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Guinness Brothers and the Tauranga Bond Store
This blog is about collection Ams 12, which begins in 1882 with the formation of Mann and Co.'s bond store – which stood in a prominent location at No. 1 The Strand – and ends in the early 20th century with the records of Guinness Bros. Despite being formed of just three files, it contains a wealth of material: papers relating to customs bond and the construction of the warehouse, ephemera linked to the businesses and photographs of the owners enjoying their free time. As such, it offers a glimpse of business life in Tauranga during the later 19th and early 20th centuries.
Guinness Bros Building, The Strand c. 1920. Tauranga City Libraries Image 99-1157
The Bond Store was originally built for James Alexander Mann in 1883 as a warehouse for storing imported goods. It was well-situated near the waterfront and the two main wharves, which were the main entry place for goods arriving at Tauranga by sea.
James Mann sold the business in 1908 to Guinness Brothers. The Guinness Brothers Limited’s original directors were brothers Sidney Oswald Guinness and John (Jack) Arthur Daniel Guinness, along with their mother Jessie and step-father John Green. The brothers are indeed descendants of Arthur Guinness, founder of the famous stout brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin. Jack and Sid’s grandfather, Francis Hart Vicesimus Guinness, was the grandson of Arthur Guinness and after a number of years living in India, he brought his family out to New Zealand to start a new life in 1852.
In the early part of 1909, the Government was contemplating closing the Port of Tauranga because of the drastic drop in revenue (Guinness, 1978). A direct approach by Guinness Brothers to the Minister of Trade and Customs urging that Tauranga continue as a Customs Port, elicited a favourable reply from the Government and the Port continued its trade. The fortunes of the port and of the warehouse business changed for the better, as by 1914 nearly 20,000 tonnes of imports were landed at Tauranga, and 466 tonnes exported.
“The name Guinness is surely woven into Tauranga’s past and present; it is an old, old name with a ring of quality about it, a quality embellished into a flourishing retail and wholesale business built from the sturdy independence, the faith and the outlook of the brothers...” (Morris, 1972)
