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PLYMOUTH  , 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 freezing-works 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 .