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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

[introduction]

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This town is fifty-eight miles from Wellington, and has a branch line to itself from Woodside, on the main line, three miles away. It is planted on a fertile spot on the edges of the stony Moroa plain, and has had the probably unique honour of being referred to from the pulpit as one of the cosiest and most beautiful and picturesque spots on God's earth. It is about the centre of the Wairarapa Valley, and was the first settlement in the district, having been founded by members of a Small Farms Association in 1854, and named after Sir George Grey. It was for years the centre of the coaching and carrying system of the Wairarapa, and its people have generally been classed as well-to-do. The railway of course soon ran off both coaches and waggons, and the town cannot be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds since, but its farmers round about knew their business, and as there was no inflation through the advancing railways, so there was no depression when it passed by; the coaches and waggons
Main Street, Greytown.

Main Street, Greytown.

page 869
Main Street, Greytown.

Main Street, Greytown.

moved further afield, and the people comfortably adjusted themselves to the new order of things. The trade of the place was not overdone. and the large pah of natives living near by have proved amongst the best customers of its stores.

Industries are not numerous, but they include a dairy factory (co-operative), a sash and door factory, a sawmill, a cordial and aerated water manufactory, a couple of coachbuilding works, and the usual artisans to be found in all New Zealand towns busily engaged in their respective trades.

The people number nearly 1200 souls; there are four churches and a corps of the Salvation Army to render them fit for the future life, and the best public school in the Wairarapa (if a high percentage of passes and great winning of scholarships be a guide) to equip the rising generation for their mundane career. It has also one of the best fire brigades in the province.

Greytown people are conservative in their ideas and in their politics, but while ordinarily content to let things jog along as they will, they now and again dart out with energy and lead all the towns of the district in progressive action. Thus the Greytown people, urged by Mr. Coleman Phillips, of South Sea Island fame, started the first co-operative dairy factory in the colonies; whipped up by Mr. W. C. Nation, an enterprising journalist, they inaugurated the first Arbor Day in the Colony; and now, urged by Mr. J. D. Heagerty, its go-ahead Mayor, they are at this writing busily engaged in working out a scheme (the money is already raised) by which it will be the first town in the district with a water supply.

The town once had too much water. The Waiohine River, which almost encircled it, used to overflow the lower part of the town and do considerable damage. An energetic board of river conservators took this matter in hand, however, and all annoyance from this source has long since been removed. Greytown would have been the first borough in the Wairarapa, only that Masterton first secured the required number of people and houses. It was created a municipality, however, in 1879, and its mayor and council have always conducted its affairs with ability and decorum.

Socially, Greytown is a charming place. Its ladies are noted for their good looks and handsome figures, page 870 while its young men are famous in all athletic sports and games. This year, 1896, they have celebrated, by the inevitable ball, the winning, two seasons in succession without a single defeat, of the Champion Football Banner of the district. Greytown, of course, has its Free Public Library and Reading Room, its Council Chambers (a handsome building), Palace Theatre, Foresters', Odd-fellows', Masonic, and Fire Brigade Halls, and last but not least, its newspaper, the Wairarapa Standard, the oldest paper in the Provincial District.

One institution of which it and the whole district is justly proud is its hospital, the inspector of such places always speaking in the highest terms of praise of its management. He may well do so, as, while it renders the stay of patients almost a time of luxury as far as can be done for sufferers from, sickness or accident, it asks for no rates outside the Government subsidy upon what is raised voluntarily by the people. The annual Hospital Ball is the event of the year, and provides nearly enough money for all the hospital needs.

Originally Greytown was dense bush, and early settlers sat in the doors of their tents and shot the game for Sunday's pigeon pies from the adjacent trees. Now, well-made streets and green fields intersect and surround it, and when a house is built it is a certainty that ornamental trees and an orchard will accompany it. At present the town is well lighted at night with kerosene lamps, but there is already a scheme mooted to use the energy of the Waiohine River to generate electric light.

The borough is highly spoken of by the medical fraternity for the salubrity of its climate, which has often proved beneficial to invalids from other places.

Tourists might spend a few days in Greytown with advantage. Although the country immediately surrounding the town is flat, it is by no means “stale and unprofitable.” The rivers abound with trout, and even old Izaak himself would be delighted with the opportunities afforded for indulging in “the contemplative man's recreation.” The Wellington Acclimatization Society's hatcheries at Masterton, in addition to sending millions of ova to other parts of the Colony, have filled the rivers of the Wairarapa with trout of several kinds, and large
Council Chambers, Greytown

Council Chambers, Greytown

page 871
Post And Telegraph Office, Greytown.

Post And Telegraph Office, Greytown.

numbers of splendid fish are caught every year, many of them comparing favourably with trout from English waters. Few districts in New Zealand are so well provided with trout as the Wairarapa, and during the season many anglers from Wellington visit the district, and spend a pleasant time on the banks of the rivers.