Murray Roberts & Co

When John Roberts' father, the Scots manufacturer of woollen materials, sent him to New Zealand, he had in mind the purchase of a pastoral run to breed sheep with wool to his own requirements. His own wool could be shipped directly to Scotland without the expense of middle-men. The policy of crossbreeding on Murray Roberts' stations to establish the desired qualities of the wool led to the Corriedale breed. The first major investment in pastoral activities was Lauder station in 1868.[1]

In 1871 Murray Roberts & Co had begun buying wool on commission for North American importers and supplying from their own pastoral properties. New Zealand prices for wool were so low it led in 1873 to young John Roberts' establishment of the Mosgiel Woollen Mill. Because all wool dealings were on commission, the price of wool directly affected the profits of Murray Roberts & Co. The partnership began wool auctioneering in 1897 in Wellington, and their Hawkes Bay operation followed in 1905. The South Island operation continued to buy on commission for its American and British clients right through until 1961.[1]

In the North Island the wool operations were quite different. Murray Roberts sold at local auctions on behalf of their farmer clients. By 1960 the Wellington branch was offering 20,000 bales a year and Hawkes Bay 24,000 a year on behalf of their clients.[1]

As with lending to Otago farmers that were not in a very substantial way of business Murray Roberts & Co were not interested in livestock dealing. Again, this changed in the early 20th century in both Southland and the North Island, and Murray Roberts bought shares in sale yards in their various territories as they built their branch network.[1]

SS Dunedin loading, Port Chalmers 1882

Murray Roberts & Co provided part of the cargo of the SS Dunedin on New Zealand's first successful shipment of frozen meat, 349 sheep, in 1882.[1]

Dipping sheep

Merchandise traded by the company included liquor, ERG car batteries, and India tyres (from Scotland), wholesale grocery for clients and for retailers in large rural towns, and general farm requirements such as fencing wire and Coopers sheep dip.

Agencies provided substantial income, among them the Shaw Savill loading agency, the North British & Mercantile Insurance fire and general insurance, and the British & Foreign Marine Insurance Company.[1]

A seed dressing operation was also part of the company's business.[1]

In 1875, a partnership was formed for a Wellington branch and named Murray, Common and Company. Charles Cairns Murray and William Common were the local partners. A Napier office was opened in 1877, then Gisborne was added the following year. After a dispute Common left the Wellington partnership, taking the Gisborne business, which he operated himself.[1]

The headquarters were moved from Dunedin to Wellington in 1910, at the time of incorporation of the limited liability company. A wool store was built in Thorndon Quay in 1907, and another across the road on reclaimed land in 1917, where the wool store operation remained until it moved to Seaview in the 1960s.[1]

Agencies were opened in Masterton in 1913, and after World War I more followed at Feilding, Dannevirke, and Hāwera. The Masterton agency took the first steps into livestock activities previously passed to Levin & Co. All these branches closed in the Great Depression of the 1930s, though there was a revival in 1934 with the branch at Wanganui extending to include an office at Taihape. In 1961 Masterton opened a Martinborough office.[1]

A looser arrangement was also made in 1878 for Invercargill. It was broken up in 1892, as it proved to be only moderately successful. In 1923 a new agency was established in Invercargill.[1]

Dunedin became a branch of the new incorporation in 1910 when the headquarters of Murray Robert & Co moved to Wellington, and an agency was set up in Gore for merchandise items. Though it was where the business was founded, Dunedin was always a modestly sized operation, mainly because it centred on the involvement in the stations and Stronach Morris — a company in which Murray Roberts & Co had an interest — handled all the Murray Roberts & Co clients' wool clip.[1] The original fellmongery continued but, never very profitable, it was finally closed in 1915 and the buildings were sold in 1917.[1]

Established in Napier 1877 as an agency from Wellington, it became the principal and most profitable region for Murray Roberts & Co. Further expansion took place in 1887 with an office in Hastings and again in 1913 when an agent was set up in Waipukurau.[1]

In 1884 a quarter share in Richardson & Co was acquired. Richardson was operating two coastal steamers, SS Fairy and SS Weka, and two lighters. Further steamers were added as the company grew: SS Tuna in 1885, SS Kahu (1886), SS Fanny (1890), and SS Toroa (1900). Murray Roberts & Co sold it share in Richardson & Co in 1909.[1]

During the 1950s the Hawkes Bay branch took over from Wellington as Murray Roberts & Co's most profitable branch. By the end of the 1950s its profits were equal to the profits of all the other branches combined.[1]

National Mortgage & Agency Company was considered to be weak in the Hawke's Bay region, and Murray Roberts & Co's Hawkes Bay operation was a likely major reason for the takeover.[1]

1915 Overland car

A Poverty Bay branch was set up in 1905. For the first ten years all the business was in merchandising. There were some meat exports, but little wool was handled. With the advent of the First World War the quantity of wool handled rose abruptly, in part because of the bulk buying contracts. The branch also won a fat stock agency with meat export company Thos Borthwick & Sons. They were provided with an Overland car and a Humber motorcycle. A horse and buggy was retained. A postwar slump in 1920 reduced activity and business did not recover during the 1920s or in the following Great Depression. Recovery did begin in 1937 and the early 1950s was a period of prosperity.[1]

Wanganui branch was established in 1924. Its first ten years were not consistently profitable and the staff numbers remained at just three. The branch's main growth began after World War II.[1]

In 1905 Sir John Roberts and his family bought 62.5 per cent of the capital of a new company, Stronach Morris & Co, incorporated to own a well-established stock and station agency and wool broking business of the same name. Stronach Morris already held agencies in Middlemarch, Tapanui, Balclutha, and Waikouaiti, with a share in the Wyndham saleyards. The bulk of their business was in Otago, but there was a strong link with Southland. The wool trade and livestock were new areas for Murray Roberts. After Murray Roberts bought into the business, growth was initially slow. An agency opened in Cromwell in 1919 then, following a resurgence in 1937, another agency in the Maniototo and another in Lawrence in 1949. This represented an unusually wide network for a Dunedin-based stock and station agency. Stronach Morris auctioned livestock from Burnside and also in Cromwell, Omakau, Alexandra, Waipiata, Owhiro, Otago, Evansdale and Wyndham.[1]

Rabbit skin sales ended in 1955. Usually more than 100 tons of skins were sold by Stronach Morris's public auction every fortnight. New laws had been enacted to remove any possible profit motive that might encourage allowing rabbits to breed. Stronach Morris competed directly with Murray Roberts & Co in merchandise. The wool of Murray Roberts & Co clients was sold by Stronach Morris and wool and livestock activities in Otago were left to Stronach aside from Murray Roberts & Co's buying on commission for their own long-established overseas clients. By the time of the purchase by NMA Murray Roberts owned all but 17% of Stronach Morris & Co.[1]

Murray Roberts & Co as pastoral investors and sheep breeders shared in partnerships which held these properties:

Otago

Patearoa

ca 1868 Lauder Station. A lease of 45,000 acres with a further 1,000 acres of freehold sold 1882 to Ross & Glendining, Lauder

1872 Strath Taieri Station renamed Gladbrook station taken over on own account by John Roberts. Middlemarch:

1873 Patearoa Station Patearoa

ca 1874 Henley Station, Henley

1877 Carterhope near Balclutha

1878 Ringway Station Otautau

1880s Cottesbrook near Middlemarch

Hawkes Bay

Shipping wool at Ākitio

1878 Tautane Herbertville

1880 Te Putere and Putere no. 1 Wairoa

1880 (circa) Hawkestone Puketitiri

1880 Clive Grange Clive

1880s Mangatutu Raukawa

1880s Marainanga (Ākitio South) auctioned in 1908 in 22 blocks

Having played a major part in developing pastoral land in Otago and Hawkes Bay, the sale of the 36,600 acres of Marainanga marked the last of Murray Roberts & Co pastoral holdings, which had at one time reached 200,000 acres.[1]