Moutere is a pastoral district, occupied chiefly by sheep runs of the same name. It lies on the Manuherikia Plain, near Chatto Creek. There is a small school at Moutere, but the post office is at the Chatto Creek hotel, which is 127 miles north-west from Dunedin. The Otago Central railway is under construction through Chatto Creek, which is now (August 1904) a stopping place for the coaches which run daily between Alexandra and Ida Valley.

The Moutere Public School , which is subsidised by the Otago Education Board, was established in 1892. It is held in a wooden building of one room, and is the property of Mr. A. Jopp, the proprietor of Moutere station. There is accommodation for twenty-pupils; there are nine on the roll, and all attend regularly. Miss Sarah Hether-ington is at present (1904) the mistress in charge.

Miss Mary Percy , formerly Mistress of he Moutere school, was born at Round Hill, near Milton. She was educated at Lawrence, where she commenced her calling as a teacher, and was appointed to the Moutere school in 1898. Miss Percy holds a B certificate. [After this article was written Miss Percy married Mr. Knight, of Lawrence.]

Wilson, Thomas , Farmer, Yankee Flat, Moutere. Mr. Wilson was born in July, 1838, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He was brought up on a farm, and became a shepherd. In September, 1860, he arrived in Port Chalmers, by the ship “Robert Henderson,” and, after undergoing quarantine for thirteen days, he went to the Dunstan district, where he was engaged as a shepherd for about ten years. He took up 200 acres of leasehold land at Yankee Flat in 1870. This property was afterwards converted into freehold, and was increased to its present area of 400 acres, Mr. Wilson was married, in 1868, to a daughter of the late Mr. W. Murray, of Roxburghire, but that lady died on the 23rd of April, 1884, leaving five sons and two daughters; one son has since died. On the 19th of August, 1887, Mr. Wilson married a daughter of the late Mr. D. Parsons, of Wiltshire, England.

The Taieri Plain , the best known agricultural district of Otago, is situated a few miles south of Dunedin. It was selected as the scene of settlement by some of the pioneers who came out by the ships “Philip Laing” and “John Wickliffe.” The plain was originally a succession of swamps, and when the Teieri river was in flood, the whole area, from Saddle Hill on the east to the Maungatua Ranges on the west, and as far south as the Waihola, was covered with water; but the energy and intelligence of the settlers have transformed the whole region into a most productive, well protected agricultural district. At first, before the era of roads, the settlers had to skirt round the edges of the swamps, and get along otherwise as best they could, but now the whole plain is intersected with well-formed shingle and metal roads. Drainage and river boards were constituted; the former to assist settlers in the reclamation of their lands, the latter to preserve their properties from destruction by floods; and the results have been most beneficial and successful. In local topography the plain is known as East, North and West Taieri. The first-named division includes the townships and sub-districts known as Wingatui, Mosgiel, Riccarton, Otokaia and Henley; the latter of Outram, Woodside, Maungatua, and Berwick. Wonderful crops have been reaped on the Taieri Plain, and many settlers have obtained from eighty to ninety bushels of wheat to the acre, and up to 120 bushels of oats per acre have been obtained in many cases; of barley sixty bushels, and of mangolds forty to seventy tons per acre; in turnips, a field of from thirty to forty tons per acre is a very frequent occurrence. As a whole, the plain gives an average yield of forty-five bushels of wheat and sixty of oats to the acre, whilst the surrounding uplands give an average yield of twenty bushels of oats and thirty of wheat. Cyclists and equestrians may travel for many miles in almost any direction on the best of roads; northward to Thompson's Springs and westward through Wylie's Crossing, Outram, Woodside, Maungatua, and Berwick; and eastward through Riccarton, Allanton, Otokaia, Henley, and Waihola. At Henley and Waihola there are steam pleasure launches, and in the season game abounds.