Wangaehu Highway Board/District

Comparatively little is known about this particular agency although it is clear that highway districts were formed to meet an increasing need to improve and extend rural roading. The districts/boards were given power to raise revenue through rating. The minutes are contained in the same volume as those of the Wanganui and Rangitikei General Road Board 1870-1871, which appears to have been a predecessor agency of the Wangaehu Board. The original Wangaehu Highway District covered a very large area, between the Whanganui and Whangaehu rivers, from Cook Strait in the south to the edge of Taupo County in the north. It was divided into 7 wards.

In 1883 the District was subdivided with the former Ward 5 becoming the Upper Wangaehu Road District in the east, and the Mangawhero Road District in the west. The remainder formed a reconstituted Wangaehu Road District, with 5 subdivisions, the former Ward 6 becoming Subdivision 4, and the former Ward 7 becoming Subdivision 5. The reconstituted Board was dissolved and merged into Wanganui County in June 1886. In 1887 the Wanganui County constituted six ridings, based on the subdivisions of the former Wangaehu Highway District.