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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

West Plains

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.