20 km north-west of Palmerston North. The town was laid out in 1874, the first township on the Manchester block developed by the London-based Emigrant and Colonist’s Aid Corporation. In the early twentieth century it had the most important saleyards in the lower North Island. The establishment of Feilding Agricultural High School (1921) and New Zealand’s first Young Farmers’ Club (1927) marked the importance of farming in the community. But the 1920s to 1940s were uncertain years both for dairying and hill-country sheep farming. The town thrived again after the Second World War.
