Where was Kahikatea on the West Coast?

I'm currently going back over the family history information I have collected over the years, checking for accuracy and completeness, starting from my parents and grandparents. 
Recently I discovered that when my maternal grandfather James Joseph Lalor was called up for military service in WW1, his address was given as Kahikatea and he was described as a sawmiller. (His brother John Francis Lalor was living at Kumara Junction, and his brother Robert was living near Taihape.)

This was a new location to me, and I tried to find it on old maps or other sources without success. So I wrote a question about it for the West Coast South Island History FB group, and it wasn't long before I had an answer. It turns out that Kahikatea was also known as Gladstone, and in an earlier time as Lagoon Town. 

Pete Muir was the person who gave the most detailed answers. He told me that: "Gladstone was also known as Lagoontown in its earliest days. The post office was always known as Kahikatea." and he added: "In Phil Ross May's book "West Coast Gold Rushes" & Rona Adshead & Jillian Johnson's Book "Valley of Little Towns" (history of the Marsden Valley) there are maps showing Gladstone as Lagoon Town. This was the name given in the early gold rush days. It was then more commonly known as Kahikatea from about 1900 until the 1950's then officially known as Gladstone. The name of the Post Office remained as Kahikatea until it's closing in the 80's." 

This map is part of one on the West Coast New Zealand History Recollect site, and is named GOLDFIELDS. The Greenstone, New River and Arnold, from Philip Ross May's book, on the West Coast Gold Rushes. (Pete had suggested looking up the map in this book.) It shows the location with its earliest name, Lagoon Town.

My grandfather's electoral address at the time was South Beach, where he was living with his parents. On the electoral roll at this stage he was sometimes listed with 'jun' after his name, as his father was also called James. Kahikatea/Gladstone is in fact not far from South Beach, and it would be interesting to know if James stayed overnight during the working week, or if he returned home each night.  
We retain a family connection with the Kahikatea/ Gladstone area, as my Aunty May and Uncle Jack Lalor (brother and sister) are both buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Gladstone.

My grandfather in the newspaper

I have just completed a bio for my grandfather Martin Riordan. He bought a farm in Hurford Rd, Omata, Taranaki about 1910-11, and lived there for a decade or so before moving into town in 1921. He was there during a time when 'District News' from Hurford Rd commonly featured in the local New Plymouth newspaper, and this added interesting 'flavour' to his bio. There are the various committees he was on- for instance he was chairman of the School Committee- but there are also some more 'offbeat' snippets.

In 1917, his bull earned a trip to the meat works after it gored several of his horses overnight. (TDN 28 Feb 1917)

 

In 1915 he was taken to court for failing to control the ragwort and blackberry on his property, and that brought to light the sad fact that his wife had been ill and away on holiday. (TDN 6 May 1915) 

It wasn't uncommon to find that he was thanked for playing music at some community event or other. (TDN 27 Oct 1920)

Sadly, only a few months after leaving the farm, he died after contracting influenza. He had attended an event on Hurford Rd not long before his relatively sudden death, which left the rural community shocked. (TDN 5 Sept 1921).

As was typical of those times "Mrs Riordan" was mentioned less often in the papers.