Street's ahead of the game

By ROBIN BAILEY

John Street - accountant, ships' chandler and supporter of all things maritime in the region - is widely regarded as the custodian of the Auckland waterfront. A man who performs most of his good deeds well away from the public eye, he can also take a firm stance when necessary.

Many people have discovered the flinty determination that makes him a formidable opponent.

As boss of the long-established marine supply company A. Foster and Co, his base is a 1906-07 Fanshawe St building that began life on Auckland's waterfront. Reclamation has pushed the sea further away, but from his third-floor office Street runs an amazing operation. The company stocks everything from the latest electronic equipment to anchors, binnacles and brasses from the age of sail.

The building has a Category A classification, and the outside will never be altered. The interior is something else: corridors, alleys, little rooms, and stairs going every which way.

To the first-time visitor it seems amazing that any modern business can survive in such surroundings. But operate successfully it does, and Street has been responsible for its smooth running almost since joining his father there in 1959.

He joined the company after completing his accountancy exams, then serving a waterfront baptism with Mason Bros, a marine engineering company that was part of a network of marine movers and shakers known at the time as the Waterfront Mafia.

The young Street quickly learned how to survive in a harsh and restricted business environment. He took those lessons to A. Foster and Co, by then owned by his father, who had bought out the ageing founders.

Long hours and much hard work, particularly during the difficult times of import licensing, resulted in the business thriving and led to his involvement with the waterfront community.

As chairman of the Boating Industries Association at the time of Muldoon's 20 per cent boat tax in 1979, he was quick to marshal the industry and campaign against what was perceived as an unjust and potentially fatal impost on an industry just beginning to develop export markets. The Labour Government eventually reduced the tax to 10 per cent and the industry prospered.

Street's association with competitive yachting began when Don St Clair Brown asked him to make available the company's Avon RIB - the first rigid-hulled inflatable in the country - as a media boat for a series of Olympic trials. The first outing proved so successful that the Avon began doing five or six regattas a year. The boat was also called on by the waterfront police for anti-nuclear protests and for Whitbread patrol duty.

His biggest yachting challenge came when the word went out that the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron was about to do a deal that would have seen identical French-built Beneteau yachts forming our match-racing fleet.

Street realised that would have dealt a huge blow to our boatbuilding industry, because the yachts were to be sold here after each season and replaced by a new bunch of Beneteaus. A quick call to the Squadron and Kim McDell and his principals at McDell Marine, and the French deal was scuttled.

The result, after much hard work, was the co-sponsored arrangement that saw 11 identical MRX racers docked by the Squadron. That was nearly 12 years ago and the fleet, still being maintained and managed by McDell Marine, is providing a marvellous racing platform and a training tool for our young sailors.

Then followed an association with the National Maritime Museum that saw Street's efforts secure the Ralph Sewell-built square-rigger Breeze and the floating crane Rapaki.

He was recruited to the museum board of trustees and was an active member during eight of its formative years, despite skirmishes with some board members.

When he took a leading role on the board of Auckland Viaduct village during the traumatic lead-up to the America's Cup defence, Street quickly became concerned that the estimated sponsorship revenues for the 1998 Whitbread stopover and for the coming cup defence were unrealistic.

"It's not hindsight, it's knowing the market," says Street. "The Chamber of Commerce lost a million on the 1998 Whitbread and the America's Cup defence revenues never looked like being achieved.

" It now appears that Volvo next year is not bringing in the predicted sponsorship dollars.

"This may cause a certain amount of angst among the non-boating fraternity, but the Viaduct village is of tremendous benefit to Auckland and to New Zealand. It is worth whatever it costs. Now it's time to get the budgeting right."