Carterton Post and Telegraph Office, situated in Main Street, is a wood and iron building, and not far from the Police Station. The staff consists of the postmaster and telegraphist, a letter-carrier and an office-boy. Mails for Carterton close daily at Wellington at 6.45 a.m. and 2.50 p.m., and close daily at Carterton for Wellington at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Mr. Walter Clunie Drake, the Postmaster and Telegraphist, is a grandson of the late Mr. James Drake, publisher, of London. Born in 1853 in New South Wales, Mr. Drake was educated in Christchurch, where his father had settled. Entering the Government service at the age of eighteen, he has held office in Otago, Waikato, Auckland, and at Opunake (Taranaki), being transferred to Carterton in 1886.

Carterton Police Station is situated in High Street, where the premises now occupied were erected in 1884. Adjoining the station there is a two-story residence for the officer in charge. The lock-up, containing two cells, is said to be seldom used.

Mr. William Wilson Smart, the officer in charge of the Carterton Police District, was born in 1850, near Rugby, England. Arriving at Lyttelton by the ship “Randolph,” the second of the first four ships bearing the Canterbury pilgrims to arrive in port, he was educated in Lyttelton and at Christchurch. Joining the force in 1875, he was stationed at Kaiapoi, and afterwards for fourteen years at Kaikoura, being appointed to Carterton in 1896.

Mr. Donald Kerr, Inspector of Stock, stationed at Carterton, who comes of a famous Scottish family of the borders alluded to more than once in Scott's Waverley Novels, was born in Balliemore, South Knapdale, Argyllshire, Scotland. His father, an expert sheep and cattle breeder, occupied a farm that had been in the family for 150 years. Before leaving Scotland in 1885 he was page 908 associated with his father in stock-dealing. Landing in Dunedin, he was employed on Messrs. Campbell and Sons' Benmore Station till 1891, when he joined the New Zealand Stock Department. He was successively stationed at Arrowtown, Ophir, and Naseby till May, 1896, when he was appointed to the charge of the South Wairarapa district. While in Central Otago Mr Kerr was prominently identified with the social clubs and societies of the district. He is a member of the Otago Central Agricultural and Pastoral Association, of the Maniototo Jockey Club and of various athletic bodies. He was also a director of the Blackstone Hill Goldmining Company.

Mr. D. Kerr, Inspector of Stock, Carterton.

Carterton Railway Station is situated in Belvedere Road, within five minutes walk of the centre of the town. The buildings—station, good-sheds, and residence—are of the ordinary design, and contain the usual accommodation for the travelling public, the stationmaster, and his staff, which consists of a clerk and two porters. There is a considerable output of timber, wool, and dairy produce. The Carterton railway station has been open since November, 1880, when traffic on the line was commenced.

Mr. William Gordon King, the Station-master in charge of the Carterton Railway Station, hails from Essex, England, where he was born in 1855. Before coming to New Zealand, he was at sea for seven years, and, when nineteen years of age, was second officer of the ill-fated “Halcione.” Settling in the Colony in 1874, he joined the Railway Department, and has been employed on the Wellington section, with the exception of three years in Canterbury. Mr. King has been in charge of the Carterton station since 1880.