44 Hine Street (circa 1895-96)

This cottage was constructed during 1895 or early 1896, and the builder was probably Edward Hooker.

Town Sections 34, 35, 36 and 37 were owned by James Turner from 1877 until December 1889, when they were sold to Henry Robert Richmond. During Turner’s period of ownership, the sections remained vacant, with no houses noted on any of the sections in the New Plymouth Borough Council Rates Book for 1888-89, and all four sections valued together at just £3.

Henry Richmond died in 1890, and ownership of the sections passed to his wife, Emma Jane Richmond. In late 1894, the property title for the sections was issued under the Land Transfer Act, with Emma Richmond noted as the owner, and Edward Hooker the occupier of Sections 34 and 35.

Edward subsequently purchased sections 34 and 35, and for the 1894-95 rating year the property is still listed as being without dwelling, and the sections were valued at just £2. However, by the 1896-97 rating year, a house is noted as being constructed on the sections, and they were valued at £14. This seems to indicate a construction date of 1895 or early 1896 for the present cottage.

It seems Edward Hooker got into financial difficulty, and in mid-1896, the Assignees in the Estate of Edward Hooker enlisted Newton King to auction “Sections 34 and 35, Hine Street, with new and well-finished four-roomed dwelling, with two brick chimneys”. The property was sold at auction on 20 June 1896 to Robert Todd.

See: Taranaki Land Deeds Index I1, page 244; Taranaki Herald, 15 June 1896, page 3