Balfour (New Zealand)
| Balfour | ||
| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 45 ° 50 ′ S , 168 ° 35 ′ E | |
| Region ISO | NZ-STL | |
| Country |
 New Zealand
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| region | Southland | |
| District | Southland District | |
| Ward | Winton Ward | |
| Residents | 126 (2013) | |
| height | 170 m | |
| Post Code | 9779 | |
| Telephone code | +64 (0) 3 | |
Balfour is a small village in the Southland District of the Southland regionon the South Island of New Zealand .
Origin of name
The name of the place was either after an employee of the Waimea Company living in the place or after James Mulville Balfour , who worked as a land surveyor in the province of Otago and a marine engineer for the government in the 1860s .
geography
Balfour is located around 40 km northwest of Gore and around 15 km southeast of Lumsden in the Waimea Plains , between the Hokonui Hills and the Mataura River .
history
In 1880 the railway line of the Waimea Plains Railway was opened, which connected Gore on the Main South Line with Lumsden on Kingston Branch and thus crossed Balfour . The railway line was an economically important connection for many years. The original Kingston Flyer , which gave its name to the tourist train of the same name, also passed Balfour between the 1860s and Easter 1957.
Due to the improvement of the road connections and changes in the legal requirements, most of the railway line was closed in 1971 for economic reasons. Balfour was now only the end of a short branch line to Lumsden . The hope of maintaining this route by transporting wheat from the surrounding farms was not fulfilled, and it was also closed on January 15, 1978. The platform in Balfour is now part of a children's playground.
population
At the 2013 census, the village had 126 inhabitants, 8.7% less than at the 2006 census.
economy
The region is characterized by agriculture, especially cattle breeding, sheep breeding and grain cultivation and grazing of deer are in the foreground. There used to be a dairy in town. In recent years the dairy industry has regained importance. There is also a lime works opened in 1910.
Infrastructure
Road traffic
The New Zealand State Highway 94 runs through Balfour and connects the village with Gore on the southeast side and Te Anau on the northwest side.
Education
With the Balfour School, the village has a primary school with grades 1 to 6. In 2014, 75 students attended the school.
Sports
Balfour hosts a rugby sevens tournament every year , which includes teams from the Southland and Otago regions . In the Mataura River is for rainbow trout fishing.
literature
- Helga Neubauer: Balfour . In: The New Zealand Book . 1st edition. NZ Visitor Publications , Nelson 2003, ISBN 1-877339-00-8 , pp. 896 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 2013 Census QuickStats about a place: Balfour . Statistics New Zealand , accessed October 9, 2017 .
- ^ AW Reed : The Reed dictionary of New Zealand place names . Reed Books , Auckland 2002, ISBN 0-7900-0761-4 (English).
- ↑ a b Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed October 9, 2017 .
- ^ David Leitch, Brian Scott : Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways . Grantham House , Wellington 1998, pp. 111 f . (English).
- ^ Balfour School . Education Review Office , accessed October 9, 2017 .