Wallacetown is an important agricultural and pastoral district in the electorate of Awarua and in the Wallacetown riding of the county of Southland. The township is eight miles by road from Invercargill, and thirteen miles from Riverton, with which it is connected by the main road. Winton, which is only thirteen miles from Wallacetown, is reached through the settlement of Ryal Bnsh. Wallacetown occupies a very fine site on the terrace between the Makarewa river and the Tomoporahau creek, into both sides of which there is good natural drainage. The land in the surrounding districts is in the possession of large farmers, whose freeholds range from 500 to 1,000 acres. There is also a working-men's settlement known as Wallacetown Extension, which was subdivided in 1897 into sections, averaging from five acres to ten acres. Agriculture and dairying are the chief local industries. The extensive milk-preserving works, known as Underwood, are about two miles and a-half from the township, towards the Wallacetown railway station, and give employment to a number of persons. The settlement has had a Presbyterian church for about thirty years. The original church building is now (1904) a public hall, and a new church and manse were erected in 1891. Wallacetown has also a public school, a hotel, a store, a blacksmith's shop, and a considerable number of dwellings. The population of the township at the census of 1901 was 160, in addition to thirty-seven in the neighbourhood, fifty-two on the Wallacetown road, and nineteen at Wallacetown junction; the two latter places are in the Awarua riding of the county of Southland. Wallacetown district is well served by railway stations. The one known as Wallacetown, on the Invercargill-Kingston line, is three miles from the township and five miles from Invercargill, and stands at an elevation of forty-five feet above the level of the sea. That at Ryal Bush is three miles beyond Wallacetown, on the same section of railway, and ten miles from Invercargill, and is ninety-two feet above the sea level. Wallacetown is also connected with Invercargill by a line of coaches. One of the ridings of the county of Southland is named Wallacetown, and has a population of 1,486.

Mr. Thomas Pollockson Brass , Curator of the Southland Fish Hatcheries, was born in Southland in 1867, and has been associated with acclimatisation work from his youth. He was employed at the Southland hatcheries under Mr H. Howard, and afterwards under Mr A. M. Campbell, and was appointed curator in 1901. He is attached to the Pioneer Lodge of Oddfellows. Mr Brass was married, in 1894, to a daughter of the late Mr Alexander Gray, of Wallacetown.

The Wallacetown Post Office And Telephone Bureau . The Post Office was established in 1873, and the Telephone Bureau on the 1st of February, 1890; There is a daily mail in and out, and the business is conducted at the Wallacetown store.

Wallacetown School . The original school was opened in a buildiug erected by the settlers in 1870, who maintained it at their own cost, until the Southland Board of Education took the school under its control in 1877. The old building has lately been replaced by a handsome new school house, containing a very commodious classroom. The number of scholars on the roll is forty-five, with an average attendance of forty.

The Wallacetown Saleyards are the property of the Invercargill Saleyards Company, Limited, and were established about the year 1883, on a site of eight acres of land. The yards are very extensive, and have accommodation for 1,000 sheep, 900 cattle and 500 horses, and there are stores and stables, and offices for auctioneers. Fortnightly sales are held, and from 400 to 500 head of cattle, and 2,000 and 2,500 sheep are usually sold. These sales are considered the most important in the district, and the prices realised are recognised as the ruling values for stock in Southland. A siding connects the yards with the railway, and the arrangements for loading and unloading stock are most complete. The company is managed by a Board of directors, and Mr R. F. Cuthbertson is secretary.

Mr. Robert Dunbar Fraser , who has been caretaker of the Wallace-town saleyards since 1895, was born on the 13th of March, 1850, at John O'-Groat's, Scotland. He arrived at the Bluff with his parents in the ship “Helenslea” in October, 1803, and transhipped to the steamer “Titania,” which brought the passengers to the Invercargill wharf. Mr Fraser was employed in sawmilling for a period of twenty-seven years, but, having met with an accident at the Makarewa Bush mill, gave up that employment, and was appointed to the position of caretaker of the Wallacetown saleyards. As a volunteer, Mr Fraser served for seven years in the G Battery, and as an Oddfellow, he passed all the chairs in the Shamrock, Rose and Thistle Lodge. He was married, on the 30th of September, 1881, to a daughter of the late Mr Thomas Watson, of Ber-wick-on-Tweed, and has four sons and one daughter.

The Underwood Milk Preserving Works (W. T. Murray and Co., Limited, proprietors), Wallacetown. These works were established in 1892, by the late Mr Robert Blair, and have been owned by the present company since 1896. There are two boilers, each of forty horse-power nominal, a power engine, and a Linde-British freezing machine. Large quantities of milk are received from the surrounding districts, and the principal portion is preserved in tins. The output for a single year has been as high as 40,000 cases of four dozen each, of which a large proportion is consumed in the colony, and the balance exported. From thirty to thirty-five hundredweight of sugar is used daily in the preserving process, and 100,000 gallons of cold water in condensing. The preserving plant is complete in every respect, and includes tin and box-making machinery, and there is also a butter-making department equipped with all the latest appliances. From fifty to sixty persons are employed at the works.

The Wallacetown Hotel (Henry Huggard Powell, Proprietor), Wallacetown. This hotel was erected in 1860, and was purchased by Mr Powell in 1873, when it was thoroughly renovated. It is a two-storey wood and iron building, containing six bedrooms, four sitting-rooms, and two dining-rooms. The diningrooms have accommodation for forty guests. There is a good stable with six stalls and two loose boxes, and there are forty acres of land adjoining the hotel.

The Wallacetown Freezing Works (Southland Frozen Meat and Produce Export. Company, Limited, proprietors), Wallacetown. These works were established about 1884, and the buildings, which are of wood, iron and brick, are fitted up with all modern appliances for slaughtering cattle, sheep and pigs, and the manufacture of manure. As many as 1,400 sheep have been killed in a day, and for the year ending the 31st of December, 1903, 140,000 sheep and lambs, and 1,000 head of cattle passed through the works. The tallow and manure departments produced for the same year 780 casks of tallow, and 700 tons of manure. There is also a department for the manufacture of sausage casings, and another for making casks; the sheep skins and hides are treated on owners' account at outside fell-mongeries. There are two twenty horse-power boilers, and a ten horsepower engine employed at the works, and forty men are engaged during the season.

Brown, George Simpson , Farmer, Wallacetown. Mr Brown was born in 1839, in Aberdeen, Scotland, and was brought up to farming. He arrived in Melbourne in 1854, and for some years was engaged as a shepherd and bullock-driver in Australia. Mr Brown came to New Zealand in 1862, and worked for a time as a miner on the Gabriel's Gully and Dunstan goldfields. In 1863, he made his home at Wallacetown, and, later on, he went to the Picton “rush.” Mr Brown took up his first land at Wallacetown in 1865, and now has a farm of 160 acres of freehold. He served for many years as a member of the Wallacetown school committee. Mr Brown page 914 was married, on the 15th of May, 1868, to a daughter of the late Mr James Honeyman, of Milton, and has six daughters, five sons, and nine grandchildren.

Stevens, John Wardlaw , Farmer “River View,” Wallacetown. Mr. Stevens was born on the 4th of September, 1863, at Bonhill, Dumbartonshire, Scotland. He arrived in Port Chalmers in 1865, by the ship “Cariboo,” with his father, the late Rev. Andrew Stevens, who was the first Presbyterian minister at Wallacetown. Mr. Stevens was brought up to farming, and has farmed on his own account since 1877. He is now engaged in dairy farming, in connection with which he holds sixty acres of leasehold land, and owns ten acres of freehold in the township, on which he has erected a handsome residence. Mr. Stevens has been a member of the Wallacetown school committee for some years. He married a daughter of Mr Walter Riddle, of Orepuki, and has seven sons and two daughters.

The Rev. Andrew Stevens , who was the first Presbyterian minister in Wallacetown, was born in 1811 in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he studied for the ministry of the Free. Church of Scotland. For some years after his ordination, he had charge of the parish of Bonhill, Dumbartonshire. Mr Stevens afterwards went to Canada, where he was in charge of the church at Paris, in the western district. Having returned to Scotland, he was stationed at West Calder, fifteen miles from Edinburgh, for a few years, and came to Port Chalmers in the ship “Cariboo,” in 1865. He was appointed shortly afterwards to the charge of Wallacetown, where he was engaged in active work for twenty years, but retired about five years before his death, which occurred in January, 1892. Mr Stevens married Miss Campbell, of New Brunswick, who died in 1887, leaving six sons and four daughters, all of whom are living.