Historic HB: Popular licensee died suddenly

The Masonic Hotel facing Hastings Street in the early 1890s. Credit: Collection of Hawke's Bay Museums Trust, Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, 10854

Frank Moeller, who became licensee of Napier's Masonic Hotel on January 1, 1892, would prove to be not only one of the most popular publicans in Napier, but also a well-respected citizen.

He had previously managed the Occidental Hotel in Wellington for his mother, after the death of his father Philip in 1885.

His 27-year tenure at the hotel ended in 1919 upon his death.

Community and sports groups were given free use of the Masonic Hotel for gatherings during his time as licensee, which won him many friends and supporters.

On August 18, 1892, almost eight months after his move to Napier, he married Winfred Ryan from Kanieri, Westland. Their ceremony took place in the Napier Registry Office and, according to a report in the New Zealand Mail there were "no cards, no cake, and the registrar tied the knot". The couple were of Jewish faith, and no synagogue existed in Napier.

In 1894, to promote Napier, he published a 96-page book called Frank Moeller's Napier.

In addition to the many compliments about Frank's running of the hotel, Winifred was also very popular and was said to "personally superintend the domestic arrangements and is painstaking in her attention to invalids".

Famously, Frank Moeller turned down a booking in September 1896 from Governor General Sir David Glasgow, as the hotel was full.

Michael Fowler

Commercial travellers in May 1901 presented "a valuable gold watch" to Frank "as a token of their regard". Frank replied to the men that "he had done his best to make people comfortable who stayed at this house, and tried to render it more like a home than a hotel".

About the worst thing Frank ever did at the hotel was in 1899 when he kept a pet pig ‒ which was then illegal. He called the pig Isaac Moses, and the animal was apparently quite a source of amusement. Frank was fined 12 shillings ($112) for keeping the pet pig.

Sports groups met at the hotel frequently in a room provided for free. These included horse racing (Frank bred and raced racehorses), bowling, cycling and cricket clubs.

When the Hawke's Bay Cricket Association was looking for a professional coach/player in 1901, Frank offered free board and lodging for the coach.

During the South African War between 1899 and 1902, the Moellers were active in support of the men who were leaving to fight.

A dinner at the hotel in January 1900, which raised £35 ($6600), was just one of the many fundraisers conducted by the Moellers for the war effort.

At the send-off for the first group of Hawke's Bay men in the Rough Riders contingent to South Africa in February 1900, Frank made available the balconies of the Masonic Hotel to view the grand parade at a charge of one shilling per head as a fundraiser. When the men reached Wellington, he had arranged with his mother in the Occidental Hotel to take the men in and give them free lunch and afternoon tea.

In March 1900, 15 Māori men from Gisborne, on their way to Wellington to apply to join a contingent to South Africa, were met by Frank at the Napier port and were "entertained at the Masonic Hotel". Frank proposed a toast at the gathering to "the Māori race".

Just as he had fed the troops leaving for South Africa, Frank also put on a lunch for the returning troops in May 1901. Frank shared with the men that his younger brother John had died from typhoid while on service in South Africa.

When World War I broke out in 1914, the Moellers would once again be in the thick of fundraising for the troops throughout the war and showed concern for the soldiers' repatriation after the war ended.

One of Frank's greatest achievements during the war was the creation and fundraising for a permanent Napier Soldiers' Club, which opened in 1916. The Louis Hay-designed building still stands on Marine Parade, although it is now in private ownership. It was said that Frank and S V Wenley made the Soldiers' Club their hobby, such was the time spent on it.

Suffering from a cold and in need of rest, Frank went to stay with his friend Mr McHardy on September 30, 1919, at Blackhead Station.

He rang his wife from Blackhead that night and seemed in good spirits, but at midnight he died. His sudden death came as a shock.

Flags in Napier were lowered to half-mast, and Jewish Rabbi H Van Staveren drove to Napier to do the funeral service for a man who was described as "an exceedingly popular man ‒ genial, large-hearted, and anxious at all times to assist in any good cause".

Such was the esteem for Frank, the Commercial Travellers and Warehousemen of Hawke's Bay fundraised for a memorial. By February 1920, more than £400 ($37,600) had been raised towards a children's sand pit.

As Frank had always taken a "kindly interest in children" this was thought to be a suitable memorial.

The sand pit was built in November 1922 next to the Swan memorial paddling pool on Marine Parade. In December it was reported that "hundreds of delighted kiddies romped about in the sand, building castles, waterways, etc. and also enjoyed themselves sailing their boats and floundering about in the pool".

Over time the sand pit was converted to a paddling pool, and then the area was demolished to build the present Ocean Spa complex.

• Michael Fowler has written a history of the Masonic Hotel which has just been released called Masonic Hotel: The Heart of Napier. It is available from the Napier Art Masonic Hotel for $39.95