Price Street

Richard Price of Price St fame was a self- described yeoman and farmer of the soil. He came here as a 19-year-old from Otago to work as a labourer before buying land to farm. His reasons for coming to Taranaki are reflected in a speech he made when standing for the council in 1893.

Price told the meeting Taranaki was one of the few provinces of the colony where the "men of small capital" were not stopped from owning land. He contrasted this with the land in Otago and Canterbury that had been bought up by large syndicates.

He warned: "The people should be careful not to allow the land grabber to acquire what was left for the purpose of speculation."

Price admonished surveyors for using perishable pegs stating that they would invariably rot and other surveyors would have to be employed to reinstate boundaries. He called for the Government to implement the use of iron pegs.

Price also took the opportunity to express his views on liquor. He knew when he worked in the harvest fields in Otago, where there were no hotels in the district, whiskey used to be made in stills.

"They should see that good drink was sold, and a man who sold adulterated stuff should have his licence taken away from him altogether. They must sell the real McCoy," he said.

Price went on to become the chairman of the county council. His nomination for election to the harbour board met the ire of one neighbour who wrote to the Taranaki Herald to say that, despite Price being a "good cheesemaker and a thrifty farmer", virtually anybody would be better for the job. He blamed Price's administration for the district's "many miles of worn out roads and numerous rotten bridges".

By and large, though, Price was well received and the street was named after him when he bought land nearby off Tukapa St, where he retired. Price died in February 1927 and is buried in Te Hēnui cemetery.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.