Know your town

A few facts from a 1925 paper
Martinborough – still a Town Board with a population of 985. There were seven miles of formed streets and six miles of formed footpaths, with forty three street lamps. A brick town hall and a library with 2.700 volumes. The town consumed 60,000 gallons of water a day. The average wage was thirteen shillings a day (today’s equivalent $60) Total rates four thousand eight hundred and forty six pounds (today = $448,033).

Featherston – A Borough since 1919 with a population of 1,090. Twenty one miles of formed streets with sixteen miles of formed footpaths and forty seven street lights. A sewerage system, wooden town hall and library with 8,850 volumes.

Greytown – A borough since 1878 with a population of 1,230. Twenty one miles of formed streets and two and three quarters miles of footpaths with forty one street lamps. A gas works and sewerage system. Town Hall built in 1907 and library with 3,950 volumes.

Martinborough Town Hall 1974
Our photo is of a ‘Meet the candidates meeting’ (as it was then called) of that year. I guess that the present council would like the voters of the town to turn out this way. The last meeting I attended was in the Green Room and you could count the concerned citizens on one hand, the rest were councillors and council staff

In the past Martinborough citizens voted for eight councillors and a mayor. You went to hear the candidates speak and chose who you wished to best represent you in making council decisions.

These days ,with all the Government regulations, we have a lot of office people making the decisions for us. Some are very good and helpful, while others treat us as ignorant. What will it be like under a larger amalgamation?
Mate Higginson