_The Evening Post_, 22 March 1924:
HYDRO-ELECTRICITY
TAUMARUNUI WORKS OPENED
"COMING CITY WITH A GREAT
FUTURE."
——
(BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)
TAUMARUNUI, 21st March.
The hydro-ele[c]trical works erected by the borough at a cost of £521,000 [ca. $64M today] were officially declared open by the Prime Minister this afternoon in the presence of a large gathering of townspeople at #Piriaka, about five miles from #Taumarunui.
The works are said to be the second of the kind erected in the Dominion. The power generated will… supply the town and the district for many miles around. The power is obtained from the Wanganui River…
Mr. Massey… said that Taumarunui had made wonderful progress and was no doubt a coming city with a great future before it. He referred to the general development of hydro-electricity throughout the Dominion… later [in the power-house] the Prime Minister switched on the electric current amid loud applause.…
To-night the Prime Minister will be entertained to a dinner… and will later address citizens in Main street, which has been festooned with coloured lights for the occasion.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19240322.2.114

#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #HydroElectricity #PowerGeneration #WhanganuiRiver #NewZealand

Taumarunui, 1980
gelatin silver print 330 x 304 mm - Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1997

#Taumarunui #304mm- #Tāmaki #Matapihi #Kōtuia #Māori #women #elderly #automobiles #roads #Photograph

http://api.digitalnz.org/records/1852200/source

_The Evening Post_, 6 July 1923:
APPALLING DISASTER
ON MAIN TRUNK LINE
AUCKLAND EXPRESS RUNS INTO A SLIP
AT ONGARUE
FIFTEEN DEAD: THIRTY INJURED
PASSENGERS CRUSHED IN THE DEBRIS
One of the most disastrous #railway #accidents in the history of the Dominion occurred near #Ongarue, near #Taumarunui, about 6 o’clock this morning, when the Main Trunk express, which left Auckland at 11 o’clock last night, ran into a landslip, and three carriages were telescoped. Fifteen persons are dead and thirty injured.
…
Passengers on the train state emphatically that no blame could be attached to the driver, and that the train was not travelling fast, but at a steady speed. Daylight had not broken when the accident happened.…
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19230706.2.81
#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #NewZealand

_The Evening Post_, 29 May 1924:
               The Motor
            BY “AUTOS”
   THE CENTRAL ROUTE
  So far as roads are concerned, probably the most isolated town of any importance in New Zealand is #Taumarunui. Though on the Main Trunk railway, a point where all trains stop, Taumarunui has no connection by road either with the world to the South or the world to the North, while the communication westward to Taranaki is so weak through bad roads as to be practically negligible. There is no through communication at all to the East. Thus in case of a railway strike, as recently, or in event of bad weather, when wash-outs and slips break the continuity of the line of rails, this important centre is practically limited to the long and tedious river journey down the Wanganui for its access to the outside.… The subject of the central route between Wellington and Auckland was broached recently by the Mayor of Taumarunui to Messrs. M. H. Wynyard (member of the Main Highways Board) and P. Keller (chairman of the District Highways Council). Mr. Wynyard promised to place the matter before the board.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19240529.2.126
#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Roads #Roading #NorthIsland #NewZealand

@aitkesandpains One of my favourite #Wellington #train managers was a #Reefton girl. I published a #poem about her (a parody of "#Taumarunui").