The town of Ashburton (pop. 16,000) lies on the Ashburton River in the Canterbury Plains, 90km southwest of Christchurch. The town and the river are named after Lord Ashburton, a prominent member of the New Zealand Land Company founded by Edward Gibbon Wakefield in London. The wide Canterbury Plains, with the Southern Alps in the distance, are
now the granary of New Zealand, reminiscent of the American Midwest, though only 150 years ago, when Bishop Selwyn was traveling about his immense diocese, the plains were arid, treeless and covered with brown tussock grass.
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