SUPPORTER OF INDUSTRY FOR 40 YEARS RETIRES

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 62, 10 August 1965, Page 10

SUPPORTER OF INDUSTRY FOR 40 YEARS RETIRES

A stauncli believer in the future of the area's farmlands, Mr W. A. Charlton, manager of the Putaruru branch of Wright, Stephenson and Company Ltd., retired recently after 40 years' service with the llrm. "The best of the land in the Putaruru district is premium country today and, given time, there is no reason why the areas further south should not reach the same standard," he commented in an interview.

Mr Charlton had been manager for 11 years of the company's Putaruru branch, the administrative centre for an area containing subbranches at Tirau, Tokoroa, Whakamaru, Taupo and Rotorua. Until Rotorua was formed as a separate branch last Wednesday, this territory covered about 3,600 square miles. "Admittedly this figure includes lakes, rivers and forests," Mr Charlton stated. All of his service was undertaken in the Auckland Province. Mr Charlton spent nine years in Auckland, seven years in Waiuku, two terms in Hamilton totalling five years, four years at Rotorua and the last 11 years at Putaruru. Four years were taken up with service during the Second World War. He has seen big gains in farm values during his term

as manager at Putaruru. "Following the land boom in 1951-52, district values have appreciated by about 75 per cent.," he said. "The better parts of the district are now comparable with the best of the Central Waikato." Mr Charlton pointed out that land in the Putaruru district has now been farmed for about 60 years, and had developed further than much of the country to the south which had been settled since then. The newest areas, in the Taupo district, were still in their infancy but showed the greatest scope for development in the future. Consolidation and years of farming were the answer to the problems of the south. Trace element and mineral deficiencies, to which an answer had long been found in the north of the area, were still having an effect. When Wright, Stephenson and Company's Kensington Street premises were opened 11 years ago, they were among the first of the big post-war commercial buildings in the town. Mr Charl-

ton has since seen a remarkable growth in the borough. "The pattern has been one of constant expansion, commensurate with the strength of the surrounding country," he said. "There has also been a steady increase in borough amenities, which have improved tremendously, and in the the number of new commercial buildings and homes."