Name from Information from Muriel Leo’s (nee Oliver, 1917-1998) Family Tree.

Graeme Kenyon, whose great grandfather was James George Kenyon b.1861 (whose whose sister, Florence Kenyon, married James William Oliver, son of Charles Oliver Oliver b.1843), shares an extract from, The First Service Car Drivers of the Tauranga District” and held by the Tauranga Public Library. Len Oliver was responsible for introducing the first passenger service in Tauranga in 1923.

“Mr. Oliver was responsible for introducing the first passenger service round Tauranga itself. The bus had been built by Mr W. W. Herbert, and consisted of a 1912 Overland car converted to a Smith Form A truck, to make a long wheel base and to get a reduced gearing in order to carry the load the bus was able to accommodate. The Form A truck had a chain drive, sprockets being fitted to the ends of the car axles to sprockets on the wheels which were of solid tyre type. This made it a much lower geared and more powerful car. It had match-lining bodywork”.
“The service carried passengers from town out as far as Greerton; the fare was one shilling, and the route was divided into different sections. Mr. Oliver continued through 1923 to 1924 with this service, until ceased to be a paying proposition; he then went into the carrying business and became acquainted with Mr. Baikie. Messrs. McLaren and West bought the bus line from him, and later Mr. Gresham purchased it and began the Tauranga Bus Service Company”.
“In time, Mr, Oliver went to work for Mr. Walker; he was principally engaged as a mechanic in the workshop, keeping the cars in order. Occasionally he had to go out on the roads, particularly on the Kaimais, to peg them out - in bad weather the surfaces were full of holes and morasses, and ti-tree poles were driven into mark the worst places, so that drivers could be made aware of them and avoid them in time. the amount of mud the drivers had to contend with was unbelievable; many a time a car got buried in up to its headlamps”.
“Later on, Mr Oliver went to work for Messrs. Griffiths and Kidd, who were running service cars in opposition to Mr Walker; he drove for them for twelve to eighteen months, on both the Matamata and Waihi runs. Eventually he returned to his trade and joined the firm of Mr. F. N. Christian as motor mechanic, in due course becoming foreman. He has offered the Library a most interesting photograph of the Garage and the staff while the business was still in premises in Devonport Road. Mr. Davies also has given a photograph of the F. N. Christian staff members, belonging to another date”.

Graeme Kenyon passes on recollections of his father, Clive Kenyon, as at September 2013. (Clive's, grandfather was James George Kenyon b.1861 whose sister, Florence Kenyon, married James William Oliver, son of Charles Oliver Oliver b.1843):
“Len lived in 6th Avenue and had three sons - Ron, Trevor, and Lennie who died quite young. Trevor is still alive and has been growing mushrooms at Te Puna for many years - he still lives there but think his son now does the growing”.

Two-and-a half pages about Allen’s life is detailed in Cynthia Glover’s (nee Coleman) book, “The Allen Family” and first published in 2005. Cynthia's great-great-grandfather was William Samuel Allen b.1843. (William's sister, Martha Allen, married Charles Oliver, youngest son of James and Ruth Oliver).

Some extracts:

“Farming did not appeal to him as it did to other members of the family and he turned his attention to engineering. He was the first registered apprentice to F. N. Christian & Co. Ltd, the original firm being Sylvanus Davis Engineering and Plumbing. Much of his work with his former employer was the maintenance of bicycles, in some instances practically rebuilding a bike, joining frames with spot welding”.

“Len Oliver reckons he put the first tiles ever used on a roof in Tauranga, when the originalDomain Bowling Club was roofed”.

“He assisted in removing shingles from the old St Peter’s Presbyterian Church, at the top of Spring Street - in 1910. Because of its extreme pitch of roof, the workmen were told to take safety measures, tying a rope to a tree…” “…young Oliver thought it was safe to remove his rope - he had no sooner done so, than his feet went from under him and he was quickly sliding over rough purlins, his trousers torn to ribbons in the process. He hit the guttering with a thud, and for one sickening moment he was off balance, looking a long way beneath, then the guttering holding his weight, he subsided gently back onto the roof. Never again did he venture onto a roof job without a rope securely tied around his waist”.

“The engineering work also consisted of maintaining the mullet boat fleet and work on engines in small boats owned by Maori around the district. On the bigger boast tailshafts and bearings were repaired or replaced if necessary”.

“Len Oliver went to World War One with the 24th Reinforcements and was gassed in France. He spent some time in hospital at Rouen in France, thence in England at Bournemouth and after Armistice was signed, came back to New Zealand”.