Stories
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from the Fletcher archives
Government Housing Dilemma - Sir James recalls overcoming the odds of business hardship
"I was recalled to a conference early in January, and this time I was asked to prepare a scheme for Government housing. We discussed at considerable length the type of house that the Government wanted to build, and then I set about and organised the preparation of the plans and bills of Quantities on which the first Government housing contracts were called.
"In view of the urgency, it was decided by the Government that tenders would be called on the plans that were first prepared by us, numbering approximately 1,000 houses. We were fortunate in securing between Auckland and Wellington, approximately 1,000 houses.
"This contract proved a sheer disaster. We had completely under-estimated the availability of materials such as roofing, interior linings, doors, etc., with the result that we had not been going very long before we were confronted with delays on every hand. The various sub-traders, such as plumbing and painting, had never been organized for housing on a scale of this kind. Trained artisans in housing construction were not available in sufficient numbers. The result was that we had to import materials from England to make good the deficiencies in almost every line except timber. We had to bring in every type of tradesman to make good the shortages, not only as far as carpenters and bricklayers were concerned, but also as affecting the other trades. We had signed a fixed contract, and unfortunately the Government brought down a compulsory 10% rise in all wages, which had the effect of raising the cost of almost the whole of the materials going into the houses. I had left for England with son Jim in 1937, and on my return to New Zealand it was to find that we were losing a considerable sum on every house we were building. After thoroughly studying the position, I could see that we would be fortunate if we came out of the first housing scheme with anything less than a £100,000 loss, and as a matter of fact the final audited figure was a £96,000 loss. As can be appreciated, our bankers were beginning to get seriously concerned.
"Apart from sons Jim and John, no one else knew the seriousness of the position, and what the ultimate position was likely to be. This I can truthfully say was the only time during my whole career, with the exception of the mining period to which I have referred, that I actually lost sleep, and at this time I certainly did. Things were working up to an obvious crisis, as our bankers were by this time getting very concerned. I was staying with Dr. John Doctor. I can recollect him coming into my room at six o’clock one morning, and he said, 'You will have to get some sleep'. I said, 'No, I must get out things are not too good.' 'You are going to stay in bed and have a sleep,' he repeated. He came back with a bottle of champagne, and some sleeping pills. He said, 'You are going to drink this champagne, and you are going to take these sleeping pills.' Kit, his wife, would wake me up at one o’clock and give me a plain omelette and a bottle of Chablis, and I would sleep until he came home, when I could get up, shave and have a bath, come down to dinner in my dressing gown, and go back to bed and have another’s night sleep.
"This prescription was carried out to the letter, and when I got up the next morning I felt like a giant refreshed. It is interesting to note that this was not John Doctor’s own prescription, I found out afterwards that the same prescription had been given to the Hon. Arthur Balfour to Harold Nicholson at the peace conference of the first World War.
"For the first time for weeks I had a clear conception of the whole position. I walked down and asked Jeffery, the Prime Minister’s secretary, when I could see Mr Savage and Mr Nash. I met them that morning. I told them that we were going to get out of housing as quickly as we could. We had leased two big State joinery factories at £3,000 a year, which meant that we would simply have to walk out and leave them, and I explained the reason why. We discussed the matter the whole of that day, and I got an undertaking from the Prime Minister and Mr Nash that they would guarantee us at the Bank of New Zealand for £200,000. I did not want any concessions. I said, 'We will get out of this, but we need the necessary capital.' The result was that we built houses for three years for the New Zealand Government before we got out of the red, and a considerable proportion of the loss had been absorbed in our ordinary business.
Childhood beginnings
"I was born in 1886 on the 29th March. I started school when I was five years old, at what was known as Liardsland School. Schools in Scotland at that time were under control of school boards. The members of these boards were elected, and generally comprised the local grocer, baker, with probably a doctor thrown in. The members of the board were responsible for the complete management of the schools, and the appointment of all the teachers.
"I certainly was not brilliant at school, and think even today, after having lived to the age of 67, I can be classed amongst the worlds worst spellers. When I passed the sixth standard I was sent to Allan Glens’s College in Glasgow, where my brother Andrew had won a three year scholarship, and where he had just finished his education. I certainly had won no scholarship.
"I was extremely fortunate in my first year at Allan Glen’s in the teachers I had, particularly in mathematics, and at the end of the first year, when I was awarded the first prize in mathematics, my mother was so astonished that she asked my brother Andrew to call on Dr. John G. Keir, the headmaster, to see if I had actually won it, particularly in the view of reports that she had had during my years at the local school.
"My first year at Allan Glen’s was 1900, and the Boer War had broken out, and I can remember seeing the Seaforth Highlanders leaving the Clyde for South Africa, and I can also remember the lists of casualties during that fateful war, and how few men who left in the gaily coloured kilts, with the band at the head of them ever returned to their native land. I remember the great scenes at the Relief of Mafeking - the bonfires in the streets. It is interesting to recall that we were given a holiday, and returning home early, assisted in the preparation of the bonfires that were lit that night to celebrate the victory.
"My father died when I was ten years old, and of the family of thirteen, ten were alive when my father died, the youngest being two years old and the eldest nineteen, being my brother William. My mother started my brother William in a business as a stone mason, and built a large number of tenement houses, better known as today as flats, and through borrowing at a low rate of interest and mortgaging all the property my father left, she was able to give her children a good education and a moderate start in life."
Sir James' (I) voyage to
"In 1908 I decided to leave for New Zealand. This decision was influenced by listening to a lecture by the Reverend Isitt, who was a Member of Parliament, and who at the time was visiting Scotland, lecturing in the Temperance interests. At the end of a week’s lecture he gave one on 'New Zealand - the sunnier Britain of the South', and as a result I decided that I would leave as soon as I possibly could.
"Enquires among the shipping lines showed that there was possibility of getting a berth that year, but as a result of writing to various companies and various agents, I found that I could get a berth on a German ship owned by the Norde Deutsche Lloyd Company, a ship called 'Bremen'. As this company’s ships did not comply with the requirements of the British Board of Trade, they could not pick up passengers at any English Ports, so it was necessary to leave on a small steamer from Grimsby to Antwerp, and I joined the ship there. The fare for a berth in a four berth cabin was £15 from Glasgow to Grimsby, from Grimsby by boat to Antwerp, from Antwerp to Melbourne on the 'Bremen' through the Suez Canal, and from Melbourne to Dunedin on the Huddart Parker boat 'Ulimaroa'.
"I found, when I reached Antwerp, that there were quite a number of Scotmen and Englishmen who were also leaving, most of them for Australia, but one or two for New Zealand. As the 'Bremen' had not completed loading at Antwerp, we had three days which permitted us going up to Brussles. I always recollect that five of us arrived at Brussels, and were met at the station by a very charming individual who asked us if we would like to see the sights of the city, and said he would be only too pleased to show us round. He spent the day with us, and he certainly showed us the sights of Brussels. Much to our astonishment, however, as we reached the station prior to going back to Antwerp, we were more than horrified when he informed us how much he expected us to pay, as it transpired that he was a guide. After pointing out to him that we thought that he was simply our host, and that we out of the goodness of our hearts had provided him with lunch, which, if I remember correctly cost only a matter of a few pence at a cafeteria, we ultimately comprised for a sum of about one tenth of what he asked, but from then on it taught us a lesson, when we reached the various ports at the Mediterranean, as naturally our funds in those days did not allow for our employing guides to show us the sights of the various cities. It was extremely interesting to youths who had never been many miles from their native towns, to visit cities like Geonia, Naples, Port Said, and Colombo.
"The 'Bremen' on that particular voyage carried a record number of passengers for Australia, with the result that conditions were appalling. It was almost a case of standing room only after we got through the Channel and into the Mediterranean, where we encountered beautiful weather and ideal conditions. After a conference among the Scottish and English element, which was in a very small minority of the number of passengers on board, it was decided that a delegation would seek the captain to see if it would be possible to get a portion of the first-class deck, where there was only a very small number of passengers on board. One was the late Sir Robert Anderson of Invercargill, whom I met then for the first time, and another was the Reverend Dr. Gibb, the Presbyterian Minister of St. Johns, Wellington. We stated our as to the Captain, pointing out the absurdity of the position where three or four passengers were occupying two decks, while we were sweltering in unspeakable conditions in the steerage. He undertook to have a talk with the various passengers and if we called back in the late afternoon he could give us his decision. The decision was that we were to have a portion of the first-class deck, conditional on that it was controlled by those who represented the delegates who had approached him, and you can appreciate that we zealously guarded that particular section of the ship.
"Reaching Melbourne sometime in October 1908, I was offered a job by one of the builders whom I spoke to, but as my tools had been transferred from the 'Bremen' to the 'Ulimaroa', and as my capital, amounting to the sum of £12, was waiting for me in Dunedin, I considered it best to go right on to where I had intended going, namely Dunedin.
"I reached Dunedin at the end of October, and was met by a young Scotsman who had been in the same office in Glasgow as my Brother Andrew, and who had secured for me board in a boarding house in Clyde Street. Conditions in Dunedin were bad. Very little building was going on, and there were a fair number of unemployed tradesmen looking for work."