The Post, Telegraph, and Telephone Departments at Blenheim occupy the north-west corner page 325 of the Government buildings. Originally the headquarters of the postal department were at Picton, but were removed to Blenheim, when that town was made the seat of the Provincial Government. For many years Blenheim was the chief transmitting station in New Zealand, and gave employment to sixty operators, but when improved methods of transmission were introduced, and an extra cable was laid, the staff was reduced in number. A telephone exchange, with about sixty subscribers, was established in the year 1887, and is now open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. There are a large number of private letter boxes in connection with the postal branch, and a morning and an afternoon delivery are made within the borough. Messrs J. R. Gard, John Allen, Bragge, Winstanley, A Livingstone, S. J. Macalister, Ballard, and John Bull have been, successively, postmasters at Blenheim. Mr. Ernest Northeroft is at present (1905) Chief Postmaster.

Mr. Ernest Northcroft was appointed Chief Postmaster at Blenheim in August, 1902. He is further referred to on page 932 of the Auckland volume of this Cyclopedia.

Mr. Henry Arthur Jackman was appointed Collector of Customs at Blenheim, in September, 1901. He was born in Christchurch, and is a son of the late Mr. S. Jackman, for many years a prominent contractor in Canterbury. Mr. Jackman was educated at public schools, and, after spending a few months as a clerk in the Christchurch Public Library, he joined the Government service as a cadet in the Customs Office at Dunedin. He takes a keen interest in the social affairs of the town, and is a member of the bowling, golf and tennis clubs, and of the Horticultural Society.

Mr. Henry Trent , Chief Surveyor and Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Marlborough Land District, was born in 1848, educated at a private academy in London, and finished at the Nelson College, New Zealand. Mr. Trent entered the Civil Service in August, 1863, as a survey cadet, under the Provincial Government of Nelson. In January, 1868, owing to the opening of the Buller goldfields, and the impetus thus given to public works, surveying, etc., on the West Coast, several officers were sent to Westport, which became the district office of the Nelson Southwest Goldfields. Among these, Mr. Trent was transferred, first of all in the capacity of draughtsman to the District Engineer, and later as Assistant and Mining Surveyor. In 1873, he was promoted to the position of District Surveyor for the Grey Valley district, with headquarters at Ahaura. This position he held until the abolition of the provinces, when, with other Provincial Government officers, he was transferred to the General Survey Department as Chief Draughtsman at Nelson. This position he held until the 31st of May, 1904, when he was promoted to the post he is now occupying, his present appointment dating from the 1st of June, 1904.

Mr. E. G. M. C. Kenny , Government Land Valuer for the province of Marlborough, resides at Picton, and is further referred to as captain of the Waitohi Rifles.

Mr. George Gee , the Government Rabbit Inspector for the province of Marlborough, was born at Kaiwarra, near Wellington, on the 22nd of August, 1845, and is a son of the late Mr. James Gee, who landed in New Zealand in the year 1845, as a member of the 56th Regiment, with which he served in the Maori war. He was educated in Wellington, and has spent most of his life at general work, chiefly on stations, in the South Island. For about ten years Mr. Gee lived in Nelson, but he subsequently removed to Marlborough, and has since resided at Renwicktown. He was appointed to his present position about the year 1895. Mr. Gee is married, and has one son and three daughters.

Macey, photo. Mr. G. Gee.

The Marlborough Police District embraces nearly the whole of the province. It terminates at Havelock in the north and Clarence river in the south, and includes the whole of the Polorus and Queen Charlotte Sounds. The sergeant-major in charge has a staff of four constables with him in Blenheim, one of whom is a mounted constable and inspector of factories, weights and measures, etc. There are two constables at Picton, one of whom acts as gaoler; there is one constable at Havelock, and a district constable at Cullensville. The district is law abiding and orderly, and furnishes very few Supreme Court cases of a serious nature.

Sergeant-Major William Thomas Mason, the Officer-in-Charge, took up his duties on the 19th of April, 1899, when he succeeded Sub-Inspector Kiley, transferred to Dunedin. Sergeant-Major Mason was born at Chatham, England, in 1845, and when only a youth came out to New Zealand, and joined the constabulary at Wanganui in 1868. He served in the West Coast campaign under Colonel Whitmore in 1868–9, and was present at various actions, including those of Okotuku and Nukumaru, and served on the east coast at Tauranga and elsewhere under Colonel Fraser. Mr. Mason was promoted to the rank of sergeant-major in 1876, and is not only one of the oldest but one of the most respected officers in the service. He has been stationed in Tauranga, Opotiki, Auckland, Lyttelton, Christ-church, Timaru, and Wellington, and has the New Zealand war and long service medals.

Mr. James Johnston , Government Sanitary Inspector for the Province of Marlborough, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in February, 1866. He was educated privately, served an apprenticeship of five years to the building trade under his father, and was subsequently employed as a builders' clerk in London and in Manchester, England. Mr. Johnston came page 327 to New Zealand in the year 1901, and was almost immediately appointed an inspector under the Health Department. For a short time, he was employed in Wellington, and was then appointed assistant to the Government inspector at New Plymouth, where he remained until April, 1904, when he received his present appointment. Mr. Johnston is a member of the Blenheim Bowling Club.