Rangitata is seventy-five miles from Christchurch on the main line of railway, and within twenty-five miles of Timaru. Bush abounds in the district, and timber felling is a local industry. In summer the Rangitata river attracts large numbers of anglers, who often go in camping parties, though private board can be obtained if arranged for beforehand. There is a coach service between Rangitata and the Arundel village settlement, eight miles distant. Rangitata is in the county of Geraldine. There is a daily mail service with Timaru, and postal and telegraphic business is conducted at the local railway station.

Bridge Hotel (R. D. Petrie, proprietor), Rangitata. This hotel was established about 1874. It contains twenty-seven rooms, of which twelve are well-furnished bedrooms, and there are two dining-rooms, with chairs for twenty-five persons. There are also two private sitting rooms, three parlours, and one good bagatelle table. Mr. Petrie has large stables, with several loose boxes, and six securely fenced and well-watered paddocks for the accommodation of travelling stock, and he keeps a baker's, butcher's, and a blacksmith's shop on the premises.

Mr. R. D. Petrie, the Proprietor, was born at Oxford, North Canterbury, in 1867, and was apprenticed to the butchering trade. He subsequently carried on a successful business in Christchurch and at Rangitata, where he purchased the Bridge Hotel in 1898. Mr. Petrie was married, in 1892, to Miss Greer, and has one son and two daughters.