41. British Civilisation Establishes Itself
Now with the  advent of Self-Government in NZ, the  country soon attracted
settlers & batches of immigrants were arriving in almost every sailing ship that
arrived. One of the  first transactions of the  governor was to import surveyors,
& Mangonui, Russel & Auckland were surveyed into townships. Settled areas in the
outlying districts were then also surveyed. This survey included Wrathalls block
at Orutu, which he had christened the  Pawai Block. By some means or other, the 
name got mis-spelt & appears on the  early litho as the  Parawai Block, which
name it still holds; & in the  survey, instead of the whole area being allotted
Wrathall, only a portion was given to him. The  original survey plan of that area
shows what the  government allowed him out of the  area. His name was written
across the plan of a portion only, but fortunately for him, it was the  portion
containing the  alluvial flats, which are now worth about 20 an acre. The 
government allotted him about 1500 acres, and that was all that was left of his
cattle ranch of about 10 000 acres. However he, with many others who had treated
with the  natives for point for point holdings, was obliged to accept what the 
authorities was fair & equitable; consequently he had to pay a grazing right for
the  balance which was very nominal, & so his cattle ranch was carried on under
the  new occupation conditions. Some years later, the  date of the  sale of the 
Town sections arrived & Mr Wrathall thought it a wise policy to buy in a few
sections for speculative purposes. With that in view, he attended the  sale &
secured sections 5,6,7,8,16 & 17. These sections were situated at each end & in
the  centre of the  present township, so that whatever happened as regards the
laying out, his situations were right. With his accumulated stock of building
material, he set out to land it at Section 8, Mangonui, where he built a 2-storey
building of 24 rooms, obtained & opened the  first hotel in NZ, known as the
Donnybrook Hotel. Mr Flavell, one of his bushmen, was put in to run it; in fact,
arrangements were complete for him to purchase it from Mr Wrathall. His,
Flavells, accumulated credits in the Taipa ledger account were more than
sufficient to pay the 2/3 deposit of 2000. Mr Flavell had married a native woman
and was therefore qualified to hold a licence. The Donnybrook Hotel soon became
famous. All whalers called at Mangonui as it was so situated geographically that
it was their port of call & departure when in NZ waters & they called in
frequently. The Government Lands Dept was in Mangonui & all native & Crown Land
deals were recorded in their office so that Mangonui had now mushroomed into a
very busy centre & the Hotel in consequence was well patronised. Many a brawl was
witnessed in this famous inn. On one occasion, trouble arose between 2 ships
crews & it resulted in 4 men being stabbe dto death at the waters edge, the
outcome of one of those wild nights in the Donnybrook Hotel. Blood discoloured
the tide for several yards out from the shore & quite a crowd gathered. The local
constable took charge of the bodies & they were buried on a hill at the back of
the township, their graves being marked with sea stones. After that happening, an
American consulate was established close to the lands office & a Mr Gould was
appointed to the position of American consul. The establishment of this Consulate
was, to a large extent, the means of suppressing the bitter feelings that existed
between the American & the Norwegian crews. The consul was very diplomatic in the
issue of his authority & was held in very high esteem by all the seafaring men.
If a row was brewing in the hotel, Mr Wrathall  usually sent for the consul & his
presence had a very quieting effect on the men; in fact, he was better able to
supress Donnybrooks than the local constable.
42. Modern Finance Takes Root
The days of the barter had now quite passed away & in its stead, coin of the
realm had become the medium of exchange, so Mr Wrathall had to readjust his
business accordingly. The sawers & bush hands that he had bought from Australia
had amounts to their credits in his books of about 2000 each at the time of the
advent of the coinage system, & he had arranged already with Flavell by giving
him about 2000 interest in the Donnybrook Hotel. He now set out to treat Downes,
another of his sawers, in a similar manner by starting him in a hotel in
Whangaroa. He shipped timber around & built another 2-story building there of 16
rooms. This he christened The Donkeys Nest , & he gave Downes the freehold of
that to wipe out his accumulated book credits, the result of several years of
labour at Taipa. Cossill too was also set up with a cottage & an area on the
island at the head waters of the Mangonui harbour. Mr Wrathall  squared him with
this deal & gave him the balance in cash, amounting to 700. Snowden was given 2
bushes, 1 in the Whangaroa district & 1 at Oruaiti Stoney Creek, &  200 cash as
his share. Berghan was given a block of land at Taipa heads & an area at
Pararanui with also 100 cash in settlement of his claim. These buches & blocks of
land had gradually fallen into the hands of Mr Wrathall  as a result of advances
of provisions of foodstuffs, & the interest enumerated were assigned to Wrathall
by Pawai when the old order of commercial transactions, bartering, was replaced
by the new order of money currency
43. Wrathall Prepares For Retirement
The original party of sawers & bush hands had all married Maori women & were now
domociled in the Whangaroa & Mangonui districts, where their offspring are
well-known to the early settlers, & even now form a great proportion of the
northern present-day population. When Mr Wrathall  realised that Mangonui was
attracting attention as an established foreshore settlement, he decided, after a
conference with Mr Flavell, to build a bowling alley 110 ft long by 16 ft wide, &
attach it to the Donnybrook Hotel. This became a great attraction; the thunder of
the balls was heard throughout the winter almost day & night; it was quite a
popular indoor pastime. By this expenditure, Mr Wrathalls equity in the Hotel was
increased by a considerable amount. He had a private room at the Hotel & at this
time was a permanent boarder. It was his intention to close the Taipa business &
when it was wound up to make an assessment of his NZ interests so as to finally
adjust by a capitalising scheme the separate shares of each of his 2 sons,
Stephen & John. Mr Beldon, who was his chief clerk was now busy taking stock at
Taipa & assessing values. He was then to go to Oruru & take a valuation of the
building improvements & stock of the cattle ranch & to reduce the assets of the
ranch by the area taken by the Crown as shown on the survey lithograph as 1500
acres, while in his ranch ledger account the asset appeared as an area of 10 000
acres. While these adjustments & valuations were being effected, Mr Wrathall had
made arrangements for a 6-roomed cottage to be eracted on the upper end of the
Oruru block, & Stephen was given the house with a small farming area surrounding
it, on which the present Oruru Dairy Factory is now established. This was
intended for Stephens future home when the Taipa business was disposed of. Later
the store & stock was sold to Mr Fletcher, who removed the buildings & stock to
Mangonui & opened business on a foreshore section in the township, now onmed by
Mr R. Foster. Taipa was now doomed as a commercial centre & Mr Wrathall realised
that fact when he decided to sell out. Stephen now shifted all his effects to his
new home at Oruru, about the same time that Johns house was added, for he too had
a 6-roomed cottage. These houses were well finished & comfortably furnished, so
Mr Wrathall felt that both his sons were well-established & comfortable in their
permanent homes. His clerk, Beldon, had now joined him at Mangonui & together
they carried out the winding up process of Wrathalls interests before his
departure to Australia. With the preliminaries completed, Mr Wrathall was given a
duplicate copy of his position & then Mr Beldon left for Australia with
instructions to attend to the Melbourne head office & check the NZ operations as
shown in his books with the Melbourne ledger accounts. Mr Wrathall also gave him
a letter to the head office with instructions to prepare a statement of his
Australian interests so that his affairs cound be readjusted when he returned a
few weeks later. Mr Beldon was to be attached to the head office in the meantime
& help in the preparation of the provisional trial balance. Mr Wrathall elected
to remain in NZ until all arrangements were complete in Australia for a winding
up as he had thoroughly made up his mind to relieve himself of his business
worries. He was now getting well on in years & he wanted to eliminate all
financial responsibilities from the balance of his declining years & to live in
peace & quietness. When he had realised on all his NZ assets, including the
profits from the Taipa business & the timber shipments, after deducting all
overhead expenses, the Estate, apart from the Oruru properties ( which were
divided between Stephen & John), produced a cash balance of 12 000. From this he
took 2000 as depreciation on his vessels & paid the balance over to his 2 sons in
equal amounts of 5000 each. He also gave his sons the title deeds for each of
their holdings & homes in Oruru. He felt that the boys were now in a good
position & their future prosperity assured. He consequently informed them that
each of them was now standing alone & as he had similar affairs to wind up in
Australia, he would soon be going back to Melbourne to live quietly for the
balance of his days. He said that he may take the occasional run accross to see
them if his health permitted him to make the trips, but they were definately to
remember that they were now entirely on their own & he was no longer a prop for
them to lean on. He said that he had treated their brothers in Australia in a
like manner & he felt now that he could leave them, satisfied that he had done
his duties as a father. He hoped they would always live on friendly terms with
each other & that, if misfortune should overtake either, the other would come to
his aid as a brother. You have lost your dear old mother, he said, & I too will
soon be leaving you. Think of us both & always live up to our family traditions &
both play your parts in lifes great scramble as honourable men.
44. Wrathalls Farewell Send-Off
There was one New Zealand asset that Mr Wrathall had retained, and that was the
Kauri bush opposite the Mangonui Harbour, on the Eastern Slopes.  He had attached
this to his Melbourne milling operations and in the final winding up he proposed
making it part and parcel of that concern, as he felt that the mill would have a
greater value if it carried with it the right to cut this fine bush with
approximately one million feet of Kauri, which as now recognized as the finest
milling timber in the world.  As there would not be a vessel leaving for
Australia for at least three or four weeks, he decided to have an absolute rest
at the Hotel.
On the evening prior to Mr Wrathalls departure to Australia, a farewell dinner
was tendered him by his many friends who assembled at the Donnybrook Hotel to bed
him farewell.  It was a great night and the seating accommodation of the dining
room was taxed to its utmost capacity.  Among the visitors present at the
function was Mr Downes, proprietor of the Donkeys Nest, Whangaroa, who brought
with him in a whaleboat, several of his friends from that district.
With the leading citizens from in and around Mangonui, there was naturally a
reunion of many of the early pioneers and as times were now fairly prosperous,
and money plentiful, this banquet was one that would ever be remembered.  Three
of the leading Chiefs of the Ngapuhi Tribe were also present as representing the
Maoris and the click of glasses was the order of the evening.
Many fine valedictory speeches were given but, strange to say, only the first two
or three were reported verbatim.  The reporter then became indisposed, probably
suffering from writers cramp and, quite unnoticed to the few who managed to
remain on deck, he joined the throng of those who were laid peacefully to rest. 
One by one, they gradually faded away from the great picture, and Mr Wrathall was
consequently relieved of the strain of having to reply to the very nice things
that would have been said if the speakers had continued in the same strain as
those who took the floor in the earlier part of the evening, before the flowing
bowl was replenished.
The Donnybrook was certainly the Haven of Rest on that particular night and Mr
Flavell, the proprietor, was called to his post at dawn the following morning to
administer medicine for throbbing heads and parched pallets.  By breakfast time,
however, the patients had all recovered and, though Mr Wrathall had to bid a
hurried goodbye and leave to catch the boat for Melbourne, the banquet was still
in full swing and lasted for three days and three nights.  Almost every ballad
known to the British tongue was sung during the festivities, mostly as community
songs, all the would be singers, indifferent as to harmony, noise was the target
at which they all aimed, and this great function was remembered by all as one of
New Zealands early day shivoos.
45. Wrathall Plans to Scuttle His Ships
Back in Port Philip, Mr Wrathall spent his first few days in his head office
where his managing clerk had prepared a complete statement of his Australian
interests.  It was a very complicated document as his various enterprises were
involved in one great commercial enterprise and though, in the running of the
concern, each formed part of his total scheme, the position of each branch was
summarized in the accounts of the principal ledger and the varied operations had
separate accountancies.  This helped materially in arriving at the assessments of
each of these separate branch operations.
When he had carefully gone through the position as summarized in the balance
sheet and satisfied himself of the accuracy of the statement, he instructed his
clerk to publish in a weekly paper, then in circulation, his intention to place
his several businesses on the market for sale, either separately or as one great
going concern, this to suit all classes of prospective purchasers
He was to announce also in the advertisement that after fourteen days from the
date of the first issue of the advertisement, he was prepared to receive private
offers for any of the branches or for the whole concern, and, if no satisfactory
offer was forthcoming, the whole thing would be sold by public auction, eight
weeks from the date of the first issue calling for offers.
Mr Wrathall paid a visit to his sons and to his delight found them all reasonably
prosperous.  On returning to Port Philip, he went on board each of his three
vessels, the Mary Ann, the Mountain Mag and the timber scow, all now lying in
anchor in the upper reaches of the Harbour, condemned as being unseaworthy and
having a caretaker on each.
Having refused offer for the hulls, he undertook a rather strange attitude,
presumably for purely sentimental reasons, and approached the customs officials
for their permission to bury the three vessels side by side at sea.  The port
officer enquired into their right to issue the permit, but found that the Marine
Regulations made no provision for the granting of the request.  However, the
customs officer informed Mr Wrathall that while they could not grant permission,
the position may be overcome by his, Wrathalls, assurance that they would be no
menace.
Arrangements were then accordingly made for these vessels to be towed out to sea
and in a chosen spot, where they would be no menace to shipping, one by one they
were scuttled and sank side by side, a most weird sight to all who witnessed each
vessel making its final dive into its ocean grave
When returning, Mr Wrathall said to his friends, whom he had invited to go to
this marine funeral, You may think it rather strange of me, burying my boats at
sea rather than selling them, but I might tell you that each of those boats have
played a very important part in my lifes venture, both here and in New Zealand. 
They have formed part of my life and without them I could never have made a
success of my New Zealand adventure.  I owe my success largely to the part they
played in the great scramble and they were absolutely responsible for the start
in life that was made possible for both of my sons in New Zealand, and, to a
lesser degree, they helped in the establishing of the other members of my family
of these shores.
The have paid for themselves over and over again and consequently, rather than
allow them to be dismantled and scrapped by strange hands, I elected to give them
a decent burial at sea.  They have been out of commission now for a few years and
I felt that I owed a duty to them.  I am now satisfied that I have paid that duty
by giving them a grave in the ocean, through which they ploughed for so many
years.
On reaching the harbour, Mr Wrathall took the three watchmen up to the office and
paid them off, giving each of them in addition, twenty five pounds as a parting
bonus, in commemoration of their care of the ships he so loved.