The Bank of Australasia, High Street, Marton. This branch was established about 1876. The building is a handsome wooden structure, with residence attached. The manager, Mr. W. M. Smith, is assisted by the following officers:—Messrs. E. F. Iveson, P. J. Sladden, and A. E. N. Matheson.

Mr. William Marmaduke Smith, Manager of the Bank of Australasia, Marton, was born in the North of Ireland in 1856, and came to New Zealand in 1869. He was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch, and after serving in the Post and Telegraph Department was engaged in farming in the Wanganui District for a time. In 1882 he joined the Bank of Australasia in Wanganui, and the following year was appointed ledger-keeper at Auckland. Two years later he became teller, then manager at Featherston in 1887, and was transferred to Marton in 1888.

The Bank of New Zealand, Marton Branch, High Street, Marton, was established in 1875. The building is of wood, and contains the banking chamber, in addition to agent's office and residence. The agent, Mr. F. J. Dignan, is assisted by the following officers:—Messrs. W. S. Russell, W. W. Awdry, and W. S. Chaney.

Mr. Francis John Dignan, Agent of the Bank of New Zealand, Marton, is the son of the late Hon. P. Dignan, prominent in the Auckland Provincial Council the House of Representatives, and the Legislative Council. The subject of this sketch is a brother of Mr. P. L. Dignan, Inspector of the Bank of New Zealand, and of Mr. James Dignan, the Secretary to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Born in Auckland in 1858, and educated at the Auckland College and Grammar School, Mr. Dignan entered the service of the bank as junior, in 1876, and after two years was transferred to Christchurch. Seven years after joining the bank he was appointed agent, and for about eleven years occupied that position in different towns in Canterbury. In 1894 he was transferred from Temuka to Marton. Mr. Dignan married Miss Armstrong, daughter of Mr. George Armstrong, at one time M.H.R. for Akaroa, and has three children. Mr. Dignan is hon secretary of the Rantigitikei Hunt Club, and while in Canterbury was a member of the Geraldine County Acclimatisation Society, and a director of the Temuka Caledonian Society.

Rangitikei Permanent Land, Building and Investment Society, incorporated under the Building Societies Act, 1890 (D. C. Tennent, Secretary and Manager), High Street, Marton. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. P.O. Box 4). This Society was originally established in 1876 under the Acts of 1866–1869, but it has since been brought under the Act of 1890. It has been a most useful institution since its inception, and the means of many a man building his own house and purchasing his freehold in the district. The working capital of the Society is about £8000, and there are from twenty to thirty proprietary shareholders. These have received dividends of eight per cent., together with bonus additions of from two per cent, to six per cent.