HINUERA.

Matamata Record, Volume VII, Issue 580, 10 November 1924, Page 5

HINUERA.

A REVIEW. Of course, one could hardly call Hinuera a town yet; it is very doubtful whether at present it has even reached the township stage. But nevertheless the growth of Hinuera has been remarkable. Take a period of, say, two years ago. In November, 1922, the only commercial concern in Hinuera was the general "stoVe -conducted by Messrs* Settle Bros. The present day commodious butter factory was only in course of erection, and apart from the railway employees' cottages and the school house there were practically no dwellings at all in the village. Today we find the factory cnuming out its big daily input of cream and making a name and reputation in the world's markets for the finished product. Apart from the overseas sales " Hinuera Butter" goes all over New Zealand, and the writer saw boxes of it recently in a store away down in the Taupo country. Moreover, it is only comparatively recently since the railway appointments at Hinuera were only those of a flag station. To-day, largely owing to the representations of that enterprising body, the Hinuera Farmrs' and Ratepayers' Association, as well as to the assiduous efforts of Mr. F. F. Hockly, M.P., the member for the district, the railway accommodation consists of an officered station, with a ladies' waiting room, an up-to-date goods shed and a new and commodious station yard, which contains a loading bank, cattle yards, pig pens and other conveniences for both passengers and freighters. Nowadays, on alighting from the train one not only finds these additional appointments at the station, but, looking round, the marvellous transformation that has taken place in the town is very obvious. A big general store is situated close to the railway station, and nearby there is an up-to-date butcher's shop, a well-ap-pointed hall, a roomy smithy and, of course, the large and modern dairy factory already referred to. Just to the west of the railway station yards, is an enlarged and renovated school, with a teaching staff of three, Miss Wade being in charge, and well over one hundred scholars on the roll. As further evidencing Hinuera's recent rapid growth, is the number of dwellings that have gone up during the past few months right in the heart of the township. There are two charming bungalow residences right alongside the store and both the butcher and blacksrrtith have built up-to-date dwelling houses at the rear of their business premises. In addition a house has been erected for the manager of the butter factory as well as other accommodation provided for the staff. At the factory, also, a gai-age (to house the cream lorries) has been built. A considerable amount of tree planting effected. The public hall has been renovated and early extensions are contemplated. Additional rooms have been put on to both the school house and the school. On the south side of the Cambridge road the Methodist church has had its sitting accommodation just doubled, and a large shed has been erected at the station end of this road as a receiving depot for the large amount of material that is coming in for the Horahora hydro-elec-tric works. Many new farm-houses too have been erected, but these of course are outside of the limits of the township proper.