PROGRESS IN MARTON.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9163, 5 June 1908, Page 5

PROGRESS IN MARTON.

SIR, —If the statement which has been published, that over 300 sections have now been sold in the Mar-

ton Extension, is correct. *1 suppose it may be assumed as a fact that within the next twelve months Marton will extend to the Junction Station, and in allfprobability before many years nass, it will be a town approximating in wealth, area and population to Palmerston and Wanganui. This may almostVbe regarded a certainty and one cannot but ask : What is being done to meet the wants of such a community in the way of water supply, lighting and sanitary arrangements? I suppose with regard to water, now that the sinking of an artesian well at the Junction is being undertaken by the Railway Department it may be well for the borough to await results before entering on any other scheme, but surely some provision should be made for the lighting of the houses which will be built on the Extension very shortly. To arrive at Martou Station as it is now is an aidventnre to be avoided by women and children. To pass through the almost uuligbted tunnel under the line which is frequently blocked by more or less drunken men, and pass out into the mnd and darkness of the station yard, and then attempt to walk to Marton along abroad which is insufficiently lighted and without/ pavements is enough to try the nerve of both men and women, especially those with children —?md there is danger too. The railway crossings are unguarded, and with half-a-dozen engines shunting, and as many coaches passing and repassiug each other on the road on a dark night, a journey from the station to the town is something to remember. Surely it is the duty of someone to see that the station road is well lit up, considering the amount' of traffic that is on it, and that must increase monthly now. Then what sanitary arrangements are to be made for the two or three hundred houses that will be erected before long? Without light, , without a water supply, and with the sanitary conditions of a back block township, how is Marton to become attractive for new citizens? Now is Marten’s opportunity, the opportunity to become the inland capital of the southern end of the North Island. Everybody outside of Martou recognises this, and a few enterprising men in Marton do so also. But what is being done to bring it about, beyond the cutting up of the Henderson Estate? The new Chamber of Commerce when it has time to get to work will doubtless, do much good work, but something more than this is wanted. The borough should either be extended to take in the Junction Station or a new borough should be formed. It is not for me to say which is bast, but I feel sure that unless gas, water and some good sanitary system are provided for the new portion of the town, the progress of Marton will be checked. It is for the business men off the town to take the matter up and by hook or by crook to see that Martou attains the position which her situation as the centre of a large farming district and the outlet of the whole of the southern portion“of the North .Island entitles her. —Sam, etc., ARGUS.