Millerton has sprung up in consequence of the operations of the Westport Coal Company. Boring was begun in 1881, preparatory to opening the workings. A coal lease was taken by the Company in 1888, and on the 24th of June, 1896, when the machinery was started, a commencement was made to send coal to the market. The township of Millerton, which stands on the top of a hill estimated from 1,500 to 1,850 feet high, is the centre of a system of inclined railways, which extend to Granity on the one hand, and to Mine Creek on the other. Communication is by a horse track from the beach, through remarkably pretty bush, and the way commands superb views of the seaboard. Goods are transmitted by the Company's incline, down which the coal is sent to the bunkers. The business premises include two hotels, two stores and the shops of two bootmakers, two fruiterers, and two butchers. A locally managed Co-operative Society controls one of these stores and butcheries. Millerton is in the North Wareatea riding of the county of Buller, in the electorate of Buller, and the provincial district of Nelson. Its population at the census of 1901 was 279, with eleven additional residents at Mine Creek. There is a public library on the hill, also a Draughts Club. The local Domain Board controls nine acres, three of which have been improved as a sports ground. Religious services are conducted in a small Roman Catholic church and a Primitive Methodist mission hall. The Granity Creek Coalminers' Industrial Union of Workers has its registered office in the township; it dates from 1897, and has 400 members. Contingencies are provided for by the Millerton Medical Accident and Relief Association, which dates from May, 1900. This Association retains the services of a medical man to provide relief in cases of accident; its members number 450, and the doctor attends at the surgery erected on the hill by the Company. A Rifle Volunteer company, which was established in June, 1904, has fifty-nine members.

Criterion Hotel (Mrs Eliza Lilian Parker, proprietress), Millerton. This hotel was erected in the year 1897. It is built of wood and iron, and contains twenty-two rooms, including twelve bedrooms, four sitting-rooms, and a dining-room capable of seating thirty guests. There is a stable, with a loose box; and a public hall, which has accommodation for 700 persons, adjoins the hotel. Mrs Parker, who has been proprietress of the Criterion Hotel since 1902, is a native of Stirling, Scotland. She was educated in Edinburgh, landed in Melbourne, Victoria, in the year 1866, and removed to the West Coast. New Zealand, two years later. She has had a varied experience of hotel life, for many years—at Caledonia Terrace, Sergeant's Hill, Waimangaroa, and, more recently, in the Royal Hotel at Denniston, which is still her property. In 1871, she married Mr. Joseph Brown, of London, who lost his life in the year 1884, owing to an accident on the Denniston incline; and has a family of three sons and five daughters.

Tramway Hotel (John Dutton, proprietor), Millerton. This business was established in the year 1902. The building is a two-storied one of wood and iron, and contains twenty-four rooms, including fourteen bedrooms, three sitting-rooms, a billiard room, and a dining-room, which will accommodate thirty guests.

Mr. John Dutton Has been proprietor of the Tramway Hotel at Millerton, since the year 1903. He was born in September, 1860, at Sale, near Manchester, England, and was educated at Sale, and afterwards at Kaitangata, New Zealand. He landed at Port Chalmers in the “Warrior Queen,” in 1867, and was brought up to farming in the Inchclutha district. Mr. Dutton subsequently had experience in alluvial and quartz-mining at Mahikapawa; and, later on, in antimony and coal mining, at Endeavour Inlet, and in Johnston's Unity Quartz Mine at Collingwood. He then removed to the West Coast, and worked for about four years for the Westport Coal Company. Mr. Dutton has since resided at Millerton, where he takes a leading part in everything that affects the progress of the settlement, and is a member of the local Domain Board. He married a daughter of the late Mr. Patrick Maher, of New Plymouth, in 1895, and has one son.

Vinsen, photo.
Mr. John Dutton.

The Millerton Co-Operative Society, Limited , was incorporated on the 18th of May, 1903. The chairman of directors for the year 1905 was Mr. Thomas Young, and Mr. T. Curlin is secretary and manager. The society conducts a general store, and has a butchery department, of which Mr. James Watt is manager.