Cook County was one of the counties of New Zealand in the North Island. It was established in 1876 and comprised the areas which today form the counties of Cook, Waikohu, Uawa, Waiapu and Matakaoa County, extending from Cape Runaway in the north to Paritu in the south. It was disestablished in 1989. Original area now divided into five counties NB: This section is derived from text in available here at The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. When Cook County was established in 1876 it comprised the areas which, today, form the counties of Cook, Waikohu, Uawa, Waiapu and Matakaoa County, and it extended from Cape Runaway in the north to Paritu in the south. The members of its first council were: J. W. Johnson (Te Arai riding), J. R. Hurrey and C. W. Ferris (Gisborne), A. McDonald and J. Seymour (Waimata), E. Robson (Tolaga Bay) and T. W. Porter (Waiapu). At a meeting on 9 January 1877, Mr. Johnson was elected chairman, Captain Tucker was appointed clerk (salary, NZ£200 per annum) and R. M. Skeet, C.E., surveyor (salary, £150 per annum). Despite a protest by the Tolaga Bay ratepayers, the Counties Act as a whole was brought into force. Te Arai, Ormond, Waikohu and Turanganui districts all had road boards in 1877. Patutahi followed in 1879, and then: Whataupoko (1882), Waimata (1885), Kaiti (1887), Ngatapa (1893), Pouawa and Aroha (1896) and Titirangi and Taruheru (1897). None of them functioned after December 1917. At the end of 1877, the council opened up the stone deposit at Waihirere and laid down a tramline. At the outset, the trucks were drawn by a small engine, which was driven by Fred Benson, with whom Bill Watt was associated as fireman. A larger engine was afterwards obtained, but it failed the line. In the end, horses had to be employed. Waihirere stone was used for the foundations of the road between Makaraka and Ormond, and it has stood up to a constant stream of traffic. A lot of stone from the quarry also went into the foundations of Gisborne's main thoroughfare. When the quarry began to fail in 1885 another was opened up in the Patutahi district. This quarry proved a valuable source of supply and is still (1949) being drawn upon. Supplementary supplies have, for some years, been obtained from Waerenga-o-Kuri. Census According to the census taken in 1878, there were 1,541 European