Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 23:26
KINLEITH
Kinleith, a sawmilling and timber processing establishment for the production of pulp and paper, is situated on the volcanic plateau in the upper Waikato basin. The settlement is 18 miles south-east of Putaruru by road or branch railway. Afforestation was extended over large tracts of pumice land within a 12-mile radius of Tokoroa from 1924 onwards. In 1952 rail communication with Putaruru was established and sawmills and processing plant were erected. In 1953 the works began producing timber, pulp, and paper. The works' employees of the controlling company reside at Tokoroa, 4 miles north-west.
Kinleith is named after the Kinleith paper mills, situated by the Water of Leith in Scotland, where Sir David Henry served his apprenticeship in the papermaking trade.
by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.