Back Issues: Industrial icon or eyesore? Decades of coal-fired gas production at Napier Rd

One hundred years ago, on December 21, 1923, Palmerston North’s new gasworks on Napier Rd was officially opened.

For nearly half a century, the large, unusual structures and smoking chimneys of this coal-fired complex would dominate the area.

The town’s first gasworks, on the corner of Cook and Main streets, began operations in February 1889. The facility was privately owned by John Coates and Company, who in 1891 sold it to Palmerston North Gas Company Ltd.

The works was a commercially successful venture that paid handsome dividends to shareholders.

However, by the 1910s it was widely felt that Palmerstonians were paying higher gas prices than other towns, with the company making excessive profits thanks to its monopoly.

The Palmerston North Borough Council agreed and negotiated to purchase the works for £68,524 in 1915. Plans to expand and modernise the facilities were delayed by World War II.

Authorities in Britain had placed an embargo on the export of steel and iron, preventing the borough council from importing the necessary equipment.

In August 1922, after lengthy negotiations with the Railways Department, the location of both the new gasworks and the planned electric power station was finally confirmed.

They would be situated on Napier Rd, just past the Terrace End Cemetery, where a new siding would be constructed for the delivery of coal.

The mayor, James Nash, explained that by placing “hoppers from the terrace down” this site would “enable large sums annually to be saved in the handling of coal”.

In mid-1922, it was estimated that the cost of the new works – buying the land and industrial plant, together with building the new railway siding and buildings – would be about £50,000.

However, after construction began, it became apparent the cost would be significantly greater. The borough council was obliged to seek permission from ratepayers to raise a further loan of £25,000.

In June 1923, a referendum on this question passed easily with 77% support. However, it had generated little public interest, with only 631 ratepayers voting.

At a public forum about the loan, the recently elected mayor, Frederick Nathan, asserted that the “old gasworks could not now supply the needs of Palmerston North, and with the new plant they could give a cleaner, better and more regular supply of gas”.

Nathan stated that he “did not fear the competition of electricity, because even in the countries where the latter was most used, gas still was profitably manufactured because of its economy and general superiority for cooking and heating purposes”.

In early August, borough engineer John Hughes provided an update on progress: “The whole of the steel construction work and the piping and engines are now erected … The exhauster is now erected and coupled up to a temporary boiler.”

The gas holder was almost built, and the “concrete facing of the terrace for the storage of coal is completed”.

By the start of October, Hughes reported: “The operating plant, comprising coal breaker and elevator, goods lift, extractor gear and gas engines are all ready to be operated.

“The gas holder was completed, tested and taken over from the contractors,” he said, and the “purifier, washer and condenser are now undergoing erection”.

On December 11, councillor Archibald Graham, who chaired the council’s gas committee, charged the first of the 16 retorts, placing the new works into operation. Three days later, he announced that gas from the new works at Terrace End would now be sent through the mains.

At the official opening ceremony on December 21, Nathan outlined the rapid increase in gas consumption in Palmerston North from 2 million cubic feet in 1890 to 108 million cubic feet in 1923.

“The number of consumers in 1890 was 120; in 1915 it was 2500; and this year the number was 3873 … There were three miles of gas mains in 1890, 40 miles in 1915, and 57 miles in the present year.”

The number of gas street lamps had similarly grown from 20 in 1890 to 432 in 1923. The mayor “then declared the works open amid loud applause”.

During the 1920s, the municipal gasworks was a profitable venture. It proved a valuable part of local infrastructure when electricity shortages were experienced during the 1940s and 1950s.

However, by the 1960s, competition from electricity and oil meant the council gas department was operating at a loss of $40,000 a year.

That same decade, natural gas was discovered in Taranaki. Once the pipeline from the Kapuni gas field was extended to Palmerston North, a ceremony was held on June 26, 1970, to mark the arrival of natural gas in the city.

After 47 years of operation, the Napier Rd gasworks was closed on November 22, 1970, and most of the buildings were demolished.

One gas holder and a compressor house were retained as a means of controlling peak load. These were finally demolished in 1986.

Today, the only physical reminder of this industrial complex is the Gasworks Drain walkway leading to the Manawatū River.

Pressing concerns about climate change mean that few people today will mourn the end of coal gas production.

However, for many decades, the gasworks provided energy for heating, cooking and lighting, with its construction hailed as a “further epoch in the progress of Palmerston North”.

Ralph Body is a member of the heritage team at the Palmerston North City Library.