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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]
Maxton and Co
Maxton and Co. (Mark Maxton), Advertising Contractors and Newspaper Brokers, General Agents and Valuers, Opera House Buildings, Manners Street, Wellington. Telephone 89; P.O. Box 65. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. Private residence, Tinakori Road. This business was established in 1893, in Grey Street by Mr Maxton, Mr. James Mander joining the firm in October, 1894, under the title of Messrs. Maxton, Mander and Co., but in October 1895 Mr. Mander retired, leaving Mr. Maxton in sole possession. Considering the short time elapsed since its inauguration, the business has made good progress, and it is still increasing rapidly. The agencies already secured include:—The Age, Leader, and Illustrated Australian News, Melbourne: Daily Telegraph, Sydney; Taranaki Herald, New Plymouth; Daily Telegraph, Napier; Wairoa Guardian, Napier; Egmont Star, Hawera; Waimate Witness, Manaia; Chronicle, Wanganui; Wairarapa Standard, Greytown; Eketahuna and Pahiatua Mail, Masterton; Wairarapa Star, Masterton; West Coast Mail, Otaki; Manawatu Daily Times, Palmerston; Kaikoura Star, Kaikoura; Evening Mail, Nelson; Times and Evening Star, Westport; Guardian, Havelock; Chronicle, Petone; also sub-agent for Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company, and broker for Scottish Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, (Accident Branch). Mr. Maxton is very well known throughout the district, having spent the whole of his life in Wellington and the Wairarapa. He was born in Wellington in 1853. His father, the late Mr. Samuel Maxton, had settled in Wellington many years previously, having arrived per ship “Birman” in 1842. In 1876 Mr. Maxton, sen., removed to Greytown, where several members of the family are still resident. Mr. Mark Maxton was educated at the Church of England School, under Mr. Mowbray. After serving an apprenticeship to the business of a baker and confectioner with his father, he decided to learn the printing, and was bound for six years at the Government Printing Office, when that institution was a very small affair as compared with its present dimensions. On the expiry of his apprenticeship, Mr. Maxton went to Masterton for a few years, during which time he was employed as a jobbing printer on the staff of the Wairarapa Daily. He then returned to Wellington to assist his brother-in-law, Mr. W. F. Roydhouse in the establishment and conduct of the Evening Press. During the time he was thus engaged Mr. Maxton gained an experience of newspaper work which is now very useful to him. Unfortunately, when he severed his connection with the Evening Press, instead of at once turning his experience to good account, he returned to the Wairarapa. At first he engaged in storekeeping at Greytown, and did fairly well, working up a good trade with the Maoris; but, an opportunity offering, he purchased a flour mill near Greytown, and during his first year in the new line was so unsuccessful, through a misadventure, that he lost all his previous savings, and was obliged to make a fresh start. His many friends will be pleased to learn that he is again doing well. In connection with his agency business, he has a circulating library of over 3000 volumes, which, being so centrally situated, is well patronised. Socially, Mr. Maxton has been prominent for a long time. As a tenor singer in the old Choral Society, and in similar institutions, he has assisted in the performance of nearly all the oratorios which have been given in Wellington for the last twenty years. He was the inaugurator and moving spirit of a string band which did good work many years ago, and in which he played the double bass. In the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows he holds a number of important offices. He is a “past grand” of the Antipodean Lodge, for which and for the Juvenile Antipodean Lodge he is auditor; and of the Sister Wallis Lodge he is trustee. The acting-secretaryship of the Widows' and Orphans' Society is also in the hands of Mr. Maxton.
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Mr. M. Maxton.