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The Refreshment Rooms in the Town of Selwyn
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TitleThe Refreshment Rooms in the Town of Selwyn
DescriptionIn November 1867, at the time when the railway reached the Town of Selwyn, William Lawrence was granted a conditional liquor licence for the refreshment rooms, which stood on the railway platform, on condition that he provided accommodation for travellers.
The license meant that he had to fulfil a number of conditions, including keeping a lamp aflame from sunset to sunrise.
Lawrence also had refreshment rooms at Rolleston Station.
One year later, tenders were called to provide additional accommodation and this was completed by October, 1868.
This consisted of five bedrooms, a kitchen, and a private sitting room.
The cost was estimated at about £300 and Lawrence was to be compensated by a reduced rental.
By 1871, however, the Licencing Committee was not in favour of public bars in railway stations and the license was to lapse on Selwyn ceasing to be a railway terminus.
Also, no public bar was allowed.
Lawrence also owned the hotel, and at some stage the refreshment rooms were converted into an immigration depot and then a home for infirm and destitute old men, named Selwyn Home and run by the Charitable Aid and Hospital Board.
The first newspaper record appeared in March 1876 when Magistrate G.L. Mellish suggested that vagrant and heavy drinker, James Sullivan, enter Selwyn Home.
A few months later a post office had been opened at the Home under the charge of J.S. Baylis, who was the master.
In August 1877, Baylis was seeking donations of articles of clothing for the inmates.
By May 1878, the administrator of charitable aid had pointed out to Government the urgent necessity of increased assistance for the Home but the Government replied that they were unable to take any action as these institutions were soon to become a local charge.
The building was reported to contain eighteen rooms, thirteen being dormitories (18m2) usually with 2 stretchers.
The remaining five comprised the private apartments of the master, a kitchen (the largest apartment in the place, and used as a sitting room for the inmates), a washhouse and a lumber room.
“The rooms are kept as clean as can be expected by the inmates, a regulation which was rigidly enforced by the rules of the Home, and insisted on by the master. There was no stint in the quantity of the bedding allowed, and the diet was also on a sufficiently liberal scale.
On average there are 16 inhabitants and while the master and matron did all that lay in their power for the comfort of those under their charge, and as far as actual shelter, and a sufficiency of food was concerned, there was no fault to be found.”
The above report suggested that the men were reasonably well looked after but a later report was highly critical.
In July 1878, the Board inspected the premises and concluded it required only the “most cursory examination to show that the place was quite unfit for the purposes for which it is used.
The building is small, the rooms are small—in a few words, the accommodation is wretched, dirty, and insufficient, being a mere collection of unwarmed, ill ventilated, squalid apartments, in which the refugees are huddled together to make the best or the worst of it.
The unfortunate part of the business was that, while fully alive to the utter unsuitability of the pace, and the almost impossibility of patching it up into a decent condition of comfort and cleanliness…”.
The Ashburton immigration depot was secured and set up for the men and they were transported by train to their new accommodation before the end of August, 1878.
Mike Noonan
Dunsandel Historic Society
Date16 February 2023SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationSelwyn Village
DescriptionIn November 1867, at the time when the railway reached the Town of Selwyn, William Lawrence was granted a conditional liquor licence for the refreshment rooms, which stood on the railway platform, on condition that he provided accommodation for travellers. The license meant that he had to fulfil a number of conditions, including keeping a lamp aflame from sunset to sunrise.
Lawrence also had refreshment rooms at Rolleston Station.
One year later, tenders were called to provide additional accommodation and this was completed by October, 1868.
This consisted of five bedrooms, a kitchen, and a private sitting room.
The cost was estimated at about £300 and Lawrence was to be compensated by a reduced rental.
By 1871, however, the Licencing Committee was not in favour of public bars in railway stations and the license was to lapse on Selwyn ceasing to be a railway terminus.
Also, no public bar was allowed.
Lawrence also owned the hotel, and at some stage the refreshment rooms were converted into an immigration depot and then a home for infirm and destitute old men, named Selwyn Home and run by the Charitable Aid and Hospital Board.
The first newspaper record appeared in March 1876 when Magistrate G.L. Mellish suggested that vagrant and heavy drinker, James Sullivan, enter Selwyn Home.
A few months later a post office had been opened at the Home under the charge of J.S. Baylis, who was the master.
In August 1877, Baylis was seeking donations of articles of clothing for the inmates.
By May 1878, the administrator of charitable aid had pointed out to Government the urgent necessity of increased assistance for the Home but the Government replied that they were unable to take any action as these institutions were soon to become a local charge.
The building was reported to contain eighteen rooms, thirteen being dormitories (18m2) usually with 2 stretchers.
The remaining five comprised the private apartments of the master, a kitchen (the largest apartment in the place, and used as a sitting room for the inmates), a washhouse and a lumber room.
“The rooms are kept as clean as can be expected by the inmates, a regulation which was rigidly enforced by the rules of the Home, and insisted on by the master. There was no stint in the quantity of the bedding allowed, and the diet was also on a sufficiently liberal scale.
On average there are 16 inhabitants and while the master and matron did all that lay in their power for the comfort of those under their charge, and as far as actual shelter, and a sufficiency of food was concerned, there was no fault to be found.”
The above report suggested that the men were reasonably well looked after but a later report was highly critical.
In July 1878, the Board inspected the premises and concluded it required only the “most cursory examination to show that the place was quite unfit for the purposes for which it is used.
The building is small, the rooms are small—in a few words, the accommodation is wretched, dirty, and insufficient, being a mere collection of unwarmed, ill ventilated, squalid apartments, in which the refugees are huddled together to make the best or the worst of it.
The unfortunate part of the business was that, while fully alive to the utter unsuitability of the pace, and the almost impossibility of patching it up into a decent condition of comfort and cleanliness…”.
The Ashburton immigration depot was secured and set up for the men and they were transported by train to their new accommodation before the end of August, 1878.
Mike Noonan
Dunsandel Historic Society
Date16 February 2023SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationSelwyn VillageConnections
CollectionHistory of Town of SelwynOrganisationDunsandel Historic Society
OrganisationDunsandel Historic SocietyAttribution
Researched ByMike NoonanWritten ByMike Noonan
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The Refreshment Rooms in the Town of Selwyn (16 February 2023). Selwyn Stories, accessed 29/05/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5375