INGLEWOOD.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5019, 22 March 1883, Page 2

INGLEWOOD.

(from our travelling reporter.)

This township, situated about twelve miles south of New Plymouth, is one of the mo«t pushing little places on the Taranaki railway line. Surrounded mainly by small farmers, it supports five stores alone, a new one being in course of erection, while there are two good hotels,, the Jnglewood«_tbe property of Mr Coldwell, and the Railway, of which Mr Giles is host ; also two but* cheries, those of Messrs Curtis Bros., and Messrs dowser and Ellis, the latter business having been recently established. Mr Frank* lyn'a general store is a very extensive one, and this with Mr Hare's, are the leading establishments, a good business connection, having also been established by a Chinese merchant from New Plymouth. One thing is noticeable about Inglewood, and that is that the township has been- originally sold in (too large an area, and U consequently not sufficiently compact to iuake it appear to advantage to which the superior class of business premises entitle it. Besides; the local Town Board has too great an; area, of street formation to attend to necessitating a Urge expenditure without an apparently adequate result. Nevertheless, the Board have effected great improvements in the township. Inglewood has a free reading room, in which the local and leading newspapers are pUced at the disposal of the residents, while jMie library consists of about 1000 volumes of popular works. This reading room and library is located in a building formerly used as a Government store, but which has now been taken over as a town hall, and is being extended and improved. In this h»U t' c already renowned Moa Farmers' Club holds its meetings, and a great deal of useful work it does in the course of the year. The little Anglican Church, too, ia a pretty building, recently much improved, and— what can pc said of few Church buildings— free of debt, except for the recent alterations. Inglewood commands a good position, the district being fully taken up by small holders, whose industry requires an outlet, and induces considerable trade. In the back country, too, the deferred-payment settlers . are briskly at work reclaiming the country and bringing labor to bear ou its development towards an important future. For daily produce especially the district now stands prominently forth, and in it more than perhaps any other on the Coast is the acquirement of wealth the result of honest .'labor, and labor alone. For its situation^ ' Inglewood is in itself picturesque, with Mount Egmont in' the rear, and a wealth of good country around, its monotony generally relieved here and there by a little broken ground, while in the distance the tinkling .of the ctttle-beli might make it alike the home of poet and peasant, the important centre jin I the not-far-dlatant future of one. of the nipst 1 genuine small-farm settlements. ; 1;