The ninth station from Palmerston North on the Foxton New Plymonth section of railways, Greatford has combined postal and railway offices, which are connected by telephone. The station, which is 113 miles from Wellington and thirty-seven from Wauganni, is the point of disembarkation for the township of Bulls, four miles distant by a capital road. The settlement is in the County and Electoral District of Rangitikei; it is also a school district under the Education Board of Wanganui. Close at hand is the well-known Westoe Estate.

The Greatford Railway Station, which is twenty-six miles from Palmerston North, and stands at an altitude of 311 feet above sea-level, is the stopping place for Bulls. The Luildings are of the usual description, and afford all the necessary conveniences for the travelling public.

Mr. Herbert Jas. Baker, the Stationmaster and Postmaster at Greatford, where he has been about eighteen months, was born at Oamaru in 1865, and was educated at the Dunedin High School. He joined the Survey Department as a cadet, and had three years' service in the field, but in 1884 joined the Railway Department as clerk. After six years in Auckland he was sent to Oamaru, and shortly afterwards was appointed to the position of stationmaster at Mokihinui, where he resided for about eighteen months, and whence he came, to Greatford. As a footballer Mr. Baker represented the Otago Province during the season of 1889. In volunteer page 1270 circles he also took an active part, being a member of the North Otago Mounted Rifles. He is a member of the New Zealand Constitution of Masons. Mr. Baker is married to a daughter of Mr. Thos. Garratt, of Wellington, and has a son and a daughter.

The Greatford Public School, which was opened in July, 1875, has an average attendance of thirty-six.

Mr. Sheridan Carlyle Hall, Headmaster of the Greatford Public School, was born in Staffordshire in 1856, being educated at Rugby and Oxford. Coming to New Zealand in 1882 he became a teacher three years later, and was appointed to his present position in 1893. Mr. Hall married a daughter of Mr. Stanisbury, of Surrey, and has one daughter.

Taverner, L. M., Farmer, “Ellengowan,” Greatford. Mr. Taverner was born in India, and educated at Winchester College, and at the Royal Agricultural College of England. He became a certificated surveyor, but made chemistry his special study. In 1887 he came to the Colony, and passed the first two years gaming further experience on the best and largest farms and runs in Canterbury and Otago. In 1889 he bought the Ellengowan Estate, which contains some of the best land in the district, and carries a well-bred flock of sheep and a large number of cattle. The homestead is nicely sheltered from the prevailing winds by a fine plantation of useful and ornamental trees. Mr. Taverner married Miss Graham, of Dunedin, and has one son.

Mr. L. M. Taverner.