A Modern Town Grown out of an Historic Past

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 31 (Supplement)

A Modern Town Grown out of an Historic Past

Although the main commercial importance of Waitara centres about its up-to-date freezing works, the town has progressed and will continue to progress because of the richness of the dairy ing lands in its vicinity and the wealth of the sheep country behind. Citizens of Waitara have not been slow to realise the growing importance of their town and the result can be seen in the fine manner in which the borough ■ has been laid out. The attention given to road and street surfaces is just one of the factors that point to careful administration, while the adequate facili- , ties for outdoor sport testify to the _foresight displayed by early autho'rities. The business area is modern and the business people alive to the nccessity of giving prompt and efficient service. The town is served by road and rail transport with the main Auckland- Wellington highway passing through it. There was a time not so long ago when the port of Waitara commanded a considerable share of both inward and outward shipping trade. Regular services were in operation between Onehunga, Raglan. Kawhia and Waitara, while no inconsiderable business was sea-borno between Waitara, Mokau and Awakino before the metalling of the north roadThe distribution of cargoes of coal from the upper Mokau to various parts of

Taranaki and to New Plymouth was exclusively through Waitara. An intermittent coastal trade was. at times extended to South Island ports, from which produce was shipped for dispatch through Waitara. Until comparatively recent years also the whole of the output of the freezing works was shipped to liners in the Waitara roadstead in large lighters. It was only the fact of an uncertam bar at the mouth of the river that prevented Waitara from heing the site of the New Plymouth settlement and the port from developing into the shipping centre of Taranaki. Once the headquarters of Wiremu Kingi, the noted Atiawa chief the modern Manukorihi village occupies the portion of the pas known as Owaea. Above Owaea is Teremutu, in the .centre of which is the present cemetery. and beyond Teremutu lies Wharekura, where may yet be seen the site of old Makaie s house, which must have been a very large building in Makere s days. Makere was the chief of Manukorihi a generation or more before Gaptain Cook s visit to New Zealand and was a warrior and noted poet of the Atiawa tribe. H"s lament for his grandson Taramoana, who was killed by Ngati-Ruanui at Manutahi, a place on the Waiongona Rivcr now occupied by the village of Lepperton, is one of the classic poems of the Atiawa. To-day the statue of Sir Maui Pomare with the beautiful carved house Te Ikaroa-a-Maui stands on the edge of Owaea, adjacent to the main north road. The carved meetinghouse is unique m Taranaki and ranks indeed as one of the finest examples of characteristic Maori carving conveniently available anywhere.