Where it all began

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 16

Where it all began

Totara Estate. Centenary of the Frozen Meat Industry. By Martine E. Cuff. New Zealand Historic Places Trust, 1982. 80 pp. $9.95. This small booklet is one of the satisfying permanent results of this year’s celebration of the centenary of the first export of frozen meat from New Zealand. The other is the group of restored farm buildings on the estate where the sheep were slaughtered and their carcasses prepared. Their history is the subject of the booklet. . Properties acquired by the Historic Places Trust are not picked at random or for their pretty appearances. They are properties of historical importance and their selection and restoration (if necessary and desirable) is always preceded by careful research. This booklet presents the trust’s exhaustive investigation of the Totara property in a

popular readable form. It would have . been a pity had the information simply languished in an Historic Places Trust file. . The booklet traces the story of the land at Totara itself — the prize estate of the extensive holdings of the New Zealand and Australia Land Company — and of the venture of preparing meat for export on the estate. It is a local history, but of national importance because the events of ; 100 years ago had a profound impact on the development of the country as a whole. '• ' Diligent searching has produced photographs and other, illustrations to accompany, the text. A little more care with the . design of the book would have made its appearance match the calibre of the research and the quality of the writing. — John Wilson.