Chief Towns.

The principal town of the district is New Plymouth (population about 3,850), situate on the seashore, about two miles from and to the north-east of the picturesque rocky islets known as the Sugar Loaves. The general appearance of the town is very attractive, and it abounds in neatly-kept gardens. The Recreation Grounds, from which a good view of Mount Egmont is obtained, form a favourite resort.

New Plymouth is 252 miles by rail from Wellington, the railway running in a northerly direction through the district from Patea to Sentry Hill, where it turns at right-angles westward for eight miles to New Plymouth. From Sentry Hill there is a branch line to Waitara, four miles distant.

The Port of New Plymouth is situated at the Sugar Loaves, two miles from the town. Protection for shipping is afforded by a concrete mole or breakwater running in a north-east direction for a distance of 1,900 ft. Under the lee of this there is wharf-accommodation provided for the coastal trade. Steamers of 500 tons can be berthed here in almost all weathers. The wharf is connected with New Plymouth by both rail and road. The breakwater was built at. a cost of £200,000, borrowed under security of one-fourth of the land revenue of the Provincial District of Taranaki, and the right to levy a rate over certain lands. The present rate levied is ¾d. in the pound on the capital value. The principal exports for the year (by sea and rail) were: General merchandise (mostly dairy produce), 3,973 tons; wool, 884 bales; hides, 3,991; grass-seed, 472 tons; horses, 278; cattle, 3,774; sheep, 892; timber (by sea), 6,500 ft. Value of over-sea exports only, £204,612. Imports by sea: General merchandise, 9,863 tons; flour, 1,283 tons; grain, 1,283 tons; potatoes, 247 tons; coal, 2,590 tons; timber, 114,300 ft.; cattle, 76; vehicles, 29. Value of imports from over sea, £35,963. During the year 378 steamers, of gross tonnage of 96,931 tons, also two sailing vessels of 193 tons, visited the port.

Manufactures in New Plymouth are represented by a sash-and-door, a boot, butter-keg, and three coach-factories, a brewery, a cordial, and also a patent stopper-factory, a flour-mill, tannery, fellmongery, bone-mill, and iron-foundry, with freezing-works and bacon-factory in the suburbs. The town has both water and gas laid on.

Hawera, the next largest town, is situate on the eastern edge of the Waimate Plains. The population is about 1,800. The Wellington-New Plymouth Railway runs close to it, the distance by rail from New Plymouth being about forty-eight miles. Hawera is surrounded by a first-class dairying and grazing country, capable of carrying a very large population.

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The Town of Patea is situated on the const, at the extreme southern end of the district, and has a population of about 750. There is a splendid grazing district inland, with a large area of land yet to be opened up. The principal industry is the canning, freezing, and boiling-down of meat. A dumping-plant has been erected by the Harbour Board. Exports for the year were: Wool, 5,086 bales; fungus, 147 bales; tallow, 950 casks; pelts, 180 casks; hides, 3,402; corn, 10 tons; grass-seed, 1,899 sacks; butter and cheese, 5,357 boxes; flax, 306 tons; tinned meats, 4,542 cases; cattle, 70; sheep, 209; bone-dust, 385 tons; potatoes, 346 tons; sundries, 82 tons. Gross value, £113,784. Imports: General merchandise, 5,314 tons; coals, 452 tons; number of steamers in and out, 128.

Stratford, a comparatively young town, lies about midway between Patea and New Plymouth. It has already a population of about 1,300, and is growing fast. The height above sea-level is 1,000 ft., and the climate is bracing though somewhat moist. The main road to Auckland—known as the Stratford-Ongaruhe (now Ohura Road)—starts here. It has been formed as a cart-road for thirty-eight miles, and as a bridle road to fifty-three miles. If the work is continued energetically, communication with Auckland should be opened up in about three years' time.

Waitara, a small seaport town of 500 inhabitants, is situated on the river of the same name, a mile up from the sea, and about ten miles north-east from New Plymouth. The meat-freezing works have been reopened, and during the year exported 1,039 tons of frozen meats, 20,267 boxes of dairy produce, 2,204 bales wool, and 124 tons tallow. These Egmont freezing-works possess two powerful Haslam freezing-machines, capable of freezing five hundred bullocks per month; they are also gazetted a Government grading and cool store, a great advantage to the outside dairy factories, whose butter thus avoids all risk of injury after grading. All produce is conveyed on board the New Zealand Shipping Company's ocean-going steamers (which anchor in Waitara roadstead) in specially-constructed and insulated bags.

Inglewood, situated on the railway-line, sixteen miles south-east of New Plymouth, is a flourishing little town of some 650 inhabitants, rapidly coming to the front.

The only other towns of importance are Eltham, population, 582; Opunake, population, 400; Manaia, population, 480; and Norman by, population, 400.