LEVIN PIONEER SETTLERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3716, 12 November 1927, Page 3

LEVIN PIONEER SETTLERS.

Wednesday marked the 40th anniversary of tjie arrival in Levin of Mr. James Rose, of Salisbury Street (says the Chronicle). With the late Mr Bartholomew, who was a well-known sawmiller in the early days, and the late Mr. W. Bishop, he came to lay the foundations of a mill near what is now the Avenue, at the north end of the present borough. Levin at that time was mostly °under bush, the main road had not been made, and carting was done along the railway track. Mrs. Rose joined her husband four months later, both having come from Feilding. They have a clear recollection of' the days when pigeons could be shot from the front of the w'hare while the birds weie goigin c themselves on tawa berries. Wild horses roamed the'district, and occasionally some of the animals strayed on to the railway and were killed by the. trains. After cutting out the’bush about Levin, the mill was shifted to Weraroa, from which it has long since disappeared, together with most of the forest. Mrs. Rose says she has never had any desire to leave the district, and although she has seen Levin grow from a bush clearing to a thriving town, her happiest memories are of , the early days of struggle, when the daily vicissitudes bound the settlers together with ties which were akin to those of a large family.