One of Masterton's most charismatic mayors, lawyer Charles Aylmer Pownall, began his first term as mayor in 1890. The first New Zealander to be Masterton mayor, he was only 25 when first elected mayor in 1890.
He served from 1890-1893, 1896-1898 and 1899-1902.
He is chiefly remembered as the man who brought a reticulated water supply and better drainage to the Borough. He was also responsible for the Masterton Borough Council accepting responsibility for the Masterton Park, previously administered by a trust.
Pownall was a gifted lawyer, with a national reputation in the licensing and racing fields. He successfully defended Andrew Somerville when he was charged with the 1895 murder of Arthur Herbert outside the Club Hotel in Queen Street.
* On 6 June 1895, at 20 minutes to 5pm, Andrew Somerville, shot Arthur Herbert 3 times (within sight of two constables) .. The story of the murder .. https://tinyurl.com/yn36j6az
Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 Jan 1912
DEATH OF A REMARKABLE MAN The following noteworthy appreciation of the late Mr C. A. Pownall has been handed to us for publication by a well-known Masterton man, who had known the deceased gentleman for very many years:-
Yesterday in our town of Masterton, there ceased to live one of the finest legal minds of the Dominion. Some twenty-four years ago a lad of twenty-two summers alighted at Masterton railway station, climbed on to the bus that in those days plied from the town and was deposited in the main street, there to seek what the fates had in store for him. His equipment for life's battle consisted of the change of a £5 note (2021 equivalent value of $900), a legal training received under Mr W. B. Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), a barrister's wig and a head to fit it. His name was Charles Aylmer Pownall.
For some considerable time past those who have had intimate relation with Mr Pownall have known that he was in ill-health and that the old vigour of his mentality had thereby suffered. So short is human memory that it requires an effort, even for those who have been for long in touch with him, to retain their impression of him as he was in the days of his early triumphs. It is the aim of the present writer to recall something o that impression.
Masterton, as Mr Pownall found it, was a conservative little place. The outlying district consisted mainly of large runholders and the Forty-mile Bush settlers, who at that time, were struggling on small capital to clear the bush from their holdings. The town itself retained many of the characteristics of and was still largely governed by, the original Small Farm settlers. The professional element took no apparent part in the government of the community, contenting itself with living in the town and dealing with the settlers in the outlying district. The quiet little community soon found that a dynamic force had been loosed in its midst.
From the first it was apparent that Mr Pownall possessed quite remarkable forensic abilities and the Court business flowed to him. In those days, when the settlement was opening up and everybody was struggling, the Court business of this district was by no means inconsiderable. The hotel trade also flourished under far less restriction than obtained in later years and the hotelkeepers found that they had an advocate who understood the licensing laws from A to Z. Thus his business grew apace.
Nut Mr Pownall soon extended his influence to municipal matters. In the town itself was a considerable element that was outside the governing caste of old identities. They lacked a leader. Mr Pownall saw his opportunity. He was in the town and of the town - and he gathered all the unattached people together under his banner and at the age of twenty-four years, became the Mayor. As to whether or not his administration of the Borough affairs was marked by strict economy in detail may be a question. Economy is rarely the strong point of a progressive administrator. As to the beneficial effect of his administration, looking at the matter broadly, there can, however, be no two opinions. In the streets, asphalt succeeded grass - mud was replaced by macadam. In the houses, municipal water succeeded the family pump and the way was paved for a proper system of drainage.
Meantime, in his profession, his mana continued to grow. Not only had he a wonderfully keen appreciation of a legal point; he had what does not always go hand in hand with the strictly legal mind - am immediate perception of the facts of a case as they developed - and also a remarkable faculty for insinuating the idea from the outset and thence right throughout the proceedings, that his own client was in some way the injured party. Withal, he had a full sense of what was due to the honour of the profession. His spoken word was his bond.
The former doyen of the Wellington Bar, the late Mr Hugh Gully, once said of him: "Pownall, of Masterton, is a remarkably able lawyer. If he had stopped in Wellington he would have risen to the very front. He is a hard fighter, but takes no unfair advantage," and he proceeded to give instances of the latter trait. To appreciate the full force of this opinion it is to be recalled that at the time Mr Gully made his statement the Wellington Bar was recognised as comprising the most brilliant body of lawyers that had ever been gathered at one time and place in the Dominion. It included, among others, such names as Stout (the present Chief Justice), Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), H. D. Bell, Gully, Findlay, Skerrett, Chapman, Jellicoe and Wilford.
The writer well remembers the first case he ever heard Pownall conduct. It was the defence of a man charged with picking pockets on the Opaki race-course - a constable sore that he saw the accused take his hand out of a man's pocket and that he at once arrested him and found some £10 upon him. Having secured him, the constable went in search of the man whose pocket was picked. At the hearing it appeared that the latter man had lost nothing. Probably what actually happened was that the constable had picked up a man who resembled but was not in the man whose pocket was picked. The result, of course, was acquittal. The writer watched the case with much curiosity to how Mr Pownall conducted his defence. He had had frequent opportunities of hearing the members of the Wellington Bay and he came to the conclusion that Mr Gully's encomium was not all an exaggeration. He formed two impressions - viz., 1. That Mr Pownall's abilities were as great as those of any barrister in new Zealand, or probably anywhere. 2. That he was wasting his time by remaining in a small centre. These two impressions time only served to deepen.
Reference has been made to Mr Pownall's faculty of making it appear that his client was the injured party. This quality was nothing less than a magnetic force. So far as actual questions went, Pownall was a first-class cross-examiner - none better. But it was not merely the actual questions - it was the forcefulness and intonation behind them. From the moment he opened his mouth everybody within hearing - even the opposing counsel, against his conscious will - became impressed with the feeling that whatever the law said, there was some colour of right on Pownall's side. Magistrate after magistrate succumbed to this influence. And as for the juries - well, in those days, throughout the whole province, Masterton juries were a byword. Time after time counsel of highstanding came up from Wellington with winning cases - and went back lamenting. They used to blame the juries. They were wrong. The juries of Masterton were as honest in their intention as juries of other places. But they were under the spell of a genius. No doubt the influence was deepened by the fact that they came under it in their everyday life. In the case of some men the reverse of the adage 'Familiarity breeds contempt,' applies and Mr Pownall was one of these. In the Council Chamber, on the public platform, on the sports ground, in the hotel bars - wherever men do congregated - there was Pownall and everybody knew it. Jovial, kindly, forceful and debonair, with his great laugh ringing out above the hubbub, "Charlie" was the central figure and the crowd unconsciously acknowledged his sway. He had the faculty of creating an atmosphere of bigness around him. In his company Masterton ceased to be a small, quiet place, out of the tun of big affairs. By some peculiar quality that he of all people was lest able to analyse, so unconscious was it, he created the impression that we were seeing life and that life was exhilarating.
But behind it all, the constant, insistent and deepening impression that he was wasting his time - to keep such an extraordinary brain as his fit and well, requires work, hard work, constant work and continual work - such work as can only obtained in a main legal centre. Had he changed to a congenial environment he would, I believe, have been a notable legal figure to-day. But it was not to be.
Underneath all the clothes and husk that constitute the apparent man, there lies a real entity - which may or may not be a real man, In the case of Pownall it was undoubtedly and absolutely a real man - honest in intention, entirely kindly and most absolutely courageous. For these, his real qualities, let him be remembered.
Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 Jan 1912
The funeral of the late Mr C. A. Pownall took place yesterday afternoon and was one of the largest seen in Masterton for many years. Members of the legal profession acted as pall bearers and every profession and local body in Wairarapa was represented in the cortege, which included residents of Feilding, Palmerston North, Wellington, Napier and Wanganui, who had specially come to pay their last respects to an old friend. The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths and the procession was headed by members of the Masonic Lodge. An impressive ceremony was conducted at the graveside by the Rev H. Watson.
* Pownall Street is named after Charles.
He served from 1890-1893, 1896-1898 and 1899-1902.
He is chiefly remembered as the man who brought a reticulated water supply and better drainage to the Borough. He was also responsible for the Masterton Borough Council accepting responsibility for the Masterton Park, previously administered by a trust.
Pownall was a gifted lawyer, with a national reputation in the licensing and racing fields. He successfully defended Andrew Somerville when he was charged with the 1895 murder of Arthur Herbert outside the Club Hotel in Queen Street.
* On 6 June 1895, at 20 minutes to 5pm, Andrew Somerville, shot Arthur Herbert 3 times (within sight of two constables) .. The story of the murder .. https://tinyurl.com/yn36j6az
Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 Jan 1912
DEATH OF A REMARKABLE MAN The following noteworthy appreciation of the late Mr C. A. Pownall has been handed to us for publication by a well-known Masterton man, who had known the deceased gentleman for very many years:-
Yesterday in our town of Masterton, there ceased to live one of the finest legal minds of the Dominion. Some twenty-four years ago a lad of twenty-two summers alighted at Masterton railway station, climbed on to the bus that in those days plied from the town and was deposited in the main street, there to seek what the fates had in store for him. His equipment for life's battle consisted of the change of a £5 note (2021 equivalent value of $900), a legal training received under Mr W. B. Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), a barrister's wig and a head to fit it. His name was Charles Aylmer Pownall.
For some considerable time past those who have had intimate relation with Mr Pownall have known that he was in ill-health and that the old vigour of his mentality had thereby suffered. So short is human memory that it requires an effort, even for those who have been for long in touch with him, to retain their impression of him as he was in the days of his early triumphs. It is the aim of the present writer to recall something o that impression.
Masterton, as Mr Pownall found it, was a conservative little place. The outlying district consisted mainly of large runholders and the Forty-mile Bush settlers, who at that time, were struggling on small capital to clear the bush from their holdings. The town itself retained many of the characteristics of and was still largely governed by, the original Small Farm settlers. The professional element took no apparent part in the government of the community, contenting itself with living in the town and dealing with the settlers in the outlying district. The quiet little community soon found that a dynamic force had been loosed in its midst.
From the first it was apparent that Mr Pownall possessed quite remarkable forensic abilities and the Court business flowed to him. In those days, when the settlement was opening up and everybody was struggling, the Court business of this district was by no means inconsiderable. The hotel trade also flourished under far less restriction than obtained in later years and the hotelkeepers found that they had an advocate who understood the licensing laws from A to Z. Thus his business grew apace.
Nut Mr Pownall soon extended his influence to municipal matters. In the town itself was a considerable element that was outside the governing caste of old identities. They lacked a leader. Mr Pownall saw his opportunity. He was in the town and of the town - and he gathered all the unattached people together under his banner and at the age of twenty-four years, became the Mayor. As to whether or not his administration of the Borough affairs was marked by strict economy in detail may be a question. Economy is rarely the strong point of a progressive administrator. As to the beneficial effect of his administration, looking at the matter broadly, there can, however, be no two opinions. In the streets, asphalt succeeded grass - mud was replaced by macadam. In the houses, municipal water succeeded the family pump and the way was paved for a proper system of drainage.
Meantime, in his profession, his mana continued to grow. Not only had he a wonderfully keen appreciation of a legal point; he had what does not always go hand in hand with the strictly legal mind - am immediate perception of the facts of a case as they developed - and also a remarkable faculty for insinuating the idea from the outset and thence right throughout the proceedings, that his own client was in some way the injured party. Withal, he had a full sense of what was due to the honour of the profession. His spoken word was his bond.
The former doyen of the Wellington Bar, the late Mr Hugh Gully, once said of him: "Pownall, of Masterton, is a remarkably able lawyer. If he had stopped in Wellington he would have risen to the very front. He is a hard fighter, but takes no unfair advantage," and he proceeded to give instances of the latter trait. To appreciate the full force of this opinion it is to be recalled that at the time Mr Gully made his statement the Wellington Bar was recognised as comprising the most brilliant body of lawyers that had ever been gathered at one time and place in the Dominion. It included, among others, such names as Stout (the present Chief Justice), Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), H. D. Bell, Gully, Findlay, Skerrett, Chapman, Jellicoe and Wilford.
The writer well remembers the first case he ever heard Pownall conduct. It was the defence of a man charged with picking pockets on the Opaki race-course - a constable sore that he saw the accused take his hand out of a man's pocket and that he at once arrested him and found some £10 upon him. Having secured him, the constable went in search of the man whose pocket was picked. At the hearing it appeared that the latter man had lost nothing. Probably what actually happened was that the constable had picked up a man who resembled but was not in the man whose pocket was picked. The result, of course, was acquittal. The writer watched the case with much curiosity to how Mr Pownall conducted his defence. He had had frequent opportunities of hearing the members of the Wellington Bay and he came to the conclusion that Mr Gully's encomium was not all an exaggeration. He formed two impressions - viz., 1. That Mr Pownall's abilities were as great as those of any barrister in new Zealand, or probably anywhere. 2. That he was wasting his time by remaining in a small centre. These two impressions time only served to deepen.
Reference has been made to Mr Pownall's faculty of making it appear that his client was the injured party. This quality was nothing less than a magnetic force. So far as actual questions went, Pownall was a first-class cross-examiner - none better. But it was not merely the actual questions - it was the forcefulness and intonation behind them. From the moment he opened his mouth everybody within hearing - even the opposing counsel, against his conscious will - became impressed with the feeling that whatever the law said, there was some colour of right on Pownall's side. Magistrate after magistrate succumbed to this influence. And as for the juries - well, in those days, throughout the whole province, Masterton juries were a byword. Time after time counsel of highstanding came up from Wellington with winning cases - and went back lamenting. They used to blame the juries. They were wrong. The juries of Masterton were as honest in their intention as juries of other places. But they were under the spell of a genius. No doubt the influence was deepened by the fact that they came under it in their everyday life. In the case of some men the reverse of the adage 'Familiarity breeds contempt,' applies and Mr Pownall was one of these. In the Council Chamber, on the public platform, on the sports ground, in the hotel bars - wherever men do congregated - there was Pownall and everybody knew it. Jovial, kindly, forceful and debonair, with his great laugh ringing out above the hubbub, "Charlie" was the central figure and the crowd unconsciously acknowledged his sway. He had the faculty of creating an atmosphere of bigness around him. In his company Masterton ceased to be a small, quiet place, out of the tun of big affairs. By some peculiar quality that he of all people was lest able to analyse, so unconscious was it, he created the impression that we were seeing life and that life was exhilarating.
But behind it all, the constant, insistent and deepening impression that he was wasting his time - to keep such an extraordinary brain as his fit and well, requires work, hard work, constant work and continual work - such work as can only obtained in a main legal centre. Had he changed to a congenial environment he would, I believe, have been a notable legal figure to-day. But it was not to be.
Underneath all the clothes and husk that constitute the apparent man, there lies a real entity - which may or may not be a real man, In the case of Pownall it was undoubtedly and absolutely a real man - honest in intention, entirely kindly and most absolutely courageous. For these, his real qualities, let him be remembered.
Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 Jan 1912
The funeral of the late Mr C. A. Pownall took place yesterday afternoon and was one of the largest seen in Masterton for many years. Members of the legal profession acted as pall bearers and every profession and local body in Wairarapa was represented in the cortege, which included residents of Feilding, Palmerston North, Wellington, Napier and Wanganui, who had specially come to pay their last respects to an old friend. The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths and the procession was headed by members of the Masonic Lodge. An impressive ceremony was conducted at the graveside by the Rev H. Watson.
* Pownall Street is named after Charles.
One of Masterton's most charismatic mayors, lawyer Charles Aylmer Pownall, began his first term as mayor in 1890. The first New Zealander to be Masterton mayor, he was only 25 when first elected mayor in 1890.
He served from 1890-1893, 1896-1898 and 1899-1902.
He is chiefly remembered as the man who brought a reticulated water supply and better drainage to the Borough. He was also responsible for the Masterton Borough Council accepting responsibility for the Masterton Park, previously administered by a trust.
Pownall was a gifted lawyer, with a national reputation in the licensing and racing fields. He successfully defended Andrew Somerville when he was charged with the 1895 murder of Arthur Herbert outside the Club Hotel in Queen Street.
* On 6 June 1895, at 20 minutes to 5pm, Andrew Somerville, shot Arthur Herbert 3 times (within sight of two constables) .. The story of the murder .. https://tinyurl.com/yn36j6az
Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 Jan 1912
DEATH OF A REMARKABLE MAN The following noteworthy appreciation of the late Mr C. A. Pownall has been handed to us for publication by a well-known Masterton man, who had known the deceased gentleman for very many years:-
Yesterday in our town of Masterton, there ceased to live one of the finest legal minds of the Dominion. Some twenty-four years ago a lad of twenty-two summers alighted at Masterton railway station, climbed on to the bus that in those days plied from the town and was deposited in the main street, there to seek what the fates had in store for him. His equipment for life's battle consisted of the change of a £5 note (2021 equivalent value of $900), a legal training received under Mr W. B. Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), a barrister's wig and a head to fit it. His name was Charles Aylmer Pownall.
For some considerable time past those who have had intimate relation with Mr Pownall have known that he was in ill-health and that the old vigour of his mentality had thereby suffered. So short is human memory that it requires an effort, even for those who have been for long in touch with him, to retain their impression of him as he was in the days of his early triumphs. It is the aim of the present writer to recall something o that impression.
Masterton, as Mr Pownall found it, was a conservative little place. The outlying district consisted mainly of large runholders and the Forty-mile Bush settlers, who at that time, were struggling on small capital to clear the bush from their holdings. The town itself retained many of the characteristics of and was still largely governed by, the original Small Farm settlers. The professional element took no apparent part in the government of the community, contenting itself with living in the town and dealing with the settlers in the outlying district. The quiet little community soon found that a dynamic force had been loosed in its midst.
From the first it was apparent that Mr Pownall possessed quite remarkable forensic abilities and the Court business flowed to him. In those days, when the settlement was opening up and everybody was struggling, the Court business of this district was by no means inconsiderable. The hotel trade also flourished under far less restriction than obtained in later years and the hotelkeepers found that they had an advocate who understood the licensing laws from A to Z. Thus his business grew apace.
Nut Mr Pownall soon extended his influence to municipal matters. In the town itself was a considerable element that was outside the governing caste of old identities. They lacked a leader. Mr Pownall saw his opportunity. He was in the town and of the town - and he gathered all the unattached people together under his banner and at the age of twenty-four years, became the Mayor. As to whether or not his administration of the Borough affairs was marked by strict economy in detail may be a question. Economy is rarely the strong point of a progressive administrator. As to the beneficial effect of his administration, looking at the matter broadly, there can, however, be no two opinions. In the streets, asphalt succeeded grass - mud was replaced by macadam. In the houses, municipal water succeeded the family pump and the way was paved for a proper system of drainage.
Meantime, in his profession, his mana continued to grow. Not only had he a wonderfully keen appreciation of a legal point; he had what does not always go hand in hand with the strictly legal mind - am immediate perception of the facts of a case as they developed - and also a remarkable faculty for insinuating the idea from the outset and thence right throughout the proceedings, that his own client was in some way the injured party. Withal, he had a full sense of what was due to the honour of the profession. His spoken word was his bond.
The former doyen of the Wellington Bar, the late Mr Hugh Gully, once said of him: "Pownall, of Masterton, is a remarkably able lawyer. If he had stopped in Wellington he would have risen to the very front. He is a hard fighter, but takes no unfair advantage," and he proceeded to give instances of the latter trait. To appreciate the full force of this opinion it is to be recalled that at the time Mr Gully made his statement the Wellington Bar was recognised as comprising the most brilliant body of lawyers that had ever been gathered at one time and place in the Dominion. It included, among others, such names as Stout (the present Chief Justice), Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), H. D. Bell, Gully, Findlay, Skerrett, Chapman, Jellicoe and Wilford.
The writer well remembers the first case he ever heard Pownall conduct. It was the defence of a man charged with picking pockets on the Opaki race-course - a constable sore that he saw the accused take his hand out of a man's pocket and that he at once arrested him and found some £10 upon him. Having secured him, the constable went in search of the man whose pocket was picked. At the hearing it appeared that the latter man had lost nothing. Probably what actually happened was that the constable had picked up a man who resembled but was not in the man whose pocket was picked. The result, of course, was acquittal. The writer watched the case with much curiosity to how Mr Pownall conducted his defence. He had had frequent opportunities of hearing the members of the Wellington Bay and he came to the conclusion that Mr Gully's encomium was not all an exaggeration. He formed two impressions - viz., 1. That Mr Pownall's abilities were as great as those of any barrister in new Zealand, or probably anywhere. 2. That he was wasting his time by remaining in a small centre. These two impressions time only served to deepen.
Reference has been made to Mr Pownall's faculty of making it appear that his client was the injured party. This quality was nothing less than a magnetic force. So far as actual questions went, Pownall was a first-class cross-examiner - none better. But it was not merely the actual questions - it was the forcefulness and intonation behind them. From the moment he opened his mouth everybody within hearing - even the opposing counsel, against his conscious will - became impressed with the feeling that whatever the law said, there was some colour of right on Pownall's side. Magistrate after magistrate succumbed to this influence. And as for the juries - well, in those days, throughout the whole province, Masterton juries were a byword. Time after time counsel of highstanding came up from Wellington with winning cases - and went back lamenting. They used to blame the juries. They were wrong. The juries of Masterton were as honest in their intention as juries of other places. But they were under the spell of a genius. No doubt the influence was deepened by the fact that they came under it in their everyday life. In the case of some men the reverse of the adage 'Familiarity breeds contempt,' applies and Mr Pownall was one of these. In the Council Chamber, on the public platform, on the sports ground, in the hotel bars - wherever men do congregated - there was Pownall and everybody knew it. Jovial, kindly, forceful and debonair, with his great laugh ringing out above the hubbub, "Charlie" was the central figure and the crowd unconsciously acknowledged his sway. He had the faculty of creating an atmosphere of bigness around him. In his company Masterton ceased to be a small, quiet place, out of the tun of big affairs. By some peculiar quality that he of all people was lest able to analyse, so unconscious was it, he created the impression that we were seeing life and that life was exhilarating.
But behind it all, the constant, insistent and deepening impression that he was wasting his time - to keep such an extraordinary brain as his fit and well, requires work, hard work, constant work and continual work - such work as can only obtained in a main legal centre. Had he changed to a congenial environment he would, I believe, have been a notable legal figure to-day. But it was not to be.
Underneath all the clothes and husk that constitute the apparent man, there lies a real entity - which may or may not be a real man, In the case of Pownall it was undoubtedly and absolutely a real man - honest in intention, entirely kindly and most absolutely courageous. For these, his real qualities, let him be remembered.
Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 Jan 1912
The funeral of the late Mr C. A. Pownall took place yesterday afternoon and was one of the largest seen in Masterton for many years. Members of the legal profession acted as pall bearers and every profession and local body in Wairarapa was represented in the cortege, which included residents of Feilding, Palmerston North, Wellington, Napier and Wanganui, who had specially come to pay their last respects to an old friend. The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths and the procession was headed by members of the Masonic Lodge. An impressive ceremony was conducted at the graveside by the Rev H. Watson.
* Pownall Street is named after Charles.
He served from 1890-1893, 1896-1898 and 1899-1902.
He is chiefly remembered as the man who brought a reticulated water supply and better drainage to the Borough. He was also responsible for the Masterton Borough Council accepting responsibility for the Masterton Park, previously administered by a trust.
Pownall was a gifted lawyer, with a national reputation in the licensing and racing fields. He successfully defended Andrew Somerville when he was charged with the 1895 murder of Arthur Herbert outside the Club Hotel in Queen Street.
* On 6 June 1895, at 20 minutes to 5pm, Andrew Somerville, shot Arthur Herbert 3 times (within sight of two constables) .. The story of the murder .. https://tinyurl.com/yn36j6az
Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 Jan 1912
DEATH OF A REMARKABLE MAN The following noteworthy appreciation of the late Mr C. A. Pownall has been handed to us for publication by a well-known Masterton man, who had known the deceased gentleman for very many years:-
Yesterday in our town of Masterton, there ceased to live one of the finest legal minds of the Dominion. Some twenty-four years ago a lad of twenty-two summers alighted at Masterton railway station, climbed on to the bus that in those days plied from the town and was deposited in the main street, there to seek what the fates had in store for him. His equipment for life's battle consisted of the change of a £5 note (2021 equivalent value of $900), a legal training received under Mr W. B. Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), a barrister's wig and a head to fit it. His name was Charles Aylmer Pownall.
For some considerable time past those who have had intimate relation with Mr Pownall have known that he was in ill-health and that the old vigour of his mentality had thereby suffered. So short is human memory that it requires an effort, even for those who have been for long in touch with him, to retain their impression of him as he was in the days of his early triumphs. It is the aim of the present writer to recall something o that impression.
Masterton, as Mr Pownall found it, was a conservative little place. The outlying district consisted mainly of large runholders and the Forty-mile Bush settlers, who at that time, were struggling on small capital to clear the bush from their holdings. The town itself retained many of the characteristics of and was still largely governed by, the original Small Farm settlers. The professional element took no apparent part in the government of the community, contenting itself with living in the town and dealing with the settlers in the outlying district. The quiet little community soon found that a dynamic force had been loosed in its midst.
From the first it was apparent that Mr Pownall possessed quite remarkable forensic abilities and the Court business flowed to him. In those days, when the settlement was opening up and everybody was struggling, the Court business of this district was by no means inconsiderable. The hotel trade also flourished under far less restriction than obtained in later years and the hotelkeepers found that they had an advocate who understood the licensing laws from A to Z. Thus his business grew apace.
Nut Mr Pownall soon extended his influence to municipal matters. In the town itself was a considerable element that was outside the governing caste of old identities. They lacked a leader. Mr Pownall saw his opportunity. He was in the town and of the town - and he gathered all the unattached people together under his banner and at the age of twenty-four years, became the Mayor. As to whether or not his administration of the Borough affairs was marked by strict economy in detail may be a question. Economy is rarely the strong point of a progressive administrator. As to the beneficial effect of his administration, looking at the matter broadly, there can, however, be no two opinions. In the streets, asphalt succeeded grass - mud was replaced by macadam. In the houses, municipal water succeeded the family pump and the way was paved for a proper system of drainage.
Meantime, in his profession, his mana continued to grow. Not only had he a wonderfully keen appreciation of a legal point; he had what does not always go hand in hand with the strictly legal mind - am immediate perception of the facts of a case as they developed - and also a remarkable faculty for insinuating the idea from the outset and thence right throughout the proceedings, that his own client was in some way the injured party. Withal, he had a full sense of what was due to the honour of the profession. His spoken word was his bond.
The former doyen of the Wellington Bar, the late Mr Hugh Gully, once said of him: "Pownall, of Masterton, is a remarkably able lawyer. If he had stopped in Wellington he would have risen to the very front. He is a hard fighter, but takes no unfair advantage," and he proceeded to give instances of the latter trait. To appreciate the full force of this opinion it is to be recalled that at the time Mr Gully made his statement the Wellington Bar was recognised as comprising the most brilliant body of lawyers that had ever been gathered at one time and place in the Dominion. It included, among others, such names as Stout (the present Chief Justice), Edwards (now Mr Justice Edwards), H. D. Bell, Gully, Findlay, Skerrett, Chapman, Jellicoe and Wilford.
The writer well remembers the first case he ever heard Pownall conduct. It was the defence of a man charged with picking pockets on the Opaki race-course - a constable sore that he saw the accused take his hand out of a man's pocket and that he at once arrested him and found some £10 upon him. Having secured him, the constable went in search of the man whose pocket was picked. At the hearing it appeared that the latter man had lost nothing. Probably what actually happened was that the constable had picked up a man who resembled but was not in the man whose pocket was picked. The result, of course, was acquittal. The writer watched the case with much curiosity to how Mr Pownall conducted his defence. He had had frequent opportunities of hearing the members of the Wellington Bay and he came to the conclusion that Mr Gully's encomium was not all an exaggeration. He formed two impressions - viz., 1. That Mr Pownall's abilities were as great as those of any barrister in new Zealand, or probably anywhere. 2. That he was wasting his time by remaining in a small centre. These two impressions time only served to deepen.
Reference has been made to Mr Pownall's faculty of making it appear that his client was the injured party. This quality was nothing less than a magnetic force. So far as actual questions went, Pownall was a first-class cross-examiner - none better. But it was not merely the actual questions - it was the forcefulness and intonation behind them. From the moment he opened his mouth everybody within hearing - even the opposing counsel, against his conscious will - became impressed with the feeling that whatever the law said, there was some colour of right on Pownall's side. Magistrate after magistrate succumbed to this influence. And as for the juries - well, in those days, throughout the whole province, Masterton juries were a byword. Time after time counsel of highstanding came up from Wellington with winning cases - and went back lamenting. They used to blame the juries. They were wrong. The juries of Masterton were as honest in their intention as juries of other places. But they were under the spell of a genius. No doubt the influence was deepened by the fact that they came under it in their everyday life. In the case of some men the reverse of the adage 'Familiarity breeds contempt,' applies and Mr Pownall was one of these. In the Council Chamber, on the public platform, on the sports ground, in the hotel bars - wherever men do congregated - there was Pownall and everybody knew it. Jovial, kindly, forceful and debonair, with his great laugh ringing out above the hubbub, "Charlie" was the central figure and the crowd unconsciously acknowledged his sway. He had the faculty of creating an atmosphere of bigness around him. In his company Masterton ceased to be a small, quiet place, out of the tun of big affairs. By some peculiar quality that he of all people was lest able to analyse, so unconscious was it, he created the impression that we were seeing life and that life was exhilarating.
But behind it all, the constant, insistent and deepening impression that he was wasting his time - to keep such an extraordinary brain as his fit and well, requires work, hard work, constant work and continual work - such work as can only obtained in a main legal centre. Had he changed to a congenial environment he would, I believe, have been a notable legal figure to-day. But it was not to be.
Underneath all the clothes and husk that constitute the apparent man, there lies a real entity - which may or may not be a real man, In the case of Pownall it was undoubtedly and absolutely a real man - honest in intention, entirely kindly and most absolutely courageous. For these, his real qualities, let him be remembered.
Wairarapa Daily Times, 27 Jan 1912
The funeral of the late Mr C. A. Pownall took place yesterday afternoon and was one of the largest seen in Masterton for many years. Members of the legal profession acted as pall bearers and every profession and local body in Wairarapa was represented in the cortege, which included residents of Feilding, Palmerston North, Wellington, Napier and Wanganui, who had specially come to pay their last respects to an old friend. The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths and the procession was headed by members of the Masonic Lodge. An impressive ceremony was conducted at the graveside by the Rev H. Watson.
* Pownall Street is named after Charles.
Inscription
In Loving Memory Of
ALEXANDRA (Lexie)
Beloved Wife Of
C. A. POWNALL
Who Rested April 20, 1911
Aged 38 Years
CHARLES AYLMER POWNALL
Born July 8 1865
Died Jan 24 1912
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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