Josiah Firth

Biography

Born in Clifton, West Yorkshire, England, Firth came from a family background interested in farming and industrial development. He had a well rounded education. He moved to New Zealand in the early 1850s and settled in Auckland where he began making bricks and also took a one third interest in a steam powered flour mill in 1856. In 1859 he made his first visit to Matamata where he met and became friendly with Wiremu Tamihana, the King Maker.

In Auckland he was one of a small group of highly influential business men such as John Logan Campbell, Frederick Whitaker and Thomas Morrin. They had significant influence on The Bank of New Zealand and the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Firth was always able to borrow finance to capitalize his many innovative schemes.

Firth briefly entered Parliament for the Auckland West electorate. He was elected in 1861, and resigned on 30 April 1862. He promoted the purchase of land directly from Maori as had happened in the Wairarapa. This contravened the Treaty of Waitangi but had been a mechanism used from time to time in localized issues when Maori agreed.

In 1865 with the establishment of peace in the Waikato, Firth was able to lease land from Wiremu Tamihana of Ngati Haua, a kingitanga tribe. Tamihana, who was a Christian, had been at the core of the Kingite movement but was at heart a man of peace. A large area of land around Matamata was leased for a rental of up to five hundred pounds a year. Two years later he bought outright some of the land covered by the lease and this became the basis of his estate at Matamata. By 1865 Firth had leased 55,000 acres."The fern and bracken covered plains was burnt and soon sown in grassland and feed crops such as turnips".

He built his first homestead near Peria where Tamihana had earlier established a missionary station. When Tamihana died in 1866 Firth had a monument built at the place he died with an inscription that said it was Tamihana's will that Firth stay on the Matamata land as long as he (Firth) chose. Meanwhile, his businesses in Auckland were prospering and he was able to lease a very fine house on the eastern side of Mount Eden from John Ogilvie (1839?-1871) Secretary to the Auckland Board of Commissioners (in 1871 he would purchase the house).

Early in 1870 Josiah, or Hohaia as he was known to the Māori, was contacted by Te Kooti during his flight from Te Porere through the King Country and back to the Ureweras. From his base at Tapapa, near Tirau. Te Kooti sent a message to Firth to meet him at Wiremu Tamihana's monument. Firth claimed to have inherited Wiremu Tamihana's "mantle of patience". Before the meeting Firth contacted Daniel Pollen the general agent for the government in Auckland. On 17 January Firth met Te Kooti. Firth told Te Kooti he had come to listen -he had no power to offer any terms. They talked for some time with Te Kooti emphasising he would not surrender but wanted to be left in peace to live at Tapapa. Firth noted that although Te Kooti was unarmed he was backed by a semi circle of heavily armed men with modern weapons in good condition. He told Firth: "If they let me alone I will live quietly; if not I will fight."

The government sent word to Firth that they had nothing to say to Te Kooti apart from if he surrendered he would be given safe conduct to Auckland. This telegram crossed with one from Firth outlining Te Kooti's wishes. But Te Kooti had aroused too much fear and hatred for his offer to be accepted, and it was rejected out of hand. There was also considerable official annoyance with Josiah Firth. The Premier Willian Fox and the government agent for Hawkes Bay J.D. Ormond were irate"with that meddlesome sweep Firth."The military were instructed to attack Te Kooti whether Firth was with him or not. For Te Kooti the whole meeting may have been another ruse, as shortly afterwards Chief Te Hiri from Coromandel arrived and gave Te Kooti a huge quantity of gunpowder(7kegs) and a bag of bullets 2 feet high. In fact Te Kooti had "predicted" he would be given the ammunition down to the exact day and time. indicating the resupply mission had been prearranged.

In 1873 Firth began a seven-year project to clear the Waihou River of snags and obstacles to navigation thus opening the upper reaches of the Thames Estuary to shipping. He was the author of "Our Kin across the Sea".

In 1871 Firth purchased his Auckland residence 'Clifton' which he had previously leased, and extended the building. To the rear of the wooden Gothic house he erected a large wing in the Castellated style which included a 15 metre tall tower, completed in 1873. This structure was built in unreinforced concrete, an experimental material for the period. As well a providing a vantage point with splendid views of the Waitemata Harbour the tower contained a water tank so the up-to-date indoor plumbing had good water pressure. The tower also contained a study for Firth in which he arranged a small museum of geological items and other curiosities. In 1882 at Matamata he constructed a second castellated tower, a slightly smaller version of the Mt Eden tower and likewise an extension to an earlier wooden residence. Both structures are still standing - the Matamata Tower being a tourist attraction in its own right.

Firth championed the use of concrete as a building material and significantly Firth's sons would go on to found the Firth Concrete Company. Firth's two concrete structures are now some of the earliest examples of concrete construction in the country (John Logan Campbell's 1871 house 'Loganbank' in Official Bay having been demolished). As a member of the Beresford Street Congregationalist Church in Karangahape Road, Firth influenced the choice of concrete for that building as well (1875).

In 1882 Firth arranged a grand reception in the grounds of Clifton House for the Maori King, Tawhiao. Firth had played a part in the establishment of Tawhiao's father The Waikato chief Potatau Te Wherowhero as Maori King in 1858.

New Zealand agriculture went through a serious depression during the 1880s, one which hit Firth hard, and in 1889 he was declared bankrupt. Later he began to develop a trade in pumice based on its properties of insulation and fire resistance, travelling to the United States and England. He died suddenly on 11 December 1897 just as the venture was becoming successful, and was buried at St Stephen's Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Parnell.