FOXTON: THE PORT A CHEQUERED CAREER

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 147, 23 June 1915, Page 11

FOXTON: THE PORT A CHEQUERED CAREER

LATER RAPID PROGRESS >

The little river-port town of Foxton. is rapidly coming into its own. It has Buffered contumely in the past because of its failure to grow as lustily as towns of later .birth, but of more favourable situation. It has been called a "dead end," and its prominent connection with' flax-milling as the centre of the industry in the days when the men who worked at the mills were largely a derelict band, may not , have enhanced its reputation ; but to-day Foxton sees brighter days ahead. Its commerce is very sound ; its population is Bteadily increasing, and — it has visions. ' At the Heads, less than four miles from the town, a little colony of seaside houses has sprung up, and promises to rapidly increase ; the flax industry is proceeding on a very solid basis; there are surrounding estates to be cut up sooner or later ; and, above aIL the prospects are bright of the river-port being ( so improved that a regular and reliable trade with Wellington can be conducted. THE OLD DAYS. Foxton, at one time was a chief town upon the main coach route to Wellington, and when the railway ' came down from the north, was the southern termin-' us of the New Plymouth Mr. J. C. Crawford-, F.G.S. (who later acquired tho Miramar Estate), wrote interestingly ot a trip he made to Foxton and Moutoa in 1840. His brief, terse account is interesting because' of one or two features of the district which particularly appealed to him. "In December,, 1840," he says in his book, "Travels in New Zealand and Australia," "I wished to visit Mr. Samuel Molesworth, and as he had gone to the Manawatu with Col. ■ Wakefield and a large party of settlers,, I mounted my horse and proceeded towards that river, accompanied by Mr. Brewer, a solicitor of Wellington." The writer continues that the Pbrirua-road had not then been commenced, and they went by the Maori track, which left the Wellington Harbour at Kaiwharawhara. At Porirua they remained for the night; "our house of accommodation Was of a very rude descrip- 1 tion, and the sleeping places were bunks made of supplejack. I had no sooner retired to rest I found my bed swarming with rats, and I had in consequence to procure a stick and defend myself as best I" could. Sleep in such circumstances was not easy; but after a time the plague abated, and I obtained some repose before, morning. Porirua was a whaling station, and perhaps the blubber attracted the rats." . When the party reached the Manawatu they found that Col. Wakefield was up the river, "at a place very nearly opposite Moutoa. Here there was a great gathering of Natives and pakehas. The scene was very picturesque. There were river, bush, and cultivations, luaori wharves, and temporary ,sheds. Some very fine-looking Maoris, both male and female, and the pakehas

visit there. In 1855, ■ settlers who had chosen land further inland were frightened at the extent of the great earthquake of that year, and removed their township to Foxton, because that 10-. cality had suffered the least from the upheaval. Foxton at that time was known as To Awahou, ahd was occupied by Capt. Robinson, an ex-officer of the East India Company, as a grazing run. Amongst those who came to the new settlement, states Mr. T. Li Buick, in his "Old iuanawatu," was Mr. Thomas Cook, baker and general storekeeper, who built the 'parent wharf of Foxtou. At this little structure there used to lie the Mary Ann, the Mary Jane, the Hanna, Scotia, and Wellington, sailing" vessels varying from 10 to 40 tons, and later, in 1860, the Wonga Wonga. the first steamer to cross the bar, brought by Capt. Kennedy, and after, her tho Napier, and others. The Provincial Executive, in the very early days, had turned its eyes to the Manawatu district, and Dr. Featherston, the Superintendent', most desired a portion extending from the mouth of the Manawatu River ■ for thirty miles along its banks, including the town of Foxton, "where it was intended to lay off a' town, which would serve also as a port for the large extent of the back country." This area, known as the Awahou Block, comprised 37,000 acres, and was bought from the . Natives for £2500. The township of Foxton - was

THE MAYOR'S RECOLLECTIONS. The present prospects, and the problems which require to be faced to assist the prosperity which is again ''smiling upon the town, were referred to, by the present M~ayor, Mr. Alfred' Fraser, son of the Hon.'F. H. Fraeer, M.L.C. Mr. . Fraser was once a well-known athlete Ai Wellington in the eighties, and an ex-colour-sergeant of the Wellington Guards, with whom he was cent to-Pari-haka. and he went to Foxton in a mercantile capacity in the later eighties. He took a keen interest in the progress of the place, being elected a Borough Councillor, and becoming Mayor in 1898. ' After that ho assumed the poeition of Town Clerk, and held it for fourteen years, resigning two years ago to take | up public accountancy work. Mr. Fraser was induced this year to etand again for the Mayoralty, and he defeated Mr. John Cnrystal, the only other candidate, by 59 votes. "Foxton," he said, "has really been rebuilt in the last three years, owing to fires having wiped out the main street. The new buildings, all in concrete or. brick, have given the place a greatly improved appearance. Only the nortn end of the town remains as it was three years* ago. This has meant the expenditure of large sums of money! . " My opinion is that the great hope for Foxton is the extension of the railway from here to Greatford or Marton, either by taking over the present tramway, or by allowing the County. Council to link it up, as they have requested, with the Slate line at Marton or Greatford. This proposal will not be viewed with particular favour by Palmerston, perhaps, but it ' will give the > whole of the country lying to the north its natural outlet to Wellington, and will not interfere to any extent with the progress or business interests of Palmerston. Between Foxton and , Marton there is much rich land, and several populous centres, which would all be served with cheaper freights. It would be very much cheaper for goods to and from the Main Trunk to pass through Foxton than to go" via Wanganui and by railway over the heavy, expensive grades between that town and Marton, as is at present done. Damnevirke, Woodville, and Pahiatua

made a substantial profit, but the hall has now been leased to a pictui'e firm. The present unimproved value of th« borough is £98,527. A water and drainage proposal, under which the supply would b© brought from the hills beyond Shannon, was submitted, but waa not carried. Art'eeian water has been! tried, but is found to be to impregnated with mineral matter. ' The Shannon proposal was rejected^ chiefly because it would have raised *the rates from 4d to Is in the £ ? and the townspeople considered it advisable to wait until the population had increased. Foxton'a Borough Councillors are Messrs. R. Bryant, G, 0. Caley, L. R. Freeman, I. Henderson; J. M'Coll, J. W. Stevenson, 0. Simmonds, R. J. Thompson, and G. S. Whibley. The Town Clerk it Mr. 0. J. Kent-Johneton. Most. 1 communal enterprises are installed in the borough, including an up-to-date telephone service, and in every respect Foxton, including public institutions, banks, library, reading-room, poet office, and railway station, as thoroughly up with the times. • POOR RAILWAY SERVICE. ' .• The only thing she deplores ia her treatment by the Railway Department, both in tho matter of its policy Regarding her wharf, and the service- it has given her with the outside world. Two motor services, over excellent roads, con* nect the town with the Main Trunk railway at Levin (twelve miles) and Shannon (eight miles), but the railway service to Palmerston is the wain outlet for the town. This service is a source, of perpetual grumbling amongst the townspeople and those outsiders who use it to do business with Foxton. _Tli© time-table is inconvenient, and tiiougli' the distance is only twenty-five miles, it is difficult to fit in a business day from either end and return home : the- earae sight. It alters on almost each day of the week, and lias been termed a "Chinese puzzle." Discontent ia also fife at the poor class of passenger accommodation provided, and the speed of the trains. The people consider that the time has come when these things might well be attended to.