tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269154103766812046.post2981999231512590299..comments2024-03-17T10:09:54.614+13:00Comments on Canterbury Heritage: 100 Years Ago Today 22 July 1909: Cathedral Square GatheringMarcus Castellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02572498225080723498noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269154103766812046.post-6619795991416386962009-07-24T08:36:01.876+12:002009-07-24T08:36:01.876+12:00Mr CH liked Sir George, who not only handed out an...Mr CH liked Sir George, who not only handed out an art prize to a precocious 9 year-old, but was widely respected from Waltham to Fendalton.<br /><br />In 1938 a 21 year-old builder from the north of England arrived in Christchurch. Subsequently one of George Manning's City Councilors, he founded an immensely wealthy political dynasty that endures more than half a century later. The considerable influence that they have quietly continued to exert has ensured them a place in the history of our city. One day make it will make interesting reading, but the time is not yet...Marcus Castellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02572498225080723498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269154103766812046.post-82002219440110985942009-07-23T21:20:38.191+12:002009-07-23T21:20:38.191+12:00HAHHAAH i did laugh at your comment Mr CH :-)
I w...HAHHAAH i did laugh at your comment Mr CH :-)<br /><br />I worked on a lot of the Mannings items when i worked at the Museum. Photos, shoes, presentation carpets, photograph albums of trips and meetings with dignitaries, gifts...the museum has a rich history of Sir George's time in office. You're right. The calibre has certainly gone down hill.Sarndrahttp://www.sarndra.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269154103766812046.post-52308418008156138372009-07-23T16:06:13.218+12:002009-07-23T16:06:13.218+12:00In the biography The Fighting Man: A Study of the ...In the biography <i>The Fighting Man: A Study of the Life and Times of T. E. Taylor</i> by Nellie F. H. Macleod (Christchurch; Dunbar and Summers, 1964), Taylor comes across, by today's standards, as a smugly Puritan hell-raiser, with the gift of the gab. That he had the good fortune to die in office as Christchurch's most popular Mayor undoubtedly preserved his orchestrated reputation as a valiant crusader for the common man. Alas we now live in an age when colourful politicians like Tommy Taylor, Harry Ell and Mabel Howard are but a fading memory (with the possible exception of Invercargill's Tim Shadbolt). <br /><br />Taylor seems to have been a political aberration. Historically, the apathetic hoi polloi of Christchurch tended to elect god-bothering Calvinists, with one foot in the Christchurch Club and the other just around the corner in the Freemason's Lodge. These days we elect the harmlessly inept who rarely impede upon the commercial ambitions of our back-room Brahmins and their cheap-suited minions with an MBA from a fifth-rate diploma mill. <br /><br />Probably the last real Mayor of Christchurch was Sir George Manning, but since then it's been a gradual decline; now we've replaced the village idiot with a court jester and on a clear day the puppet master's strings are almost visible.Marcus Castellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02572498225080723498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1269154103766812046.post-79026284281984501442009-07-23T10:18:49.441+12:002009-07-23T10:18:49.441+12:00In fairness to Tommy Taylor, he is greatly misrepr...In fairness to Tommy Taylor, he is greatly misrepresented both by Mr Kilgour and the Star in this piece.<br /><br />In the same edition of 22 July 1909, page 3, a fuller account is given of "Tommy T's" response to the unemployed delegation and shows his deep empathy with the plight of unemployed and an astute analysis of the unemployment problem.<br /><br />A few quotes: <br /><br />"Of course, you want work in the meanwhile. A few of you, I suppose, don't want work, but I think nine out of ten of you do really want work."<br /><br />"I think myself," resumed Mr Taylor, "that every unemployed man is a tax on somebody's industry, and I think the Government ought to take an opportunity for finding work for every man unemployed."<br /><br />Tommy T (as in Tea Total) was not your typical politician. And was loved for it, both by those for and against him as evidenced by the mass outpouring of affection at his 1911 funeral.<br /><br />I've a longer piece on the Star's coverage of Tommy's views on the unemployment problem over at The New Zealand Journal blog. But I won't link it, leaving it in Mr CH's hands to decide such matters.<br /><br />[BTW, by happenstance I was reading the same issues of the Star as Mr CH a few days back; I was not fact-checking Mr CH! I swear.]kuakahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01475437546479502512noreply@blogger.com