Ashurst Notes

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 118, 28 March 1891, Page 2

Ashurst Notes

(fbom our own correspondent.) As our town has the honor of beinj represented in your columns, I can't dc better with this first contribution thai give you a short resume' of what Asiiurs was and is, and is to be. Like as th< distant view : of '-the shores of Ainerics gladdened the heart of Columbus, so the people of the Manchester Block wen gladdened by the arrival of the infanl Ashurst to take its place among the towns of New Zealand in the year of grace. Its sponsors wished it to be named Ashhurst, but from some mistake" in the registry office it appeared without the aristocratic double H, and made its bow to the world aB simple Ashurst. It is supposed that, being on the confluence of two rivers, it was intended as a fashionable watering place for the inhabitants of the patrician and paternal town of Feilding, but when 'the name appeared shorn of its pristine beauty, it was turned over to the occupation of the plebs, who continue to occupy it, and are a contented lot, getting on very comfortably in their own quiet way. Wn have an oid and a new town. The architecture of the old is quaint in the extreme, akin to the" Doric in its severe simplicity and uniformity. The architect Bray-ved all remonstrance, and built .each residence on the same plan. Each stands in its own ground' , enclosed by a park-like fence. In the future the researches of the antiquary will doubtless be well repaid among its ruins. In the new town there are the Government buildings, and business houses, purveyors of all sorts, including a blacksmith. The wants of the Ashurstonians are catered for in such a complete way, and are served in so obliging a manner, as to imbue us with the idea that the only thought of our storekeepers is of helping their fellowmen. It is only by the gentle reminders at the end of the month that we are recalled from the celestial to the terrestial, and find that it is not all pro bono. The Pohangina flows into the Manawatu at our doors, and is a favorite resort for pleasure parties from Palraerston and elsewhere. A celebrated man, commenting on the ways of Providence, remarked that rivers always appeared to be made to run past the big towns, and on paper we are as big as any town in New Zealand — except, it may be Feilding. His Satanic Majesty does not have an easy time of it here, for we have five places of worship and a belfry. The belfry certainly was without a bell for seven years, but it mattered little, for we possessed another as merry a p al of belles as any swain could desire. The:e are two public halls in our midst, one hotel, and one temperance hotel; also a very good Brasß Band. Vfe had already the wind power, and brass enough to attempt anything, although hardly tin alloy enough to make it serviceable, for we have not yet qnite finished paying for the instruments, but will soon do so. There is also a brickfield, and we oan turn out as good an article as did our ancestors when in Egypt. Now that the railway is opened, the rest of the world is connected with us, and we expect by the increase of imports .and exports to see that benefit is ! being felt by the country at large. Now, i sir, you see to what w« have grown from such a small beginning, and the back country, of which Ashurst is the natural outlet, is very considerable,, and will ensure its always being a place. I shall have something tp tell you of that back country " later oh."