Letter, Fred Hamshar
Maker
Hamshar, Frederick
Production date
09 Sep 1889
Current rights
Public Domain
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Object detail
Brief Description
Letter written by Fred Hamshar, Barrack Hill, Napier, to his brother Tom in England, dated 9th September 1889. Fred is surprised that Tom went to the trouble of framing the sketch he sent him, as it was done in a rush on the back of some leftover wallpaper, and he "intended it more for a map to give you some idea of the lay of the country." He has framed some of his better pictures, and one winter evening made a frame of his own design using 320 different pieces of wood, worked in the shape of a hexagon, every piece showing its point. Fred says he would appreciate being sent any illustrated or Surrey papers from home. There are three Napier papers but they are very small. New Zealand has a bad name for work at present, with many men leaving for Australia, reportedly 9000 have left in the past two years, which is a lot for a country with a population of only 600,000. Fred is very busy [at the foundry] and has been doing lots of overtime. Sometimes he goes out in the Bay to the big ships. "The Opaura left 3 weeks ago, but while laying here at anchor, broke her anchor windlass and capstan in a dozen places while holding on against a heavy roll, and the firm had to make a new turn out for her. So if ever you see her in the docks you will see some of our work." "I don't care much for the boiler making, nothing but hard work and heavy lifting from punching and rolling plates to the riveting, and am getting deaf as a post. We had a job last week to put a new conical end to a poison vat, belonging to a chemist, which he boils the strychnine for bird poison and arsenic carbolic for sheep dips in. The inside with the hot rivets and small man hole...made me cough and sneeze for a week and skinned the back of my neck." Fred assures Tom that the family is well. The baby is full of mischief and starting to talk.
Production date
09 Sep 1889
Production place
Production period
Media/Materials description
Three bifold sheets
Media/Materials
Measurements
Height x Width: 205 x 132mm
Classification terms
Subject person
Subject period
Subject date
09 Sep 1889
Current rights
Public Domain
Credit line
gifted by Robyn Kunaiti
Other number(s)
2018/10/17, 95297
Accession number
2018/10/17
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