\’5(o
0.
and another gacre was acquired under the Public Works Act as the’
was no trace of the owner.
The three cottages acquired with the properties were sold
for £101.
In September, I922, a grant was authorised for the removal
and remodelling of the building and this work was carried out
by Mr E.A.Hitchings at a cost of £760.
The school was conducted fin the public hall and in a
marquee during the process of removal. The school building was
remodelled to form three classrooms.
In I946 the present school in Three Mile Bush Road was
completed and opened. The old school was made available to
local groups for use as a meeting centre.
NGARARATUNUA SCHOOL.
Then when the Ngararatunua School was burnt to the ground
the old school was used as the Ngararatunua School for some time.
The Ngararatunua children were carried into the school and back
home again by bus.
When the new Ngararatunua School was built the old school
was handed over to the Kamo Town Council along with the land in
lieu of the acres taken over by the Education Department on the
right hand side of the main road at the southern entrance to the
town. ‘
The old school building was dismantled and rebuilt as the
Narsden Wheelers Clubhouse, while the old school property was cut
up into housing sections, many of which have now been built on.
The old two-storeyed teachers’ residence remains as such in
its old position. The new school is growing rapidly every year.
Work has started on the erection of the manual block section
of the new Kamo Intermediate School and a Kamo High School is
expected to open in I960.
HISTORY OF KAMQ.
Although Kamo will in time become part of Whangarei, it will
never lose its identity as a township established by pioneers
and with a rich history of its own.
The colourful historical background dates back to I856, when
the first settlers, William Carruth and Alexander Meldrum, a
arrived in the locality.
There was quite a numerous Pakeha—Maori population along the
east coast of Northland in I840, but it was hot until Auckland
had become well—established that the British settlement of
Northland's shores was begun.
Kamo and the Whangarei district was one of the first areas 0
of Pakeha life in N.Z. not wholly devoted to kauri timber felling
and shipping.
As the fertile qualities of the soil and the genial climate
of the district became known, it grew as a source of supply for
the Auckland market of potatoes, kumara and fruit.
THE TITLE DEED DISPUTE.
Meldrum and Carruth were two young men who were forced to
leave their holdings at Pukekohe because of a disputcbetween the
Government over title deeds. »
Back 
