Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus (Proprietors, Nicholas Andrew and Francis Phillip Kellow). Advocate offices, High Street, Marton. Branches at Feilding and Bulls. Telegraphic address, “Advocate, Marton.” P.O. Box 8. Bankers, Bank of New Zealand. Private residences: Mr. Andrew, High Street; Mr. Kellow, Bulls. The Advocate was founded in 1875 by Mr. J. L. Kirkbride. The present proprietors have had the paper since 1890. The imposing buildings, which are of wood and iron, are two stories in height. They are erected on leasehold land in High Street. The offices and composing-room are situated in the front, and contain 1800 square feet of floorage space. The brick machine-room, which was crested by Mr. Kirkbride on the back portion of the allotment, has 1200 square feet of floorage space. The machinery is driven by Tangye's horizontal steam engine of four-horse-power. The machine is a wharfdale press of latest design About sixteen or seventeen hands are employed in connection with the business. The Advocate circulates in the Rangitikei, Manawatu, Kiwitea, and Pohangina counties. It is the official advertising medium for these counties, as well as for the Manchester Road Board. Tue size of the paper is forty-four by twenty-eight inches, and the proprietors claim to have the largest circulation of any paper on the West Coast. Mr. Andrew is a native of Devonshire, and Mr. Kellow of Cornwall, and both came to New Zealand per ship “Carnatic,” in 1874. Messrs. Andrew and Kellow have had a large and varied colonial experience on the West Coast of the South Island, and in other parts of the Colony, where they saw a great deal of coal and gold-mining. Prior to becoming proprietors of the Rangitikei Advocate, both partners were on the staff of the paper for some years.

Mr. Francis Phillips Kellow, Part Proprietor of the Rangitikei Advocate, was born in Cornwall, England, in 1852. He was educated in a Wesleyan private school till about ten years of age, when he went to work at mining, at which he continued page 1318 for ten years, when he commenced studying to qualify as a mining engineer. Prosecuting his studies he went to Yoskshire and Northumberland, but the work injured his health and he came to New Zealand in 1873. He was engaged in road-making contracts in Manawatu till 1875, when he took a farm at Carnarvon, which he worked for a number of years. In August, 1883, he married his cousin, Miss Kellow, daughter of Mr. James Kellow, of Caradon Mines, Cornwall. About 1878 he joined the staff of the Rangitikei Advocate as bookkeeper and reporter, and in 1890 became a part owner of the paper with his brother-in-law, Mr. Andrew. Mr. Kellow has a farm, on which he erected a residence in October, 1896, adjoining the Marton Railway Station. Since coming to New Zealand, Mr. Kellow has taken a keen interest in public matters. He was a member of the Sandon Highway Board till it was merged into the Manawatu County Council. He has been a local preacher in the Wesleyan Church for fourteen years, and is a prominent Prohibition worker in Marton. Mrs. Kellow is vice-president of the local branch of the W.C.T.U. At the General Election of 1896, Mr. Kellow unsuccessfully contested the Manawatu seat as an Independent.

Mr. John Christie, Editor of the Rangitikei Advocate, is a native of Perthshire, Scotland, and was born in 1847. Arriving at Port Chalmers in 1861, he went later on to Invercargill, where he commenced his journalistic career, occupying the position of reporter on the Southland Times for four years. After a term on the Christchurch Press, Mr. Christie became editor of the Ashburton Mail, and subsequently for eleven years he was editor of the North Otago Daily Times. During the session of 1890 he was engaged in Parliamentary work in Wellington. Mr. Christie was afterwards one of the proprietors of the Thames Advertiser for two years, and after that he joined the staff of the Wellington Evening Press, first as chief reporter and afterwards as sub-editor. At the close of the sessional work of 1895 he accepted the office he now holds.