A municipality and seaport on the west coast of North Island, New Zealand, capital of the provincial district of Taranaki, 258 m. N.N.W. of Wellington by rail. Pop. (1906) 5141. The town slopes to the ocean, with a background of forest surmounted by the snow-clad volcanic cone of Mount Egmont (8270 ft.). The district is not unjustly termed "the garden of New Zealand." It is highly fertile, cereals and fruits growing well; and dairy products are extensively exported. In the town are leather-works, timber-works and flour-mills, with freezingworks for export dairy produce. The settlement was founded in 1841 by the Plymouth Company under the auspices of the New Zealand Company, and chiefly consisted of emigrants from Devonshire and Cornwall. On the seashore in the neighbourhood are extensive deposits of ironsand.