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When Hamilton Courthouse was built in 1931, there would have been audible sighs of relief from members of the judiciary. The town had had three previous courthouses - the first, in the 1860s, on a site next to the current building; the second in 1874 in Collingwood Street and the third in 1906 in Victoria Street, opposite Garden Place.
Each was cramped and noisy, testing the patience - and hearing - of the sitting magistrates. In an editorial accompanying a report on the opening of the new courthouse on February 21, 1931, the Waikato Times said the premises were well overdue. "For 25 years, the law has been administered under conditions that have been a constant source of irritation to all engaged in the court owing to the wretched acoustic properties of the old building and the fact that, being on the main street, it was surrounded by traffic noises, street calls and screeching gramophones," it said. The new courthouse, an imposing concrete building on a hill above Anglesea Street, was accordingly greeted with enthusiasm. The Mayor John Fow said it was a fitting building for a town the size of Hamilton (the population had by then reached 16,000) and for the fourth busiest centre for court business in the country. "It is a building in keeping with the dignity of business conducted there." Minister of Justice J G Cobbe said the building was "the best equipped courthouse in the Dominion - evidence of the belief your town will be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the inland cities."
But within days of the opening, there were again complaints from the magistrates "This courthouse is a shocking place to hear anyone; in fact it is the worst place I have struck," said Mr Justice Frazer, who had to ask for the witness box to be moved so he could hear evidence.
The acoustics were temporarily fixed by hanging mattresses from the walls and later by installing permanent panels of perforated cane fibre.
The building, which cost 29,000 pounds, had two courtrooms - the Supreme Court on the right and the Magistrates Court on the left, both measuring some 18 metres by 10 metres. The Supreme Court was panelled in oak and there was a carved insignia of the Realm on the wall above the judge's chair.
In 1974, arsonists set fire to the building. The Magistrates Court was destroyed and the Supreme Court badly damaged. During the year the courthouse was out of action, sittings were held at Huntly Court and in the Pensioners' Hall in Clarence Street, Hamilton.
In 1993, a new court complex was built next to the old building. The old courthouse was unoccupied for a decade but in 2004, a refurbishment project was approved to restore the building as a working courthouse.
Writer: Venetia Sherson
Photographer: Leith Booker
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