Cave derives its name from the interesting Maori caves in its neighbourhood. It is on the Tengawai river and about twenty-two miles by rail from Timaru, on the Timaru-Fairlie line. The station stands 507 feet above the sea. There is a post and telegraph office near the railway station, and a public school. The district is said to abound in trout and hares, and it is a very pleasant place at which to spend a holiday. At the census of 1901 Cave had a population of eighty-eight. The district is devoted to agriculture and sheepfarming.

The Cave Post Office And Telephone Bureau is conducted at the local railway station. The postal department has been represented here since the land around was first opened up, and telephone communication was established in August, 1901. Mails are received and despatched daily.

The Public School at Cave dates from the early eighties. The building is of wood and iron, and contains one class room and a porch, with accommodation for forty pupils. There are twenty names on the roll, and the average attendance is eighteen. Five acres of land are connected with the school premises, and there is a comfortable five roomed residence.

Miss Amy Ellen Jones, Teacher in charge of Cave school, was born at Pleasant Point, and served her pupil-teachership at the local school. For a time she had charge of the Kakahu school, before being appointed to Cave.

Cave Arms Hotel (G. Finch, proprietor) Cave. This hotel is situated at Cave, twenty-two miles inland from Timaru, on the main road and railway line to Fairlie. It stands within a chain of the railway station, and has well furnished bedrooms for eight guests. The well ventilated dining room has seats for twenty-five persons, and there are several sitting-rooms. The stabling, loose boxes, and the well-grassed, well-watered paddocks are all that the traveller could wish for his weary horse. The hotel is supported by the neighbouring farmers, men on the surrounding stations, contractors, and the travelling public.

Cave Arms Hotel.

Mr. G. Finch was born within one mile of London Bridge, and educated in Kent, where he was apprenticed to the blacksmith's trade. He came to New Zealand in 1872 by the ship “Isles of the South,” and worked at his trade on the railway and at Mr. John Anderson's foundry, Christchurch. Mr. Finch is a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, and is a Freemason and an Oddfellow, and also a member of the local school committee. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Dixon.