The Wanganui Post-Office —an imposing wooden building with a square clock-tower—occupies a prominent corner in the Avenue, at the junction with Ridgway Street. It is an important office, and a large business is done in the various departments, a long counter in the public room being apportioned for the convenience of the public and the counter-clerks. The staff of the post-office includes six clerks and a cadet, in addition to the chief postmaster. The telegraph business conducted at this office is very large, as all cable messages received in New Zealand for the North Island have to pass through Wanganui—the receiving-station at Whakapuaka, Cable Bay, being in direct communication with Wanganui, via Castlecliff. The staff of operators and messengers engaged on this branch of the work numbers sixteen.

Mr. Henry Fowle Seagar, Assistant Officer in charge of the Wanganui Post and Telegraph Offices, was born in London in 1854. Coming to New Zealand with his parents at an early age, he was educated in the Colony. He joined the Government service in 1869 as a cadet in Wellington, and after twelve months' experience he was transferred to the Thames, where he remained for four years. For twenty-one years he was stationed at Dunedin, rising to the position of assistant officer in charge, which position he filled for ten years. In 1895 he was transferred to Wanganui station, where under his supervision the entire cable work for the North Island is performed. Whilst in Dunedin Mr. Seagar took an active part in the Volunteer movement, being connected with the Engineer Corps and the D Battery of Artillery. In Wanganui he takes a keen interest in local athletic matters. Mr. Seagar was married in Dunedin to a daughter of the late Mr. Brindley, and his two daughters.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. H. F. Seagar.

Mr. Alfred Elliott is the Collector of Customs for the port of Wanganui, and Sub-Paymaster of Imperial Pensions. The offices of H.M. Customs are situated opposite the railway station on Taupo Quay. Private residence, Wilson Street. Mr. Elliott was born in Nelson where he was educated. As a youth he entered the Government service in the customs office in Nelson, and has been connected with the department ever since his entry. He has been employed at Westport, Nelson, Napier, and Dunedin as a clerk, and was landing waiter at Greymouth and Nelson subsequently, receiving his present appointment as collector of customs for Wanganui in February, 1892. His father, Mr. Charles Elliott, arrived at Nelson per “Mary Ann,” about 1842. He was the founder and proprietor of the old Nelson Examiner, which he conducted many years, the plant of which he brought with him. Mr. Elliott, senr., died about fifteen years ago.

Mr. John Bates is the officer in-charge of the Native Land Court Office, the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, and the purchasing officer under the Natives Land Purchase Act. Mr. Bates is a native of Wanganui, was educated at the local schools, and entered the Government service in the Native Department in the year 1889. Until 1890 he continued as a clerk in the Native Lands Court Office at Wanganui and in the latter year received the appointment as officer-in-charge as above, a position which he has held with satisfaction since that time.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. J. Bates.

The Wanganui Police Station, which is situated in Bell Street, consists of several buildings which are for the most part surrounded by well-kept lawns and flower-borders. The principal officers in charge of the district live on the station premises, and convenient offices are allotted to the sergeant in charge. The station is within a stone's throw of the Magistrate's Court.

Sergeant John Cullen, the Officer-in-charge of the Wanganui Sub-police District, was born in Ireland, and came to New Zealand per ship “Camperdown,” arriving in Wellington in 1876. Before leaving the Emerald Isle, he was for seven years in the Royal Irish Constabulary, stationed in the north of Ireland. On his arrival in the Colony, he joined the constabulary in Wellington, and after a time was transferred to Blenheim, where he resided for several years. He was afterwards transferred to Timaru, and thence to Napier, being ultimately sent to Wanganui, and appointed to his present position. In July, 1878, he was made a third-class sergeant, in 1886, he was raised to the second-class rank, and in 1893, to the first-class.

The Wanganui Gaol stands on a reserve to the south-west of the railway line, and is reached by a road from the end of Maria Place. The gaol is a wooden building, with accommodation for twenty males and five females, and the cells, which are large and airy, are furnished as in other prisons. The ground upon which the prison stands was ten or twelve years ago a desolate sandhill, which has since been levelled and planted with grasses, and is now beginning to get a good sward on it. The gaoler's house, standing about a chain from the prison wall, is surrounded by a pretty flower-garden. For the last seven or eight years the prisoners have been employed on public works in the vicinity of Wanganui, and are at present (1897) making an athletic sports ground in Cook's Gardens.

Mr. R. T. Noble-Beasley, the Gaoler of the Wanganui Prison, was educated at Rugby, and after keeping two terms at Trinity College, Cambridge, joined the 39th Regiment. After serving some time, he sold out and came to New Zealand. In 1868 he bought a farm in Canterbury, afterwards joining the Armed Constabulary, being stationed at Taupo for two years. In 1872 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and went down to Dunedin in charge of twelve men to do temporary police duty, the Provincial “force” having gone out on strike. On his return to Wellington he left the constabulary, and then joined the Dunedin police. In 1879 Mr. Beasley joined the prison service at Dunedin, and after serving as assistant warder and warder he was promoted to the position of principal warder at New Plymouth. Eight months later he was transferred to Addington, and at the end of four years was appointed to his present position. Though Mr. Beasley is a strict disciplinarian, complaints during the last eight years have been limited to one—made by a notorious gaol-bird who succeeded in escaping from custody. Mr. Beasley is also Probation Officer, and Mrs. Beasley is matron of the gaol.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. R. T. N. Beasley.

The Wanganui Railway Station, which is pleasantly situated between Taupo Quay and the Wanganui River, is the terminus of the short branch line which joins the New Plymouth-Foxton Section of the New Zealand Government Railways at Aramoho. The station buildings are commodious, providing accommodation for the travelling public, general and ladies' waiting-rooms and ticket lobby, and for the stationmaster and his staff of clerks and porters. The traffic manager and other departmental officials have their offices at the Wanganui Station. There is also a large goods-shed, where a very large quantity of merchandise is received and despatched.

Mr. Herbert Buxton, Traffic Manager of the New Plymouth-Foxton section of the Government Railways, entered the Railway service in August, 1874, at Christchurch. The lines in that district were then owned by the Provincial Government of Canterbury, but others were in course of construction by the Colonial Government, and these, as opened for traffic, were worked by the Province in conjunction with its own. The gauge of the Provincial lines was broader than that of the lines built by the Colony, but upon the abolition of the provinces in November, 1876 the Provincial Railways were absorbed in the colonial system, and converted to the standard New Zealand gauge. Mr. Buxton was for some three years employed in the Accountant's Department, and was then transferred to the Traffic Manager's office. He was at various times placed in temporary charge of stations, including junctions of broad and narrow gauge lines; and as experienced men were not always obtainable as additional stations were opened, he was frequently employed in imparting to the newly-appointed officers a knowledge of the work. In July, 1879, he was appointed chief clerk to the Traffic Manager at Oamaru, and upon a re-arrangement of the districts some sixteen months later, was promoted to a similar position at Dunedin. In 1883 Mr. Buxton was selected as a Railway Audit Inspector, a position which he held till March, 1886, when in anticipation of the opening of the Wellington-Manawatu Coy's line, connecting the West Coast Railway with Wellington, he was appointed to his present post, where he has since remained.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. H. Buxton.

Mr. Alfred Hudson Mellor, the Traffic Clerk for the Wanganui Railway Section, is a Yorkshireman. Born in 1861 at Burley-in-Wharfedale, in the West Riding, he had eight years' experience on the Midland and North-Eastern Railways before coming to the Colony. Arriving at Port Chalmers per ship “British Queen” in 1883, Mr. Mellor soon after joined the service in Dunedin as a clerk. For nine years he held the position of senior relieving officer in Auckland, being appointed to his present position in 1895

Mr. Thomas Saville Henderson, Chief Clerk in the Railway Engineer's Department at Wanganui, was born in 1852 in South America. After being educated in Edinburgh, he returned to his native land in 1869, and for six years he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. In September, 1875, Mr. Henderson landed at Lyttelton, and the following year he joined the Bank of New Zealand. Resigning in 1887 he entered the Engineer's Department of the Government Railway Service, and for seventeen years was under Mr. Lowe in Christchurch, Dunedin, and Wellington, as chief clerk for his department. In May, 1894, he was transferred to Wanganui, and has been entrusted with the charge of the department for several months, owing to the death of the late resident engineer. In 1883 Mr. Henderson was married to a daughter of the late Mr. H. C. Raikes, of the Bengal Civil Service, and has five sons and a daughter.

Mr. Edward McKenna, Stationmaster in charge of the Wanganui Railway Station, has for thirty years been an officer of the New Zealand Government Railway Department. In February, 1867, he entered the railway service as clerk in Lyttelton, and was subsequently promoted to the position of stationmaster at Kaiapoi. Mr. McKenna afterwards successively filled similar positions at Ashburton, Invercargill, Gore, Greatford, Halcombe, and Palmerston North. After a lengthy period of service at Palmerston North, Mr. McKenzie was transferred to Wanganui on the 15th of May, 1896. The subject of this sketch served during the New Zealand war, receiving the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery.

Mr. Joseph Hayton Mills, Chief Clerk in the Passenger Department at the Wanganui Railway Station, was born in 1866 at Glenmark, Canterbury. Educated in Christchurch, for two years he was employed in the Immigration Department, and afterwards by Messrs. G. Gibson and Co., in the City of the Plains. He entered the Railway Service at Christchurch in 1884, and was successively clerk at Rakaia, Ashburton, Lyttelton, and Kaiapoi, being transferred to the position he now holds in 1895. Mr. Mills has been interested in athletics, having taken part in rowing and cycling.

Photo by A. Martin.
Mr. J. H. Mills.

Mr. Alexander Kennedy, Chief Goods Clerk at the Wanganui Railway Station, is a native of Ross, Scotland, where he was born in 1856. Educated at Tain, he had his first railway experience in the goods, passenger, and shipping departments of the Highland Railway, where he remained for six years. In 1879 Mr. Kennedy came to Port Chalmers per ship “Millwall,” and joined the Railway Service as clerk to the stationmaster at Dunedin. He was afterwards successively engaged in the engineer's office and in the goods department, removing to Wanganui as wharf clerk in 1881. In the following year he became assistant to the stationmaster at Foxton, receiving his appointment as goods clerk at Wanganui in 1883. Mr. Kennedy is a member of the Masonic craft, being attached to Tongariro Lodge, No. 705, E.C. He takes an interest in athletics, and is a member of the United Cricket Club. In 1862 Mr. Kennedy was married to a daughter of Mr. W. Stephens, of Kanieri, near Hokitika, and has a son and a daughter.

Mr. A. Kennedy.

The Castlecliff Railway Company was formed about 1883. The line connects Wanganui with the marine suburb of Castlecliff. Most of the traffic is occasioned by the freezing works and pleasure-seekers, the Heads being a favourite resort with holiday-makers.