While branches of the Bank of New Zealand opened in Nelson on the 13th of January 1862, Picton on the 14th, it was not until the 5th of July 1883 that the Wakefield Bank of New Zealand (Agency of Richmond) opened with Mr W. J. Blyth as Manager.

The Agency

The Agency was located on Edward Street, in a building rented from storekeepers A. Hodgson and Son. The building was made of wood with an iron roof, a large window at the front and one small side window on the western wall.

The Plan of Premises card held in the BNZ Archive Collection shows a simple two room floor plan, with customers entering off Edward street into the banking chamber. A door at the back of this room led to A Hodgson & Son’s Storeroom.

The Agency operated for four years before closing on the 4th of June 1887.

On the 8th of December 1925 the Agency reopened, operating with varying hours of attendance until closing for a second time on the 27th of January 1942.

In 1940 another Notice was published advising that “after 27th of September the Agency at Wakefield will be opened once weekly only - on Thursdays, between the hours of 2 and 3pm”.¹

On the 2nd of May 1946 the Bank opened its doors for the third and final time, as an Agency of Nelson. The Bank Premises card records the building was rented for $19.10 per Anum. A former employee of the Wakefield Telephone Exchange, Mrs Dorothy Eden, remembers the Bank being open one day per week and at 3pm on the dot she would see two men dressed in suits come out of the building with their satchels, lock up and then walk over the road to Mr Tomlinson’s bookshop for Tea.