National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand
Water Street, Dunedin
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| Industry | Stock and station agency |
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| Fate | merged with Wright Stephenson & Co in 1972 to form NMA Wright Stephenson |
| Founded | 1877 in London |
| Founders | George Gray Russell and John Macfarlane Ritchie |
| Defunct | merged 1972 NMA Wright Stephenson |
| Headquarters | London / Dunedin from 1969 / Wellington from 1971, England until 1969 then New Zealand |
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Area served
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New Zealand |
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Key people
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National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand Limited owned a nationwide business originally intended to invest directly in New Zealand pastoral activities and lend to other participants in that industry. By the 1960s as well as the export of wool and meat and dealing in livestock it provided grain snd seed merchandising, wholesale grocery services including wines and spirits and arrangement of property and other real estate sales.
The business was founded in 1864 in Dunedin by G G Russell and that was taken over by the new London enterprise in 1878. 108 years after foundation NMA Wright Stephenson was formed by merging with competitor Wright Stephenson & Co in 1972.
National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand Limited was formed in 1877 to:
The shares were quoted on the London Stock Exchange for the first time on 14 August 1877. From the beginning there was a close association with Dunedin's National Bank of New Zealand. The New Zealand Head Office would be located in New Zealand's commercial capital, Dunedin.
Much of the debenture capital was raised in Scotland.
The first investment was in two existing businesses: Russell, Ritchie and Co., of Dunedin and Timaru, New Zealand and its close associate Russell, Le Cren and Co., of London
Perthshire-born George Gray Russell (1828–1919), a London ship and insurance broker, came to New Zealand in late 1864 and set up in business as a general merchant selling from premises in Dunedin's Stafford Street: brandy, fencing wire, nails and corrugated iron, oats and timber and other goods. Once established he also represented British pastoral investors, shipping lines and merchants, and shipped wool, grain and produce to Britain. In this he was assisted by John Macfarlane Ritchie (1842–1912) who as planned arrived a few months later than Russell at the beginning of 1865.
Russell had contracted him in Scotland after being recommended to interview the 23 year-old Ritchie. Content to delegate the necessary authority to young Ritchie Russell regularly travelled widely from Otago up to South Canterbury and down to Southland dealing with clients and noting investment and business opportunities. He established his first branch office in Timaru in 1866. A little later he took Ritchie into partnership and In 1873 George Gray Russell & Co became Russell Ritchie & Co.
In Timaru Henry Le Cren who shared Russell's London background sold his Timaru business, though he continued to manage it, the same year as Russell opened in Timaru. The two became friends. Russell, before emigrating to New Zealand had been a shipping and insurance agent in London. Together they set up (before 1873) Russell, Le Cren & Co in 37 Lombard Street, London where visiting squatters were made welcome to regard it as their London headquarters. They were within the premises of the National Bank of New Zealand and would become those of National Mortgage & Agency.
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Wikipedia