The large-scale immigration of the 1870s was part of Premier Julius Vogel’s scheme to revive the economy. He borrowed money from overseas and spent it on recruiting immigrants and constructing roads and railways. In the early 1870s people could only cross from Wellington to the Wairarapa by horse or bullock over the Remutaka Road. In 1878 a rail connection was opened.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, James Bragge Collection
Reference:
PA7-30-03
Photograph by James Bragge
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Tāpiritia te tākupu hou