influx of immigrants, although the provincial figures show that the country profited by it. The South Island was the greater gainer during these years, due mainly to the prosperity following upon the discovery of gold and to the better social and economic conditions which existed there. The South Island had no Maori War to unsettle it.
The first half of the ’eighties, however, found the Auckland Province booming, and in this prosperity the city shared. The progress, however, was too rapid to be healthy; it was not built upon steady work, but was in the nature of speculation, particularly in land, which could not be characterised as wise. The inevitable happened; financial undertakings, great and small, became involved, and many succumbed. Amongst such institutions, the Bank of New Zealand, with its New Zealand shareholders, was numbered. Its failure would have brought ruin or serious hardship to many people, and the manner in which the Government of the day came to the rescue has already been indicated ([p. 109]). During the depression many residents sold out and emigrated to Australia, or elsewhere, some permanently, others temporarily. Houses and shops everywhere became vacant, and rents became absurdly low. In some cases people shut up their houses, boarded over doors and windows, and went away. The young city was experiencing the most serious reverse in its history, but the speed with which it recovered itself demonstrated its vitality.
With the advent of the ’seventies, Auckland may be said to have arrived at the modern period; the previous thirty years being now looked upon as the colonising era. In 1871 the city was constituted by Proclamation under “The Municipal Corporations Act, 1867,” and in the same year the Auckland Harbour Board, to which the administration of the port was delegated by an Act of Parliament of the previous year, held its first meeting.
The boundaries of the city had been defined in “The City Board Act, 1863,” and were confirmed in the Proclamation of 1871. They were as follows:—Stanley Street, Symonds Street, Karangahape Road, Ponsonby Road, and Franklin Road. From this small area—some 623 acres—it has grown by the amalgamation of adjacent districts. The first addition was made in 1882, when the highway districts of Ponsonby (755 acres), Karangahape (139 acres) and Grafton (88 acres) were annexed to the city. Until 1913 the boundaries remained stationary, but from that date the following districts have joined the city:—Arch Hill, 1st January, 1913 (154 acres); Parnell, 15th February, 1913 (490 acres); Grey Lynn, 1st July, 1914 (900 acres); Remuera, 1st March, 1915 (2520 acres); Eden Terrace, 1st October, 1915 (95 acres); Epsom, 1st February, 1917, (860 acres), and Point Chevalier, 1st April, 1921 (1220 acres). The city now extends over 7844 acres.
