Another early arrival in Matamata was John Draper. He and his wife arrived in Matamata sometime between 1911 and 1914. The majority of the information here supplied by a descendant Heather Cheer. - her Timeline document attached at the foot of this blog.
Waikato Times, Volume 84, Issue 13165, 1 May 1915, Page 4.
He bought two adjacent sections in Huia Street in 1915 and sold at least one of them in 1919. His occupation on the title is Store Manager . This fits with the contention in his obituary that he first came to Matamata as a manager for Wallace Supplies.
He had come to New Zealand in 1903, followed four years later by Beatrice Longfield who he married not long after her arrival.
Photograph. John Draper - thought to have been taken before his departure to New Zealand.
Note about Wallace Supplies . It was the public face of the NZ National Trading Company. Founded by John Schischka, the company acted as a major merchant wholesaler supplying household items and groceries to the chain of general grocery and hardware stores operating across the upper North Island. The store in Matamata was present (at a different location from that John worked) until at least 1964 when it was remodelled following the acquisition of the company by Foodstuffs Ltd.
MATAMATA RECORD, VOLUME II, ISSUE 90, 11 JULY 1918, PAGE 2
MATAMATA RECORD, VOLUME III, ISSUE 170, 26 FEBRUARY 1920, PAGE 3
19th December 1922 - John purchased Section 6, Block III, Tower Rd, Matamata (later Broadway). (This is the eastern side of Broadway north of Arawa Street). It is likely that he had first leased the premises from Edwin George Beeson and George Johnson, as he had been advertising his Select Store on Tower Rd since 1920. Edwin died in 1922 and subsequently ownership was transferred to George, who then sold the premises to John on the same day. The records are confusing and the crucial block difficult to read but this writer suspects he lost the property to his mortagors in 1933, perhaps confirmed by him advertising with the Brindle's building location in 1933. (Brindle's building was the Phoenix Building built by Brindle, named Phoenix, but still occasionally referred to as Brindle's)
MATAMATA RECORD, VOLUME VII, ISSUE 591, 18 DECEMBER 1924, PAGE 4
MATAMATA RECORD, VOLUME XVI, ISSUE 1422, 8 MAY 1933, PAGE 1
Competition had severely increased with the arrival in Matamata in 1931 of a branch of the Hamilton Mail Order Store "The Great Bargain Store" (Although they too closed down in 1938)
Matamata Record, Volume XX, Issue 1950, 11 July 1938, Page 1
A descendant confirms the purchase of 28 Smith Street in 1924. Scanned image from May Draper’s personal photo albums. No dates supplied.
Matamata Record, Volume XXI, Issue 2163, 19 August 1940, Page 3
Matamata Record, Volume XXIV, Issue 2291, 20 November 1941, Page 5
