Presentation Watches & Trophies

Lot 2674    Day 2    Presentation Watches & Trophies

Estimate $1,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au

PRESENTATION CIGARETTE CASE, in sterling silver (121g, 107x85mm), by Niel (Switzerland), inscribed on front 'Presented To/Hon.J.C.Coates/Minister for Public Works N.Z./By the/Thames Valley Electric Power Board/on the occasion of/Switching on Power at Paeroa/March 29th 1921/When Power was Supplied for the First Time in New Zealand/By a Power Board Constituted/Under the Electric Power Boards Act/of 1918'. Some denting, fine.

The Waihi Goldmining Coy. owned the Power Station at Hora Hora for approximately 30 years, using Power for its Waikino Battery, before the Govt. purchased the Station in 1918, A proviso allowed the Coy. to use all the power it needed, the balance to be sold to other users. At the time the Waihi Borough did not wish to participate, partly because it had a flourishing Gas Industry.^^Local community leaders formed the Thames Valley Electric Power League to investigate setting up a Power Board for the whole of the Thames Valley. This was established with headquarters in Te Aroha, in 1920, Mr F.M.Strange being elected chairman, and Mr. R. Sprague Clerk and Treasurer. The first big job for the engineers and linesmen was to put through the lines from Waikino to Paeroa and Thames, the poles to support them being shipped from Australia.^^Paeroa had the honour of being the first town supplied with power. Mr Gordon Coates, then Public Works Minister (and later Prime Minister) threw the switch that lit Paeroa's first electric lights in March 1921. This major step opened a new era for country people too - with an influx of electric milking machines on farms. (Courtesy Nell Climie - Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 26, November 1982).^^The following courtesy of the Encyclopedia Britannica:^^Joseph Gordon Coates, (born Feb. 3, 1878, Pahia, N.Z.-died May 27, 1943, Wellington), Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928, who later, as Minister of Public Works (1931-33) and of Finance (1933-35), instituted rigorous policies to combat the economic depression of the 1930s.^^While farming in Auckland, Coates became active in farmers' organizations and was elected to Parliament in 1911. After distinguished service during World War I, he was named Minister of Justice and Postmaster General in the Reform administration of W.F.Massey (1919). He led the Ministries of Public Works (1920-26) and Native Affairs (1921-28) and became Prime Minister in 1925 on Massey's death. In public works, he stressed mechanisation, accelerated hydroelectric power development, and unified authority for highway construction. He also improved relations with Maori. Defeated in the elections of 1928, Coates returned to power in 1931 as the key figure in the coalition ministry of George Forbes.^^Coates's economic measures, largely designed to help farmers, included devaluation of the New Zealand pound to increase export receipts, establishment of the Mortgage Corporation to supply cheap credit, and the setting up of a partly state-controlled reserve bank to control credit. He also forced interest rates down and encouraged trade within the British Empire, taking a leading part in the Ottawa Conference of 1932. Unemployment, especially in the cities, remained high, leading to Coates's defeat by the Labour Party in the elections of 1935 and 1938. He transcended party differences to become a trusted member of Peter Fraser's wartime administration from August 1940, serving as Minister of Armed Forces and War Coordination until his death.^