The dead tell tales
George Edgecumbe 1845-1930
Arecent Dead Tell Tales on Robert Paull, proprietor of the Waikato Times,
mentioned the Times’ opposition, the Waikato Argus. The Argus came into being in 1896 when the
Times’ owners, the Bank of New Zealand Assets Realisation Board, refused to renew George Edgecumbe’s lease of the newspaper business and instead sold it to James Shiner Bond. Edgecumbe was miffed, and with full confidence of his abilities, he set up the Waikato Argus in opposition. He took with him the
Times’ editor, Henry Holloway. Edgecumbe had every right to be miffed – he had been running the Waikato Times successfully for 10 years as sole proprietor. He joined the paper in 1878 as its business manager and in 1882 he became part-proprietor with Edward Mortimer Edgcumbe (no middle ‘e’, no relation). As Jeff Downs has written in his biography of Edgecumbe, written for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, under Edgecumbe’s editorial emphasis, ‘‘the paper became less parochial and more tolerant of change’’.
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Auckland Province, notes that the Argus’s columns were largely devoted to the interests of farmers taking a wider view of the Waikato than the Times did. At O¯ haupo in October 1899, the chairman of the Waikato Milk Suppliers’ Union presented Edgecumbe with a purse of sovereigns, value £78, collected by the union’s members. Edgecumbe had been sued for libel by Wesley Spragg, proprietor of the New Zealand Dairy Association, after Edgecumbe had championed the suppliers’ cause. Edgecumbe had won the case with the result that the dairy industry had been put on a better footing (from the suppliers’ point of view). Evidently, Edgecumbe had published a critical letter signed ‘‘Onlooker’’ and rather than disclose the writer’s identity, he kept to his ethical code of conduct. Another supporter, identified only as ‘‘Nemo’’, presented Edgecumbe with a silver inkstand in recognition of his staunch support. A full account of the presentation was published in the Waikato Argus on October 26, 1899, Edgecumbe getting to make even more of a point.
Edgecumbe served on the Hamilton Borough Council as a councillor from 1885 to 1887 and from 1905 to 1907 and as mayor from 1899 to 1901. For some of that time he was mayor while James Bond was a councillor and as a councillor when Bond was mayor, but it is not known whether their quarrels in the council chamber were affected by their business rivalry. Edgecumbe’s council service did not preclude the council listing him as one of those to be prosecuted for not using the new nightsoil collection service. After council effectively lost the first case, it withdrew the other prosecutions.
After 19 years, the two newspapers merged, Edgecumbe becoming the chair of the board of the new Waikato Times
Printing and Publishing Company. The Waikato Argus ceased publication in December 1914.
Edgecumbe left a legacy greater than the newspapers he controlled: He was instrumental in the establishment of Waikato Hospital and Hamilton High School (Edgecumbe House at Hamilton Girls’ High is named for him), foundation member of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, on the Hamilton West School committee, involved with St Peter’s Church and Lodge BetaWaikato. Sports also got his attention – he was one of those who set up the Claudelands racecourse and was president or committee member of the South Auckland Racing Club from 1887 to 1903 and involved with the Hamilton Cricket Club, athletics meetings and the Waikato Rugby Union.
He seems to have been one of life’s organisers and achievers.
George Edgecumbe and his wife Annie retired to Auckland about 1920. Annie died in 1924 and her body was brought back for burial in Hamilton West Cemetery. In 1930, George was buried with her.