Know your town

It took time

It took time for the people of Waihinga/Martinborough to have their own governance. From 1869 the settlement came under the jurisdiction of the Lower Valley Roads Board. The census taken in 1871 covering the Waihinga, Otaraia and Greytown ridings counted a population of just seventy one people.

From September 1872 the area came under the newly formed Featherston Highways Board which a year later was renamed the Featherston Roads Board. This was to remain the governing body for nine years.

John Martin began selling sections north of Waihinga in 1879, however it was not until mid 1882 when he filed his plan for what was to become Martinborough. On some documents the area went by the names of Wharekaka or Warekaka and on others Bairdville or Waihinga Settlement.

In March 1902 responsibility for the settlement and surrounding area was given to the newly formed Featherston County Council. Members of this and all the former boards were either run holders or people of considerable wealth.
Two local people, T.O. Haycock and A.O. Considine, presented a formal petition to form a Martinborough Local Body Board to the County Council on 25th January 1905. This was duly considered and democracy was eventually achieved with the County Council agreeing to the establishing of a Town Board. This would be responsible for full control of the settlement’s requirements and finances.

The County Council must have been unaware of, or overlooked, a rule that a settlement had to have a population in excess of 600 people to form a Town Board. Martinborough’s population in the 1906 census was only seventy five.
Elections were held and a Board of people from the district elected with the first meeting being held in the Featherston County Council rooms on 27th April 1905. Fred McAllum was the first Town Clerk being paid thirty pounds per Anum (2014 = $5,131).

The first Board, known as commissioners, was widely representative of the community. Murdoch Ross a store keeper was Chairman. Hugh Mckay ran a coaching and mail business, , George Pain store keeper and farmer, William Aitichison coach builder and blacksmith, Robert Smith farmer, Tom Evans saddler (and builder of Martinborough’s first shop), Charles Harris farmer, Tommy Haycock the Pain, Kershaw and Haycock treasurer.

The town was slow to develop and by 1915 it still only had one hundred and fifty dwellings. However on 28th April 1928 the town eventually became a Borough with Walter B Martin as its first Mayor.