The Cheviot Estate, Ready Money Robinson, and the First Liberal Government 1893

John "Honest Jock" McKenzie (1838 - 1901)
Liberal Minister of Lands

Jayne over at Our Great Southern Land reminds us that 19 April 1893 was the day New Zealand's Liberal Government purchased the Cheviot Hills Estate of Ready Money Robinson as part of its policy to break up the runs of the large landholders into smaller farms.

We originally posted on Ready Money Robinson & his Cheviot Hills Estate here. It has turned out to be one of the most frequently hit posts for this blog, perhaps because searchers are hoping to hit up "Ready Money" for some of the proverbial "ready" or, more likely, perhaps because his name crops up in NZ school history assignments, if such a thing as NZ history actually gets taught anymore.

The small town of Cheviot (pop 390, in 2006) that sprung up to serve the closer settlement of farm families was originally named McKenzie in honour of Liberal Cabinet Minister of Lands, John McKenzie, with street names named after leading Liberal politicians. McKenzie's biography may be found at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

McKenzie Monument, 2009

At a later date, the zeal for the Liberals passed presumably as memories dimmed and a close acquaintance with historical events was lost with the passing of a previous generation. As a result, the town's name was changed to Cheviot, proving once again that no good deed goes unpunished and rewarding that land speculator Robinson with town naming rights for his Cheviot Estate.

But in its early days, Cheviot/McKenzie's residents and those finding new opportunities on the subdivided Cheviot Estate erected a memorial to Jock McKenzie's policy of breaking up the large land runs and giving the small farmer a go.

McKenzie Monument, close up, 2009

McKenzie's zeal for land tenure reform was not without its excesses. The plight of the "poor" landed gentry aside, McKenzie's efforts to bring land held under Maori ownership up for sale resulted in 2.7 million acres of Maori land being purchased by pre-emption or on the free market for on-selling to pakeha settler farmers between 1892 and 1900. Land purchased by the government from Maori for 2 to 4 shillings per acre was sold for 2 pounds per acre, adding a tidy revenue boost to the Treasury coffers.

In a visit to Cheviot a few months ago, Kuaka took a few pics of the McKenzie memorial while the flock of young adult godwits he was traveling with were in turn taking a pit stop & stuffing their faces with more food & beverages, missing yet another historical reference right under their noses...

Ready Money Robinson & The Cheviot Estate

William "Ready Money" Robinson, circa 1865,
with his hand on a roll of 5 pounds notes in his pocket?
Source: Alexander Turnbull Library

William Robinson (1814-1889) - runholder, pastoralist, racehorse owner, and politician - is best known in New Zealand history as "Ready Money" Robinson, a land speculator and pastoral farmer who owned the Cheviot Hills run in North Canterbury from the mid 1850s to the time of his death in 1889.

Born in Lancashire, England, Robinson emigrated to South Australia in 1839 where he rapidly accumulated capital as a livestock dealer. Rapid financial success permitted him to purchase the Hill River run of more than 100 square miles by 1844.

In 1856 Robinson sold up his property and emigrated to New Zealand looking for new opportunities. He and his family landed in Nelson and within days made a deposit of 10,000 pounds with the Nelson commissioner of Crown lands that gave Robinson right of choice over 40,000 acres of 5 shilling land. It was an illegal transaction but gained "validity" because the commissioner accepted it.

Robinson then proceeded to purchase the Cheviot Hills run, some 84,000 acres of freehold, between the Hurunui and Waiau rivers in North Canterbury. This landholding increased to 92,928 acres valued at 279,392 pounds by 1882.

The Cheviot Estate, 1893.
Source: Alexander Turnbull Library

The Amuri and Hurunui districts were attractive to land speculators where "free land" could be obtained and the speculators were followed in turn by squatter pastoralists like Robinson who might have tenuous legal status on the land but were prepared to undertake the task of breaking in large areas of low quality, unimproved land for pastoral farming.

Of course, the land was not "free". The tangata whenua, Kaikoura Ngai Tahu, occupied the land and were paid only 300 pounds for the entire million hectare Kaikoura Purchase of 1859 that covered lands stretching north from the Hurunui river, west to Lake Sumner and up the Main Divide to White Bluffs on the Marlborough coast. It was not until the Waitangi Tribunal's Ngai Tahu Report (1991) recommendations were incorporated into the Ngai Tahu Settlement Act of 1998 that reparation for the loss of land and the associated monetary loss was made.

After a period as absentee owner between 1857-66, Robinson spent more time at Cheviot Hills undertaking pastoral improvement of the run. The operation included stocking the property with sheep, fencing, milling timber, constructing a bridge over the Hurunui, and building a slipway at Robinson's Bay for wool lighters to be launched to ferry wool bales out to coastal steamers waiting offshore. It was tough, dangerous work in an isolated environment on one of the frontiers of the British Empire.

Robinson's Bay Slipway, lighters return from steamer for next load of wool bales. circa 1893.
Source: Alexander Turnbull Library

Robinson's lavish spending habits on his farm, on his race horses, and on the mansion he built at Cheviot Hills earned him the Ready Money moniker. As land become less readily available on the market at affordable prices for the growing number of settlers arriving in New Zealand, public attention increasingly focused on the runholders of large properties who were seen by many as a landed gentry locking others out of the dream of family farming.

The Cheviot Hills Mansion, circa 1893.

The mansion is long gone. The Cheviot Hills Domain is located where the homestead once stood. The steps of the original mansion house form the steps of the cricket pavilion.

Source: Alexander Turnbull Library.

The long depression of the 1880s contributed to the ebbing fortunes of the pastoralists, many of whom faced financial hardship. Robinson, although he never mortgaged Cheviot Hills, did have a large overdraft with the Union Bank of Australia that only got larger as the wool price slumped in the 1880s.

After his death in 1889, his estate was valued at 324,729 pounds but was burdened by the huge debt to the Union Bank. Subsequently, his daughters - there were no sons - sold the estate in 1893 to the Liberal government elected in 1891 on a ticket of land reform which would break up the large estates through a graduated land tax and compulsory purchase if necessary in order to subdivide the large runs into smaller holdings for family farms.

This was a pivotal event in securing the institution of family farm land settlement that has formed the backbone of New Zealand agriculture down to the present day.