Situate on the main road between Cheltenham and Birmingham, in the County of the same name, and 112 miles north-cast of Wellington, this little settlement is in the Electoral District of Rangitikei. It is a school district under the Wanganui Education Board, the nearest telegraph office being at Cheltenham, four miles distant. There is daily communication by coach to Feilding, which is the market-town, and mails are received and made up daily.

The Kiwitea Post-Office is conducted in Mr. Foster's store. Mr. Foster was born in Devonport, England, and came to the Colony per ship “La Hogue,” settling at Foxton in 1874. He took over the store with the post-office in 1893.

The Kiwitea Public School, which is situated on an acre section, was erected in 1891, and has a roll number of forty, There is one class-room, which is well ventilated, and the school is well conducted.

Mr. Richard Otway French, the School-master of the Kiwitea Public School, is a native of King's County, Ireland, and the son of Mr. T. B. French, C.E. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, for four years, where he ranked as a Senior Sophister, he came to the Colony, per ship “Lusitania,” in 1886. After spending four years in various pursuits, he received his present appointment in 1890.

Barrow, James, Farmer, Silver Terrace, Kiwitea. Born at Johnsonville in 1853, Mr. Barrow was engaged in farming with his father at Pahautanui till the age of twenty-one. Removing to Hawera and Normanby for four years, he gained further experience. In 1878 he purchased his present valuable freehold property of 300 acres, and came to settle in the Kiwitea. He was accompanied by several others, who had determined to carve out homes for themselves in this district, which at that time was a dense forest with no page 1246 roads. All the bush has been felled, and the farm grassed, fenced, and subdivided into paddocks, and it now carries large numbers of sheep and cattle. In 1880 Mr. Barrow married a daughter of Mr. R.M. Taylor, of Mahurangi, Auckland.

Morton, William, Farmer, Kiwitea. Mr. Morton was born in Yorkshire in 1849, his early days being spent on his father's farm. He left, the Old Country per ship “William Cargo,” and landed in Wellington in 1870. Mr. Morton came to Raugitikei to gain his colonial experience, and was engaged on various places till 1882, when he purchased his farm of 150 acres at Birmingham, adding 220 acres to it nine years later, Mr. Morton pastures about 700 sheep and over 100 head of cattle. He milks about twenty cows, disposing of the milk to the local creamery. He has ever taken a prominent part in all local government affairs, and is at present a member of the Kiwitea County Council.

Perry, Alexander John. The late. Mr. Perry, who settled in the Kiwitea district in 1877, was born in Wellington in 1852, his father coming out to the Colony with the 65th Regiment. His early days were spent on his father's farm at Turakina, where he had a sound and practical training. When Mr. Perry took up his holding of 900 acres, in the Kiwitea, it was all standing bush, there was no road to Feilding, and he had to endure the hardships incidental to a pioneer's life. The farm is now all improved, and there is a substantial homestead in well laid-out grounds. Mr. Perry was married in 1877 to Miss Hempseed. He was at one time a member of the Kiwitea Road Board, and by his death, which took place in August, 1894, the district lost one of its best settlers. Mrs. Perry, with her family of five sons and four daughters, still resides on the property, and is greatly assisted in the management of the farm by her two eldest sons, John and Alexander.

The late Mr. A. J. Perry.

Taylor, Thomas Riley, J.P., Farmer, “Oak-lands,” Kiwitea. Mr. Taylor was born in 1843 in Staffordshire, England, and completed his education at Warner's Commercial Academy School, Wolverhampton, after which he spent a few years in farming and cattle-dealing in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. Being favourably impressed with the reports of New Zealand, Mr. Taylor embarked on the ship “Merrington,” and after an eventful voyage of 141 days, landed in 1867. Smitten with the gold fever, he proceeded to the West Coast, and was fortunate in securing a valuable claim, which he worked at for five years; he then spent two years supplying the mines on the Mile Beach from a water-race. Through an illness Mr. Taylor was ordered to a change of climate and took a trip to fiji to recruit his health, being engaged there for eighteen months in managing a large butchery which had the contract for the supplies of meat to the British Navy. Returning to the Colony, Mr. Taylor proceeded to Turakina, and there established himself in business as a general storekeeper, and prospered so well that he was able in 1877 to purchase his present property, consisting of 380 acres. It was not until twelve years after that Mr. Taylor came to live on the place. During part of that time extensive works were being carried on: the railway line was in the course of construction, and the contract for the supplies of stores was entrusted to him. Mr. Taylor was chairman of the Kiwitea Road Board for twelve years, which position he resigned in 1894. He was a director of the United Farmers' Alliance and a member of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for many years, In 1893, he was created a Justice of the Peace, and is an unattached member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1876 Mr. Taylor married a daughter of Mr. Robert Verry, of Turakina, and has five sons and a daughter.

Mr. T. R. Taylor.