TWO CITIES LINKED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 255, 9 August 1933, Page 8

TWO CITIES LINKED

WELLINGTON'AUCKLAND RAIL. TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY. (Special to the “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, August 7. Monday was the 25th anniversary of the linking of Wellington anti Auckland by railway. The last rail was laid on August 3, 1908, near the Man-ganui-o-te-ao viaduct, about half-way between Wellington and Auckland, and the first train to pass oyer the line was a special which left Wellington on August 7. This train took a Parliamentary party to Auckland to participate in the welcome to the American Fleet. The train, arrived in Auckland on August 8, the Fleet arriving the next day. On August 17 the train left on its return to Wellington. Further work remained to be done on the permanentway and the official ceremony of driving the last spike in the line did not take place until November 6. The first regular service commenced on February 14 of the following year. The history of the construction of the Main Trunk railway dates back for nearly a quarter of a century before the opening, although it was first proposed as early as 1870, when the late Sir Julius Vogel announced the scheme as part of his public works policy. The first part of the work from Auckland to Te Awamutu, ivas done during the “seventies” but it was not until the early “eighties” that anything was actually done toward pushing the line onward through the King Country. In 1882 a ' sum was voted to carry out preliminary surveys of route, which were completed in 1884. The turning of the first sod in the construction of the railway, by the then Premier, the late Sir Robert Stout was made the occasion of a ceremony near the Te Awamutu end of the line. This took place at Alexandrina (now Pirongia), on April 15, 1885. A deviation in the route was afterwards decided upon, this resulting in the cutting out of the Pironga connection. In the first few years the work was retarded by various delays, partly owing to the depression of the later “eighties” and early “nineties” and the Government’s retrenchment policy. By 1890 the work was almost at a standstill. Operations went on slowly from both ends until 1899, when, having reached Ongarue, at the northern end, the route for the remainder of the distance had to- be decided upon. In 1900 the present route was definitely chosen as against the proposed Taranaki or Hawke’s Bay routes, and the work proceeded.