TRAVEL CENTRE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 70, 16 December 1937, Page 21

TRAVEL CENTRE

Foxton's Importance In Early Days

NO small part in the development of

the Manawatu district was played by Foxton in the early days. The introduction of Scandinavian immigrants, to whom so much is owed for their pioneering work, focussed around Foxton.

The first batch, numbering about 120, arrived at Wellington early in 1871 by the ship Hooden. About 60 of these arrived at Foxton in the s.s. Luna on February 14, 1871, accompanied by Mr. Halcombe, the provincial secretary, who came (to superintend their disembarkation. Foxton was also an important centre fop transport. For a number of years the journey northward to Wanganui was continued along the Rangitikei beach, but when the old wooden tramway was laid from Foxton to Palmerston North, an inland diversion was made, and the little town derived additional importance from the fact that it was made a nightly stage in the day’s journey. With the improved facilities for travelling o'ffercd by the coaches, the number of visitors to the district increased every year, and- as the hotel accommodation of the better sort was still very limited even as late as 1878, the passengers frequently had to rough it for the night. The old wooden tramway brought with it a standing joke for the district. The rails were of wood, and with exposure to the weather they soon developed kinks and curvatures which made travelling a series of wild jerks. The first cars were drawn by horses, and it frequently required the assistance of all the passengers to lift them back to the track after they had bounced off. After a time the horses were discarded and an engine substituted. This was christened “The Skunk,”-but its puffings and snortings drew upon it the derisive name of “The Coffee Pot.” There was always some doubt: whether it would go. On the occasion of its trial trip it took several hundred excursionists out for a jaunt and left them stranded for hours half-way between Foxton and Orona Bridge. The tram continued to be the chief

means of communication with Foxton until the progress of the district, stimulated by the growth of the timber industry, justified the Government’s utilising in 1876 the old ttamway by turning it into a railway built on thoroughly substantial lines.