History of the Ashley County Council

The Ashley County Council came into existence on 4 April 1912. It replaced the Ashley Road Board following the abolition of the seven road districts in North Canterbury by ‘The Ashley Subdivision, and the Waimakariri-Ashley Water-supply Board Act, 1911’. The Act created the counties of Ashley, Eyre, Kowai, Oxford and Rangiora in their place.

The first elected members were William Mackintosh, John Hiatt, Edwin Philpott, Isaac Croft (all Loburn-Whiterock riding), Richard Parish, John O’Halloran and Hugh Ensor (Mount Thomas Riding). The first meeting was held in the old Road Board office at Loburn South on 10 April 1912. William Mackintosh  was elected the first chairman.

In 1968, the Ashley County Council merged with the neighbouring Kowai County, but it was still known as the Ashley County Council. The headquarters for the Council moved to the old Kowai County office in Balcairn. In 1977 the Waipara County Council joined with the Ashley County Council to become the Hurunui County Council, with the headquarters situated at Amberley. A considerable part of the Hurunui County, south of Balcairn, including all the pre-1968 Ashley County, came into Waimakariri in 1989. This situation prevailed until the 1989 local body amalgamations, when the Hurunui, Amuri and Cheviot County Councils joined to become the current Hurunui District Council. The majority of the Ashley County Council records were destroyed in a fire on 10 July 1934.

Chairmen of the Ashley County Council

  • 1912 - 1914   William Mackintosh
  • 1914 - 1917   S Hiatt
  • 1917 - 1920   D R Hutchison
  • 1920 - 1923   Hugh Ensor
  • 1923 - 1926   D R Hutchison
  • 1926 - 1929   J P O'Halloran
  • 1929 - 1932   J Wilson
  • 1932 - 1936   H T Metherell
  • 1936 - 1937   T H O Pulley
  • 1937 - 1945   H G Philpott
  • 1945 - 1959   A MacIntosh
  • 1959 - 1962   J Crooks
  • 1962 - 1968   J U McCracken

Chairman of the Amalgamated Ashley/Kowai County Council

  • 1968 - 1977   J S Bowker

Ashley County Clerks

  • 1912 - 1935   J R Wilkinson
  • 1935 - 1944   C A Belcher
  • 1944 - 1968   J M Finlay

Sources

Hawkins, D N  - Beyond the Waimakariri : a regional history. Christchurch : Whitcombe and Tombs, 1957. Also available on Waimakariri Heritage.

Lovell-Smith, Margaret - Hurunui heritage : the development of a district 1950-2000. Hurunui District Council, 2000.

Sweely, G C - An architectural history of the early Ashley County. 1988.