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FORTY YEARS AGO.

PALMERSTON NORTH’S INFANCY.

OLD RESIDENT’S IMPRESSIONS

To have seen Palmerston N. grow from a bush township to its present importance as one of the foremost provincial towns in the Dominion !.;is been the experience of Mr F. Mowlem, one of its oldest residents. In his 78th year, Mr Mowlem has resided in Palmerston North for the past 40 years and when interviewed by a “Standard” reporter he had an interesting story to tell of the early days. “Before coming to reside permanently in Palmerston N,” he said, “my brother and I rode up from Wellington on horseback. As we rode along the Foxton-Sanson road we encountered the Foxton train —‘puffing billy’— and T well remember how we pulled into the cover of the hush at the side of the road because our horses had never seen a train before and we thought naturally, that they would not be too much at ease. The time that train took to come along seemed an eternity, and we could have had om dinner in comfort while we waited for if to approach and pass us. THE TOWN IN 1878. “I came here, permanently in March, 1878, and in those days the population was very small. The railway station was in the middle of the Square and there was no railway line then either to Wellington or to Napier. The trains ran from Palmerston North to Wanganui, and, of course, flier# was the Foxton line which, at that time, had just been converted from a wooden tram line to an iron one. If you wanted to go from Palmerston N. to Wellington you had to make the journey by coach from Foxton. It was a very pleasant ride along the hard sand of the beach right down the coast as far as Paekakariki, where we left the beach. The Waikanae and Otaki rivers had to be crossed on the journey, and if the rivers wore high the passengers were paddled across in canoes, but. if there w r ere no ladies or children present they swam the horses across with the passengers aboard. We could chandg horses at Waikanae and Porirua on the journey which would commence at Palmerston North at 4.30 in the morning and finish at Wellington at six o’clock the same evening. “Yes,” continued Mr Mowlem, “in those days the popular belief was that Foxton was the coming town and that it would outdo Palmerston North.” «• Reverting to the subject of the Foxton train, Mr Mowlem said: “The engine was the most primitive affair find it was driven by a one legged man. Foxton, as T have already remarked, was a. coming town, but when the Manawatn railway line was. put through Foxton suffered severely and went back.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19240228.2.19

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2701, 28 February 1924, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
460

FORTY YEARS AGO. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2701, 28 February 1924, Page 3

FORTY YEARS AGO. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2701, 28 February 1924, Page 3

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