Michael Fowler's Historic Hawke's Bay

This view is looking towards Station St, Hastings in 1907.
The building at the end of the street was removed circa 1921, when Station St was renamed Russell St and extended to Eastbourne St.
In the foreground is the Hastings Post Office, and the telephone lines shown are possibly in the process of being removed to the new telephone exchange. Hastings's first telephone exchange was opened in August 1896, but it was Napier in September 1885 that had the first in Hawke's Bay.
Napier merchant John Neal told the Napier Chamber of Commerce in 1884 that a telephone exchange would be a useful addition, and told the following story to support this:
A man had inquired in an Auckland store about the price of some goods. The merchant being keen to sell, instructed his staff to distract the man while he questioned by telephone other merchants in Auckland as to their lowest rates.
Having gathered the information, the merchant then quoted the man a price a shade lower than market prices, and made the sale.
* Michael Fowler's earthquake book, From Disaster to Recovery  is available in eBook format from Amazon Kindle, or in hard copy from Trade Me.