INGLEWOOD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 143674, 19 December 1911, Page 6

INGLEWOOD.

(Contributed.) The traveller who alights at the modern railway .station oi Inglewood nowadays cannot imagine that town us otherwise than what u is, one of the most iiourisniug inland towns ol Taranaki; yt'i only tome thins-live years ago it was a desolate waste ol bush. Tnanks, however, to the grit and energy ol the early pioneers, some ol whom are happily slid with us, spending the evening oi their days in the possession of a well-earned competence, Inglewood inis ringed ahead until it has readied its present prosperous condition. Thinking that some particulars ai rite early history oi the town might interest tho residents both of this generation and tho past, 1 have gathered the following notes Irom a resident of many years' standing, who most kindly placed Jus largo store ut olcl-umo reminiscences at m> disposal.

Inglewood was the first township esLubllsiieU in thcNiinterlaud oi Taranaki. The Moa Block, of winch Inglewood wa& and is the burliness centre, was acquired- Jrom the Native owners by liie inranaki Piuvincial Council, as were also the other blocks of laud reaching through on the oust and south-east oi Egmont to Koicmarac, and a road trade vas ieiled and rougiiiy cleared, connecting North and Eolith Taranaki, which paved the way lor the opening up of all the country eastward oj Kgmont. This load, since known as the ’‘Mountain Rjaii, ! was connected about July. i. 874, the work having been carried out under the laic jir. m lEun liuisihouse. in liie winter oj i -71 a number o\ immigrantfi reached Taranaki, Tho Provinmal Government set surveyors to work in iho Moa Block, under the .supers’Lion ol AH’, i noma., MunipUrief., Glen Provincial Chid .Surveyor, and they soon h.’gan to get tilings into shape. The township ol Inglewood was tolled, chiefly by the "new chums,” and loading was piudied on as lasi as circumstances would permit. Mr. F, Robinson was in charge* ol tins work, his assistants being .Messrs. F. Karp and Jannxs and Robert Jldl. ul Egmoni Road. Tho lust more in Inglewood was .Marred hy Messrs. R. i*. iiidde/i ami R. .Stevens, who eventually handed over tlie concern to Messrs. E, L. Humphries and Son, ol Now Plymouth. Ihe ole re was erected on the bank of the Kumpeto river or stream, near the preheat railway bridge, and was constructed ol cornig:ued iron on lawn sapling*. Mr. R. tMevens van in (barge*, and associated with him was Mr. J.’kJ. Stagpoohq who had charge of the bakery department. Mr. Singpooh*. after he hud built what ho termed "a \Wsi Coast own.” turned out tin* lint batch o| bjvad made in tin* difttrici. and bread that was equal to the best mad.* under modern conditions. Un January 22. 1875, ibc Provincial Council almost to a man e. '.-hinted high holiday in the bush on the occasion of the christening o( its lirst-born town, when Mr. Arthur Standi* h, acting for the Superintendent of tho pioviiue ulu* bit-c Mr. I. A. Carringtoni pronounced the name of the infant, met ivpolis to be Inglewood, accompanying the announcement with the breaking of a bottle of champagne against the bough of a giant rimu. It pwhaps worthy of note that nut very Jung afterward.* that verv same rimu was felled and sawn into timber, oi which tin* lust Stale t>«h«K.l in the district was built. Shortly alter the christening of ihe town rh’e I test batch oi town allotme nt.*-, were sold, and buildings of more conventional typo than had so far been attempted wero soon in course of erection, Messrs. Langley Bros. {Hitting up the Inglewood , Hotel. Curtis Bros, a butcher’s shop, Humphries and Son a story and bakehouse. \V. H. Fraukiyn a syire. and tho Luo Mr. J. C. Peach a Ikaii store, in 1877 Inglewood became a town district, and Colonel Trimble was elected first chairman, which oflice he filled wiih the greatest credit, to bin r,eh and to the maniie.M advantage m the township. Colonel Trimble also established a sawmill on tho south end of-ihc township. which was tin* forerunner of the oast of Kgmont milks which have played .sudi a very important part in the development of Taranaki. In .1878 or 1879 Mr. Henry Brown started another sawmill northward of the township, where the firm’s timber yards still arc. As showing the diliiculiy of getting in supplies, it is interesting to ■note that atone time cartage from Now Plymouth reached a.s high as LJ2 lO.s per ton. The rmiio followed was via the Mountain Rond and Devon Line, round by Roll Block, some 17 miles; then, when the Junction Rond was bridged, direct that way (12 miles) from New .Plymouth until the railway (New Plymouth to Waitara) brought goods to Sentry Hill, when tho .Mountain Road was again the route. Communication by rail being established in 3878 with New* Plymouth, ami about 1881 with Stratford, relieved the settlers grcaG> in regard to the transit ol their supplies, and from then on the town progressed in a marvellous manner. During tho early years of Inglewood times were very good, this happy state of things being brought about hy the large expenditure of public money in road-making, bridge-building, and the opening up of the railway, hut these years of prosperity wore followed hy many "lean” years, when many settlors who are now living in comfort went through what only great natural pluck and hull-dog tenacity could have pulled them through. It is*within tho memory of very many that no cash was to be had for the now principal product, butter. Time was when the best makes fetched only 4jd per pound, and “take it out,” no money passing hands except for fungus and sometimes eggs. Think of that, yo present-day dairy farmers, when you grumble so loudly at what the early settlers would have never noticed. Had it not been that the land of the district was taken up under tho late Hon. Mr. Rolleeton’s deterred payment system, tho settlers could never have hold on. In 1879 tho To Whiti scare caused numbers of volunteers to enrol, and three companies were formed, of which the “Rangers,” under Captain Brown, were armed with Sniders, the others being supplied with obsolete, and in many cases useless, Enfield*. In tho , early eighties the cemetery, which up to that time had boon under no definitely responsible control, was committed to the rare of a Cemetery Board, of which the late Mr. J. C.‘ Peach was chairman, and this hoard continued in charge, with very little change of personnel, until it handed over the control to the Borough Council. Anyone who knows what a new bush clearing in a particularly rough place is like, and visits tlie Inglewood Cemetery as it now is, must admit that the old board, with very little funds at its command, worked wonders. In 1903 Inglewood became a borough, with the laic Mr. B. H. Nieholls as its first Mayor. Since that time its story is mere modern history, and known to all who visit Taranaki.