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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

Waingaro

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Waingaro.

This district consists of a large tract of country in the county of Raglan. It is bounded on the north and east by the Waipa and Waikato rivers, on the west by the ocean beach, and its southern boundary touches the harbour of Raglan. The land, though of a somewhat broken character, is good for pasture. The centre of the district is about eighty miles from Auckland, and may be reached by travelling by rail to Ngaruawahia, and thence sixteen miles by coach, and across the bridge over the Waipa river at that township. There are also roads which converge from Tuakau, Churchill and Huntly to the Hot Springs, which have the most important attractions for tourists. A large number of persons have settled in the district within recent years, and well built, commodious homsteads testify to the comfort of the settlers and the prosperity of the district.

Allen, John, “The Cliffs,” Waingaro. Mr. Allen was born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England, in 1848, and educated at the Manor House Academy in that town. He came to the colony with his father, the late Mr. Edward Allen, of Mount Albert, Auckland, by the ship “Black Eagle” in 1861. For a few months the family was on land to the north of Auckland acquired under the forty-acre grant system, but then returned to the city, and Mr. Allen, senior, purchased property at Mount Albert, which he farmed successfully for many years, and ultimately subdivided and sold at satisfactory prices for suburban residences. Mr. J. Allen became a settler at Pukekohe, where he purchased a farm facing the Waikato river, and worked it for over twenty years, during which he changed it from a virgin forest to a well cultivated and subdivided farm. He was a breeder of Jersey cattle and horses, and one of the largest exhibitors at the local shows, always securing many prizes. In 1891 Mr. Allen took up a holding of 1800 acres of limestone country at Waingaro. The property was dense bush, and he at once let large contracts for felling and ring-fencing; and, after selling out at Pukekohe in 1895, he built a large dwellinghouse, woolshed, and other necessary outbuildings entirely from the timber sawn on the land. He then removed his family on to the property, and since then he has been steadily getting it into grass and subdividing it. Mr. Allen is now breeding a good class of cattle and sheep, sufficient for the requirements of the estate, and making it nearly self-sustaining.

Mr. J. Allen.

Mr. J. Allen.