THE PRICE OF SUCCESS The Story of the Iconic Stock & Station Agency, Williams & Kettle, and the Industry it Served This is Ewan McGregor’s fourth book relating to the rural industries Hawke’s Bay and beyond. It is about the old-established and respected firm of Williams & Kettle, the origins of which go back to 1880 when Frederick Williams started trading in Ahuriri, and its end when taken over aggressively by Wrightsons in 2005 – the ‘price’. It does not detail the company’s earlier history as that has been well described in the earlier book, Throughout the East Coast. It does, however, capture the character of the company, and the wider industry of which it was part, before outlining the period in the latter years of contraction from being a comprehensive retailing business to focusing on farm servicing, and its subsequent expansion from its traditional base of Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay to throughout the North Island – the ‘success’. But it’s much more than that; the stock & station industry – in its heyday there were 40 firms nationally, and six in Hawke’s Bay – was an absolutely integral part of rural and service towns in New Zealand. The role of this once great servicing and retail industry has not been sufficiently historically recognised beyond the recording of the individual companies. Ewan has sought to remedy this by viewing the wider industry through the prism of W&K. In its day, the stock and station industry was huge. It was characterised by trust – no deal was too big to be sealed by more than a handshake -, by loyalty between company and client, by fraternity and fellowship. Its passing may have been inevitable, but rural life is undoubtedly somewhat the poorer for it.