Amelius Morland SMITH (1845-1929) - Hutt Valley Biographical ...

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Amelius Morland SMITH (1845-1929) 

Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Wellington District April – May 1884 

Evening Post 07 Aug 1868 

Appointments made in the New Zealand Militia – Amelius Morland Smith, to be Lieutenant, on the unattached list. 

Wellington Independent 10 Nov 1868 New Zealand Gazette 

Captain Amelius Morland Smith, New Zealand Militia, unattached, is gazetted Assistant Private Secretary and Extra Aide-decamp to his 

Excellency. 

Wellington Independent 03 Dec 1870 Local and General News 

Appointments from a Gazette printed Wednesday – Captain Robert Scott Machell, late 62 nd Regiment, has been appointed Assistant 

Private Secretary and Extra Aide-de-Camp to his Excellency vice Capt. A. M. Smith, resigned; Amelius Morland Smith, Esq., has been 

appointed Record Clerk in the Colonial Secretary’s Office. 

Wellington Independent 01 May 1874 

Amelius Morland Smith, Esq., has been gazetted to be chief clerk in the Colonial Secretary’s office, the appointment to date from the 19 th of 

March last. 

Otago Daily Times 23 Nov 1876 Government Announcements 

Mr Amelius Morland Smith, to be Assistant Under Secretary for the Colony. This appointment dates from the 1 st July, 1876. 

Otago Daily Times 31 May 1877 Marriage 

On Wednesday, 30 th May, at St Paul’s Church, Dunedin, by the Ven. Archdeacon Edwards, Amelius Morland Smith, eldest surviving son of 

the late Major Edward Heathcote Smith, 76 th Regiment, and nephew of the late Sir John James Smith, Downhouse, Dorset, Bart., to 

Louisa, eldest daughter of Henry Howarth, Esq., of Dunedin. 

Evening Post 08 Feb 1879 

Amelius Morland Smith, of Wellington, civil servant, has filed a statement of his inability to meet his engagements with his creditors. The 

first meeting will be held at the Supreme Court House on 24 th February. 

HBIG A-Z Smith Last updated 19 May 2012 Page 1 of 6


North Otago Times 01 Mar 1879 

A meeting of the creditors of Amelius Morland Smith was held this morning. The bankrupt was subjected to a long and searching 

examination by Mr Olliver, after which an adjournment for a fortnight was carried. It was intimated that in all probability an arrangement with 

the creditors will then be proposed. 

Wanganui Chronicle 05 Mar 1879 A Scandalous Insolvency 

[Wellington Chronicle] Amelius Morland Smith, late Assistant Colonial Under-Secretary in the New Zealand Civil Service, is a highly 

ingenious young gentleman. He has been only a few years in the service, during which period he has always enjoyed an excellent salary, 

yet he has contrived to get heavily into debt, on two occasions to compound with his creditors – once for 2s 6d in the pound, and a second 

time for a somewhat better dividend – while no later than yesterday he had to face a meeting of the same ever confiding and deluded 

individuals, with a schedule of liabilities amounting to £3240, and assets practically – Nil. This last time Mr Amelius Morland Smith is not to 

be allowed to pull through by a nice little private arrangement. Indeed it is doubtful whether “Amelius” could stump up even the usual halfcrown 

in the twenty shillings. It is true that “Amelius” alludes vaguely to some “great expectations” which he has in England, and to a 

supposititious reversionary interest in £3000 but this does not appease his creditors, who now mourn and refuse to be comforted. Of its 

peculiar kind, there is a certain philosophic wisdom displayed in the conduct of Mr Amelius Morland Smith. Many poor devils of clerks in the 

Civil Service earning a wretched pittance of £140 to £180 a year, and with wives and families to support – pinch, scrape, and screw to eke 

out an existence, and make both ends meet – wearing old clothes, and often denying themselves even the modest luxury of a half-pint of 

beer, and a fig of tobacco – so that they may honestly pay their way, and owe no one anything. Mr Amelius Morland Smith altogether 

despises such poor creatures. For years he has gone arrayed in broadcloth and fine linen. He has fared sumptuously and lived luxuriously. 

He has gambled and betted, and adapted the role of a patron of the turf. In fact Mr Amelius Morland Smith has enjoyed life and had a “good 

time of it.” Now, that is not a bad philosophy of life. “Amelius” has taken as much in the shape of luxury, comfort, and enjoyment out of life 

as any man could have done with some £1500 a year. He has done this with other men’s money, it is true; but that trifling circumstance will 

not disquiet his noble mind. It is only filing his schedule after all and then “Amelius” will pull through the Bankruptcy Court, probably get reappointed 

to his lucrative secretaryship at £450 a year, and re-commence life, freed from debt, as “a whitewashed man.” It is an admirable 

plan of life, and we are lost in admiration at the consummate tact, skill, and dexterity which “Amelius” has displayed in carrying it out. A 

shop boy who robs his master’s till of a few shillings would probably get three months imprisonment; a clerk who embezzles £20 would in 

all likelihood expiate his offence by two years’ hard labour on the roads. Amelius, the aristocratic and kid-gloved, is more fortunate. He has 

either lost or spent thousands of other people’s money, yet suffers no worse penalty than “going through the Court.” Verily law – is law. To 

get into debt heavily, and then compound has been the constant principle and practice of this highly-talented young man. His career is 

interesting and instructive. “Amelius”, we believe, came out from Home to Canterbury in 1861 and devoted himself to pastoral pursuits as a 

cadet on a sheep station. But “Amelius” had a soul above sheep, and despised horned cattle. He therefore soon hied him back to England, 

and his friends procured him a commission in (we believe) the 10 th Hussars, and packed him off to India “to seek the bubble reputation, 

even in the cannon’s mouth.” But “Amelius” was not destined to achieve martial glories. In a few weeks, he left the service, and returned to 



England. Then once more he was deported to Canterbury, and when hanging about the club there in 1866, had the good luck to be picked 

up by Sir George Grey, who made him Despatch Clerk. Henceforth “Amelius” found that his lines had fallen in pleasant places. The wellbred 

presentable, good-looking, and aristocratic young fellow found favour in high places. A better position was soon found for him as 

Record Clerk in the Colonial Secretary’s office. By-and-bye he obtained the Chief Clerkship, at about £400 a year and some three years 

ago he was made Assistant Under-Secretary, at £450 a year. Verily, “Amelius” had great good fortune. He has always received an 

excellent salary, and up to some two years ago was unmarried. How, therefore, he could not contrive to live in what “Sir Julius” calls “a 

reasonable manner,” on £450 a year, without “outrunning the constable,” seems difficult to understand. That he did “outrun the constable,” 

at most headlong and reckless pace proved by his two previous private arrangements with his creditors, and present grand smash for the 

modest sum of £3240. We are lost in wonder at the simplicity, the guilelessness, and the touching confidence which must have been 

displayed by the creditors to “Amelius.” Personal friends and true men may be “let in” once by a reckless and extravagant spendthrift, but 

they usually take care not to risk a repetition of the same experiment. Amelius, however, has succeeded in bleeding his victims not once, 

but on three successive occasions! It is quite clear that “Amelius” is no mere common debtor. In his case the art of getting into debt and 

living upon the money of other people, has been practised with a degree of skill and originality rising to the level of real genius. There is, 

however, a serious aspect to this question. For any man not in business, with a fixed income of £450 a year, to get into debt to the amount 

of £3240, is, in a moral sense, a gross… The law may not regard such… that light, and the perpetrators… escape punishment, but the fact 

remains that he has subjected honest men and women to the loss of money… money’s worth. If the law cannot… such cases, then it 

should be altered…the late John Stuart Mill aptly observed in dealing with the question of insolvency… “The law is bound to take 

care…insolvency shall not be a good… speculation, and that insolvents shall… find it answer to make themselves… to pay their just debts 

by spending… money of their creditors in personal indulgence. If a man has been a spendthrift or a gambler, with property which his 

creditors had a prior.. shall he pass Scot-free because the… chief is consummated and the…gone? Is there any very material difference, in 

point of morality, between… conduct and those other kinds of… honesty which go by the names of…and embezzlement? These… apply 

with telling force to the case of Amelius Morland Smith. In such… insolvency must be regarded, not… “misfortune,” but as an “offence.”… 

Evening Post 15 Apr 1879 In Bankruptcy 

In the matter of “The Debtors and Creditors Act, 1876,” and in the matter of Amelius Morland Smith, a Debtor; and in the matter of the Deed 

of Arrangement of the said Amelius Morland Smith with his Creditors. This is to give notice that, by order of the Court, dated the tenth day 

of April instant, it was ordered that the Deed of Arrangement of the abovenamed Debtor, dated the fifth day of April instant, be declared 

completely executed, and that the same be filed in the Supreme Court, and that the Bankruptcy of the abovenamed Debtor be annulled. 

And this is further to give notice that the said deed who on the said tenth day of April 1879, filed in the Supreme Court. Dated this 14 th day 

of April 1879. Martin Chapman, Solicitor for the Debtor. 

Wanganui Chronicle 23 Jun 1879 

Reward of Merit – The little arrangement which necessitated the temporary retirement of Mr Amelius Morland Smith from the public service, 

having blown over, he has been readmitted into the Civil Service, this time as private secretary to the Hon Mr Balance, who seems to have 

a week side for men who have been – unfortunate. 



Evening Post 21 Apr 1882 

The appointment of Mr Amelius Morland Smith to be chief clerk in the office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Wellington, has been 

gazetted. 

St John’s Church Trentham - Marriage Certificate April 1884 – Upper Hutt City Library Digital Collection – Reference 103/9/1 

Amelius Morland Smith, Deputy Registrar of Marriages in the District of Wellington to Revd J. Blackburne of Upper Hutt an Officiating 

Minister for the same District. Whereas Francis Septimus Lewin of Pahautanui has given Notice to me, according to the provisions of “The 

Marriage Act, 1880” of a Marriage intended to be solemnized between the said Francis Septimus Lewin and Louisa Taylor of Johnsonville 

and whereas the said Francis Septimus Lewin has complied with all the requirements of the said Act: Now, I, Amelius M. Smith, Deputy 

Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington do hereby certify to you the said John Blackburne and to all other Officiating Ministers 

for the District of Wellington that the said Francis Septimus Lewin has complied with the requirements of the said Act, and Marriage may be 

solemnized between the said Francis Septimus Lewin and Louisa Taylor provided that such Marriage be publicly solemnized in the 

presence of you the said John Blackburne or any one of you, and two or more witnesses, within three calendar months from the 8 th instant 

in the Church of St John, Upper Hutt between the hours of eight in the forenoon and four in the afternoon. Given under my hand this 8 th day 

of April 1884 Amelius M. Smith, Deputy Registrar. Father of Bridegroom: William Lewin, Chemist; Mother of Bridegroom: Sophy Lewin 

formerly Sophy Cox; Father of Bride: Francis Taylor, Hotel keeper; Mother of Bride: Sophia Mary Ann Taylor formerly Sophia Mary Ann…. 

St John’s Church Trentham - Marriage Certificate May 1884 – Upper Hutt City Library Digital Collection – Reference 103/9/1 

Amelius Morland Smith, Deputy Registrar of Marriages in the District of Wellington to Revd J. Blackburne of Upper Hutt an Officiating 

Minister for the same District. Whereas Samuel William Benge of Mungaroa has given Notice to me, according to the provisions of “The 

Marriage Act, 1880” of a Marriage intended to be solemnized between the said Samuel William Benge and Flora Macdonald of Mungaroa 

and whereas the said Samuel William Benge has complied with all the requirements of the said Act: Now, I, Amelius M. Smith, Deputy 

Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington do hereby certify to you the said John Blackburne and to all other Officiating Ministers 

for the District of Wellington that the said Samuel William Benge has complied with the requirements of the said Act, and Marriage may be 

solemnized between the said Samuel William Benge and Flora Macdonald provided that such Marriage be publicly solemnized in the 

presence of you the said John Blackburne or any one of you, and two or more witnesses, within three calendar months from the 23 rd instant 

in the house of Mr Samuel William Benge, Mungaroa between the hours of eight in the forenoon and four in the afternoon. Given under my 

hand this 23 rd day of May 1884 Amelius M. Smith, Deputy Registrar. Father of Bridegroom: David Benge, Labourer; Mother of Bridegroom: 

Philadelphia Benge formerly Philadelphia Roberts; Father of Bride: Robert Macdonald, Carpenter; Mother of Bride: not stated; Date of 

decease of former wife: 01 August 1882. 



Evening Post 24 Nov 1885 

Mr Amelius Morland Smith was the defendant in an action brought in the Magistrate’s Court this morning, before Mr Wardell, R.M., by Mr 

James Cattell, sen., for the recovery of £100. Mr Chapman appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr H. S. Fitzherbert for the defendant. The 

plaintiff gave evidence that in September 1882 the defendant borrowed £100 from him, and signed an agreement to repay the amount, 

together with a bonus of £50, within three years. A further stipulation was also made by the defendant to pay plaintiff £12 per centum per 

annum interest, in monthly instalments of £1, until the debt was liquidated. It was alleged that no portion of the loan or the bonus had been 

paid. The plaintiff now abandoned the claim for the bonus. Jas. Salmon, clerk in Chapman & Fitzgerald’s office, proved that about six 

weeks ago defendant offered to give witness £50 cash, and a bill for the balance, £50, if a former summons was withdrawn. Mr Smith, 

however, failed to complete this offer. The defendant was called, and stated that he had paid interest on the loan. He had borrowed the 

money on the strength of some money which would come to him eventually by inheritance, and he would repay it. He had promised the 

bonus on account of Mr Cattell’s kindness in lending the money. He had told Mr Cattell that morning that he had no intention not to repay 

the amount, as he intended paying it whenever he came into the inheritance he spoke of. The defendant at present was not in a position to 

refund the loan, and it was an understanding that the loan should not be repaid till he came into the legacy he expected. After refusing 

counsel for the defendant a nonsuit, Mr Wardell, R.M., permitted the plaintiff to make a technical amendment in his claim, and the further 

hearing of the case was adjourned to Thursday afternoon next. 

Evening Post 21 Dec 1885 

Amelius Morland Smith, late Civil Servant, has been adjudged a bankrupt, and the first meeting of his creditors is to be held on Monday, the 

4 th of January. 

Evening Post 26 Jan 1886 

The adjourned meeting of creditors of Mr Amelius Morland Smith again lapsed to-day, there being only one creditor present. No statement 

of liabilities and assets has yet been filed. 

Evening Post 10 Sep 1888 Funeral Notice 

The Friends of Mr Amelius Morland Smith are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of his late Son, Edward Henry Templeton, which will 

leave his residence, Hill-street, To-morrow (Tuesday), 11 th September, 1888, at 3 o’clock. E. Morris, Jun., Undertaker, Taranaki-street. 

Auckland Star 22 May 1896 

I, the Undersigned, hereby make application to register The Esperanza Goldmining Company as a No-liability Company, under the 

provisions of the Mining Companies Act, 1894… The place of operations is at Waihi… names of shareholders… Amelius Morland Smith, 

Wellington, Secretary – 500 shares at 3s each… 

Evening Post 28 May 1929 Funeral Card 



The Friends of the late Mr Amelius Morland Smith are invited to attend his Funeral, which will leave the Mortuary Chapel of E. Morris, jun., 

60, Taranaki-st., To-morrow (Wednesday), at 10 a.m., for the Cemetery, Karori. E. Morris, Jun., Funeral Director, 60, Taranaki-st., and 28 

Riddiford-st. Telephone 22-159.

Amelius Morland SMITH (1845-1929) - Hutt Valley Biographical ...

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