OPENING OF THE NORTHERN RAILWAY.

Press, Volume XIX, Issue 2808, 2 May 1872, Page 3

OPENING OF THE NORTHERN RAILWAY.

. TO THE ;EDITOB OP THfi PBffisi 1 Sir, —From your report of the proceedings in connection; with the opening of the Northern Railway to Kaiapoi, ep far as the inhabitants^of Kaiapoi wereebncetoeivt&e'affair appears ito have been a delaeldn.< Y .N# 1 ' : wonder they raised no demonstration on the arrival arid departure of the trairii ! In the , ; short notice which was given of the in'tekd&S"-' opening, the town Council had, I believe, prepared a programme for filling in a half holiday, hawing gone 80 far as to isstfe -' tions to visitors from Christchurch. But the Provincial Government, meanwhile, had decided that thay would give wtUtfeiifter, to ■'■ ' which i they J±nfited the Town Cotincil> and » '■■■"> selected unimportant few of the townspeople to be present; The Council, whethor through^ ?fear of raising any unpleasantness or not I cannot say, allojwed their programirie ■ •' > expecting that' the Provincial Government intended to Jcarry out the proceedings on a grander scale. Instead of doing so, however, jwe find theni ■ proclaiming a ;bje>lid6y, selecting a fews ■. frlende, / making a journey over the line, faring snmptuouslyat the Inßtitnte, TnaHng"bomi bastic highfalutin-sDeeches, ,Bh*kU¥ the duat off their returning by the way they came in a haughty domineering manner. Seeing the course events were taking, the principal storekeepers treated the proceedings with contempt by keeping their stores open; the few who mustered at the j-ailway terminus refused to cheer, while the _. "scafif display of "TTags In ~th"e town was only an additional proof cthaf. the people considered they were not • oughti to; be. > Th 6 drones, "&ci, ( iit /eeemed/ '' would be only eligible- as- travellers by the trkin, or guesteiafc the Institute;, and the principal persons in the-place held aloof, re- : fusing to go.near; th"c station/«t be to share in the affair. A more hollow railway openings I never wltnesaed ; instead of avisf* > .body going in high glee see the first ftrain, nobodyi r wenti. but J i&e i , #ale<{tß4i few, the youQgsters of the place, and the nursemaids. Instead of the train running all day carrying . i paeitfenger& f down the. line free, it remained pntientl|r quiet while the lions of the province fed and '■ returned heavy laden to their carriages. The ladies were never thought of; they had no stand allotted to witness' the arrival of the train. There was no large marquee on the vacant railway ground within which the great and small might have feasted together, and felt the better fop each others , company; there was a want of life, aud an air of jollity.:. but ineteod, a; mieqrable deadness in the affair to ail except,the-, <fHfa, who were quite otlaerwiea.; Why wpg this I can only reply by the explanation, already given, .viz., that the Kaiapoi people felt'snubbed ! and, asking forgiveness for trespassing so much on your space, beg to flabscribe myself. Yours &c., , ~ -"■■ {,f ■■■'"'.' •■ Q.