The Empire Dive - Empire Hotel, High Street, Christchurch, 1901

The Empire Hotel, 212 High Street, opposite High & Cashel Street corner. The entrance to the Empire Dive bar can be seen on the left of the buidling.
Photo: Steffano Webb, circa 1910.

During the Victorian Age, it is perhaps of little surprise that British & colonial pride in the rapid expansion of the Empire resulted in just about every town of any note in New Zealand acquiring an Empire Hotel. Christchurch was no exception, having one not only in the central city but also one in the Port of Lyttelton, the latter continuing in business to the present day, see here. The High Street Empire Hotel is long gone.

The Empire in High Street and its enticingly entitled bar, "The Empire Dive" (Queen Victoria, one might wager would not have been amused), as might be expected, feature on a regular basis in the court reports of the local newspapers. Drunkeness, minor assaults, public disorderliness, violation of prohibitions on entry to the premises by convicted drunkards, petty theft, and licensing issues are the primary subjects of these reports.

One of the more serious incidents involved charges being brought against the publican-licensee and a barman for having permitted the drunkeness on his premises and of serving alcohol to an already intoxicated patron, one William Emerson who sustained head injuries from a falling down stairs in the Empire Dive on 17 August 1901 that subsequently contributed to his death a few days later.

While evidence was given by a Christchurch Hospital doctor that the deceased had been intoxicated upon admission to hospital shortly after being injured in the fall, other witness testimony that Emerson did not appear intoxicated upon entering the premises and only had one drink before sustaining his fall weighed heavier in the Magistrate's decision to dismiss the charges.

One wonders, if Dr McArthur, S.M., felt he was getting the full facts, however, given that Henry Emerson, Emerson's son, had stated at the prior inquest into the death that his father had previously been affected by heavy drinking. But Emerson fils would not repeat such a statement in the magistrate's court. Instead, he assigned his father's shakiness on the morning of the accident to the effects of a cold.

The Star, 13 September 1901, p. 3.

Photographs or sketches of such places as the Empire Dive are not ephemera that typically get produced or preserved for posterity, but one can hazard a guess at the salubrious conditions that prevail in such places. Memories of the Dungeon bar on Lambton Quay, Wellington from several decades ago, a favoured watering hole at the time for Treasury officials & other assorted public servants spring to mind.

Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child - Petty Theft At The Empire Dive

Star , Issue 6444, 25 March 1899, Page 5

MAGISTERIAL

CHRISTCHURCH. Saturday, March 25. [Before Mr R. Beetham, S.M.]

"Petty Theft.— Frederick Armitage, ten years of age, and Albert Amos, fourteen years of age, were charged with having, on March 20, stolen a bicycle lamp, value 7s 6d, the property of John Carl. Detective Chrystall outlined the facts of the case.

On March 20 Mr J. Carl, licensee of the Empire Hotel, left a bicycle lamp in a room on the ground floor of the hotel, access to which could be gained both from the rear end front of the premises. No one, however, had any right to enter the room, which was a private one.

The lamp was, in the course of a few hours, missed, and it was later ascertained that the two accused had offered it for sale to Mr Pyke, second-hand dealer, who, not considering the boys answers as to how they came by the lamp satisfactory, telephoned to the police.

On being questioned by Detective Fitzgerald, one of the boys admitted that they had taken it from a "passage". Sergeant Dugan said the boy Amos was allowed by his parents to run wild about the streets, where he was to be seen selling flowers. The other boy was unknown to the police.

Mr Beetham sentenced each of the accused to receive twelve strokes of the birch rod."

In 2009, New Zealanders are caught up in a debate over a much milder form of corporal punishment: the smacking of children by parents.

Legislation passed in 2007 essentially criminalised smacking by withdrawing the justification of discipline as a defence against a charge of assault of a child under section 59 of the Crimes Act. A public initiative campaigned for a national referendum on the matter, the results of which will merely be advisory or informational for the government.

Voters have until 21 August to vote in the referendum on the question: "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?"

No one, it must be pointed out, is calling for a return of the birch, though no doubt in some dark alley somewhere there are still a few troglodytes muttering to themselves "bring back the birch".