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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

[Marton]

page 1302
The municipality of Marton is situate on the Wellington-New Plymouth Railway Line, at a distance of 119 miles north-east of the capital, in 40° 7′ south latitude, and 175° 15′ east longitude, the elevation being 491 feet above sea-level. Although suffering many reverses from fires, in which some of the more important public buildings were reduced to ashes, Marton has not been robbed of a certain smart appearance, wanting in some other West Coast towns. Being the centre of a large agricultural and pastoral country, the business of the town appears to be on a sound and satisfactory basis, the weekly market day being one of the periodical excitements. Marton is flat, with a genial clime, good drainage, and clean streets, which are to be shortly lighted by gas, the local government—the Marton Borough Council—having so decided. The beauty spots of Marton are the park, the waterworks, the rural lanes of the suburbs, the verdure-clad hills of the rolling country, the gaily-decked villa residences of the wealthy, and the pretty homes and farmhouses peeping everywhere between the trees of the plantations. The more remote sights and scenes are graphically described by “Ajor,” a well-known writer to the Otago Witness, in the following words:—
Broadway, Marton.

Broadway, Marton.

page 1303
Railway Station, Marton.

Railway Station, Marton.

“The country around Marton is worth seeing. For instance, when the four miles of road running through the thousands of acres of rich, loamy soil, westward of the town, has been negotiated, and that grand serpentine of Bonny Glen Hill has been ascended, one has the picturesque little building, the Bonny Glen Church, on the southwestern elbow, and down below, to the left, the sweep of the Bonny Glen Valley, with the highland homesteads and the sheep-dotted runs, and the other well-cultured acres. Away due west lies the thin white line of the road to forlorn Turakina, and the sea beyond. Right behind the sight-seer, and to the north-east, towers Ruapehu loftiest monument to the North Island—all snow and ice, and apparently, shooting from its summit issue jet black clouds of smoke, but that, is from Tongariro, whose sulphurous form is hidden, yet sends up from the crater of a cone, straight through the inner columns of smoke, hissing, roaring steam. In another moment the whole column is buried, and the blue sky above and all around becomes of a saffron, or coppery hue, and then from out the top of this fiery pillar, far up, dance hundreds of forked tongues of living flame, and from the vortex thereof burst ever and anon showers of red-hot stones like unto mighty stars of some gigantic Roman candle. Descending from Fern Flats, a large red table-land overlooking Bonny Glen from the north, the tourist, threading some two miles of the westward road, through unequalled country, reaches another terrace, or table-land, overlooking the Turakina village on the north, and another fine prospect bursts upon the eye. All around, west and north, spread the burnished waters of the Pacific, and out of them to the north towers sugar-loafed Mount Egmont, while to the east a much better view of Ruapehu may be obtained. In the valley, between the tourist and the ocean, sleeps Turakina, almost deserted.”

Marton, which has a population of 1151, is the chief town of the Rangitikei County, of which it forms a part, the Electoral District being that of Manawatu. Two miles out of the borough, towards Feilding, is Marton Junction, which is the starting-point of the line to Hunterville sixteen miles inland—and Ohingaiti; this may at some future time be a through route to Auckland. The post and telegraph office—destroyed by fire in the early part of 1896—is to be substantially re-erected. Mails are received and delivered twice daily, the office being available for money page 1304 orders, postal notes, and post-office savings bank business. About 1866 Marton first became a settlement, and for some years before 1879, when it was made a municipal corporation, it was governed by a road board. The local newspaper is the Rangitikei Advocate. There are four hotels, besides several boardinghouses, the accommodation being comfortable. For religious services in the township, four places of worship exist—Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Wesleyan. Altogether, Marton is a very pleasant place at which to stay, the roads also being good for tourists, equestrians, pedestrians, or cyclists. As Marton is the headquarters of the newly-formed Manawatu Electorate, a sketch of Mr. J. Stevens, who defeated Mr. R. C. Bruce at the General Election of 1896, is given below.