THE MASTERTON RAILWAY.

Evening Post, Volume VIII, Issue 170, 19 August 1872, Page 2

THE MASTERTON RAILWAY.

The ceremony of turning the first sod o' this railway took place this afternoon a> three o\jloek, at the eomEQeneemeut of thworks at Pipitea Point. The prepaiatioi ror the ceremony hid been by no naeaui--so extensive as, from the delay, most pe>« p!e had been led to exp*-et. A platf>»ri» about twe-ve feet square had been ereetet -m a la>er of iron rails about two feet froa. the grouu«L an*l a seaatitn.-4 railiug from me corner of the platform had been put up. oehind which the upper ten were r o stand t»i see the ceremony. A pole, sur mounted by a red ensign, had been erected from ie three lines of fiigs in different •lirt-etions were spre:ul out. This, and th« pr seiiee of a few Maoris gazicg on th« buntiug, -seere all the signs to be seen thiuioriilng that any imposing ceremony was abouc to take place. At an early hour to-day, the omission afe fa> the invitation of his Woiship and Councillors to take part in the proceedingswas tardily repaired by the Hon. Mlniste» for Public Works, vrho. in a private note to the Mayor, invited the attendane» oi the city authorities, and apologised fot this not having been done sooner. That even this wouM have been done had we not on. Saturday pointed cut the slight \vhici< apparently had been offrred to the city, there is no reason to believe. J£arlv this morning, the threatening ap- : >earance of the sky promised anything but weather favorable for the occasion, but tfter a few drops of rain at noon, the cloud." cleared awaj'. and by two o'clock the da\ *'as as bright and cheerful as could be tesired. The provincial offices, the banks, md most of the merchants offices and the shops, were closed throughout the day, -iud those few who tried to do business in the morning, soon gave up the attempt, and the city had every appearance of a public holiday being held. Flags were to be seen flying at various parts of the town, md the i-hlppia^ in the harbor and che wharf displayed bunting liberally. At half-past one o'clock the Artlllerv, So. 1 Co. .Rifles, the Veterans, the Highland Corps, with the Veteran, the Grammar School, and the Te Arc School Cadets .iaraded with the Artillery and GAni.-o« Bands on the reclaimed land, under their iffieers and Lieut. -Colonel Header. After i he usuaJ mouthly inspection, durlusj which various manoeuvres were performed, the whole "fonoed fours," and marched to Pipitea Polut. wht-re the Rifles wereforuied in line on each side of "the road, assisted by a company of the Armed Constabulary, and che Wellington Volunteer Fire Brigade. A considerable crowd assembled, including the Colonial Executive, many membra of both Houses of the Legislature, his Honor the Superintendent, aad his Worship the Ma3*or. Ladies in large numbers graced the scene. Punctually at three o'clock, his Excellency **!: George and Lady Bowen drove up to the scene, attended b>r the captain of H.M.S. Dido and the AJD.C.'s. Ihev were met by Mr. Brogden and the Colonial Executive, and having mounted the platform. Mr Br^cdek read an address f which was on parchment, beautifully illuminated by Mr Koch, of the Public Works Office). He commenced by alluding to his "being the representative of the firm to whom had Keen entrusted the construction of various lines of railway Trithin the colony, which would, he honed, he the means nf bringing to a R««*essful issne the o"k}pots nf a railway, namely the development of the resom-ces of the dis^rietß thronyh which It would pa«s. He paid that those resources had. as yefc. only been developed tn a limited extent Tn this country the two requirements were communication and population t it was not by* making a ew miles of disconnected lin^s that any beneficial result would be obtained, and sntPetMno more than the mere tenapnrarr introduction of labor and capital was necessary. He spoke of the necessity for puHHe works and immigration being rushed on enrenrrently. and be alluded to the that the network of railways over the civilised world had all been constructed within our own time, and he said Isew Zealand toojwonld not be

sat ; .saed trfthout its railways stretching fiom North to South of both islands. la tLis he'lef he looked upon the various lines, fur which his firm had contracted, as hut iibks. in one chain of trunk line. U h&d been thought desirable to take ailvantage of the presence in the city c*i the rcpiesentatives of the people, by eelebr&tiag^ with all due formality, the eoinmeaes»atrnt of the several lines, and he therefore prayed his Excellency to comoiemorate the occasion by actual participation in the great work then begun. HU Excellency replied by referring to the pleasure with which he took part in a ceremony, and he recognised that the invitation to hitn was intended as a mark of ioyalty to the Queen, and not to identify him with any of those differences of opiuion at present existing. He dwelt on the importance of the policy upon which the colony had entered, aud the colonizing results to be gained. He then touched on the benefit generally terived from railways, and on the application of the steam engine as a means of c-oinuiunieation throughout the colony. He hoped the ceremony of to-day might be auspicious, and he concluded by addressing "a few words of friendly sympathy to the artizans and working men who will soon erecfe in our several provinces structures scarcely more honorable to the heads that have planned, than to the hand 3 thac will execute them " His Excellency then amid cheers descended from the platform, and wheeled a barrow full of earth a shorb distance, and turned a soi, upon which a bouquet had been placed. The bouquet was presented to Lady Bowen. Three cheers for the Qaeen brought the ceremony to a close.