West Plains , which is in the Awarua riding of the county of Southland, and in the electoral district of Awarua, had a population of 346 at the census of 1901. The district is devoted chiefly to dairy farming, and the majority of the settlers are freeholders. West Plains has a public hall, which was erected in 1901, and a school which dates from 1880. There is an average attendance of seventy children at the school, at which the business of the local post office and telephone bureau is conducted; and there is a daily mail. A local creamery is kept busily employed in the service of the district. There is no local church, and the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches at Waikiwi serve the purposes at the settlers. The West Plains district extends from the Invercargill-Kingston line of railway to the New River estuary, and the main road through the district has been completed to within a mile of that river. A considerable area of the land has been cleared, but there still remains much bush to be cut down. The railway station at West Plains is a flag and tablet signal station five miles from Invercargill, and stands at an elevation of eighteen feet above the level of the sea.

The West Plains Creamery was opened in 1900. The building, which stands on a section of ten acres, is of wood and iron, with concrete floors, and is constructed on the most modern principles. The machinery is driven by a four horse-power engine, and a six horse-power boiler, and there is an Alpha de Laval separator capable of treating 440 gallons of milk an hour. In the spring of 1893 there were twenty-one suppliers, and 550 gallons were put through the establishment daily. The skim milk is utilised to feed about 120 pigs, for which styes have been erected at some distance from the creamery.

Mr. Alexander Steel , Manager of the West Plains Creamery, was born in the West Plains district, in 1877, and brought up to a country life. He was appointed to his present position in June, 1903. As a volunteer, he served for eighteen months in the City Guards, and as a Druid, he is attached to Acorn Lodge.

Kingsland Brothers And Anderson (Thomas Daniel Kingsland and James Anderson), Tanners and Fellmongers, West Plains Siding, West Plains. Messrs Kingsland and Anderson's tannery was established in 1875 by J. Kingsland and Company, who conducted the business till 1886, when the present company was formed. The premises, which comprise numerous buildings of wood and iron, stand on a site of sixty-seven acres of freehold, through which the Waikiwi stream flows. There are numerous buildings, the chief of which are the machinery shed, the wool-storing shed, scouring and pulling sheds. The machinery shed contains an eight horse-power steam engine, wool wringing and drying machines, a bone mill digester and a wool press. The tannery contains thirty tan and soak and lime pits, a steam engine of five horse-power, drums, lathes, and rolling, glazing, softening, and leather-splitting, shaving, and fluffing machinery. There are three docks for soaking sheepshins, and three pumps are used for raising water and liquids as required. From thirty to forty men are employed at the works. The page 910 brand “K.B. and A.” is well known in the colony, and in London. The export shipping output of the works for the twelve months which ended June, 1903, consisted of 2,500 bales of wool, fifty bales of rabbit-skins, 250 casks of tallow, and 200 casks of pelts; 2,135 hides, 150 hog-skins and 950 calf-skins were manufactured into leather, and the output in bone dust amounted to twenty-five tons.

Mr. Thomas Daniel Kingsland , the Senior Partner, was born in Victoria, in 1862, was brought to Southland as an infant, and has been connected with the tannery business from the age of fifteen. Mr Kingsland has acted as chairman and secretary of the Waikiwi school committee, and is a member of the Waikiwi River Board. He joined the volunteers in 1874, and served twenty-one years altogether—in the Artillery Cadets, the G Battery and the Oreti Rifles. He was for sometime chairman of the Southland Cricket Association, for thirty years a member of the Invercargill Cricket Club, and is a member of the North End Bowling Club. Mr Kingsland was married, in 1887, to a daughter of Mr John C. Wild, of Invercargill, and has two sons and two daughters.

Gerstenkorn, photo.
Mr. T. D. Kingsland, And Mr. J. Anderson.

Mr. James Anderson , Of Kingsland Brothers and Anderson, is the son of a very old colonist, and was born in Dunedin, where he was brought up as a currier. He entered the employment of Messrs J. Kingsland and Co., and ultimately became a partner in the firm. Mr Anderson has been chairman of the Waikiwi school committee, of which he is still a member. He was married, in 1891, to a daughter of Mr George Mackie, sawmiller, Invercargill, and has two sons and two daughters.

West Plains Fellmongery (William Cawthorne, proprietor), West Plains. Mr Cawthorne's fellmongery and boiling-down establishment at West Plains, is near the railway siding. This large and up-to-date business has been expanded from an older establishment on the Waikiwi road. The main building, which measures 60 feet by 42 feet, is used for working the skins, drying the wool, and putting it in bales, etc. The engine room and washing shed combined is 60 feet by 20 feet. A large centrifugal pump supplies all the water for washing the wool, for use in the pits, and for many other purposes. The pelt shed is 30 feet by 14 feet, and there is a wool-drying shed, 95 feet by 40 feet, with four floors. In the boiling-down department, the fat and digester shed measures 24 feet by 20 feet; the boiler and engine shed is 20 feet by 16 feet; and the bone shed, 30 feet by 24 feet. This shed is used for grinding bones for manure. The business office at the works is fourteen feet by ten feet. The power used on the premises for doing the whole of the work is twenty-horse. There is a stable for four horses.

Fowler, John Walker , Farmer, “The Grange,” West Plains. Mr Fowler was born, in 1862, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was brought by his parents to the Bluff in the ship “Helenslea” in the following year. His father, Mr John Fowler, was a pioneer settler in the West Plains district, where he acquired 200 acres of land, now known as “The Grange,” which was then covered with bush, with the exception of thirty acres. This property, which is now fully cultivated, was taken over by Mr Fowler in 1902. Mr Fowler is a member of the Waikiwi River Board, and of the West Plains school committee, of which he has been secretary almost continuously since 1902. He was married in 1902.

Moore, Edward Alkxander , Farmer and Mill Owner, West Plains. Mr Moore was born in 1862, in Invercargill, where he was educated. He was brought up on his father's farm, and has always been interested in agricultural machinery. Mr Moore is the owner of a complete threshing mill plant, including portable engines and three chaffcutters, which are kept in constant work in the district. He owns 145 acres of land at West Plains, and eighty acres at Grove Bush, and has a pretty cottage at Half Moon Bay, Stewart Island, but resides on the main north road, near Wallacetown Crossing, on a section of two acres. As a volunteer. Mr Moore served for a time in the Invercarginll Rifles. He was married, in 1881, to a daughter of the late Mr Henry White, of Wales.