KAITANGATA

Evening Star, Issue 22194, 23 November 1935, Page 23

KAITANGATA

MANY ATTRACTIVE FEATURES NOT A TYPICAL GOAL-MINING TOWN Although Kaitangata is comparatively close to Dunedin, the intervening distance bqing a matter of 130 miles or so, there must be thousands of city residents who have never been nearer to it than Stirling. That is the handicap which a town suffers through being olf the main railway line. It is possible, moreover, that the coal-mining industry for which the place is best known creates in the minds of those who have never been there visions that discourage thoughts of even a casual visit. As an ‘ Evening Star ’ representative learned for 'himself the other day, it is a great mistake to regard “ Kai.” as a typical colliery centre. The town itself is large enough to suggest that it thrives not on the black product of the earth alone. The farming country round about it is looking very well at the present time, and, although the place could never hope to rival Balelutha as a Mecca for the man on the land, it certainly must derive some benefit from rural industry. Important though coal mining is in Kaitangata,—about 300 men are employed in the main mine—there is no evidence of the dinginess and grime whlcll might bo expected. _ The scene of operations lies well hack in the hills, and practically the only indication of industrial activity that one can discern in the shopping area of the town is provided by the ]>eriodical running of coal trucks to and from between the station and the mine. The engine that draws the long train of trucks is rather a “ character.” Built on Puffing Billy lines it makes its presence well

and truly heard , whenever strenuous action is needed. Its pushing _of the empty trucks up to the mine is a matter of getting up speed on the level ground near +he station and rushing through the streets at a pace which is made all the by reason of an accompaniment of prolonged and piercing whistling. _ It’s a ease of “ every man for himself ” when the coal train is on the move. As the grade increases the speed naturally decreases, but finally the engine, which is reputed never to have been stuck yet, puffs and pants up to its destination in the hills, and, with what can only bo interpreted as a sigh of relief and contentment over having done a good job, stops for a well-earned rest. Kaitangata is a neat town. A clean town. There are many fine homes, particularly on the hill, and a fairly thick forest of wireless masts shows that the inhabitants arc not backward in taking advantage of the social amenities that exist to-day. A bushclad hill, which holds out promise of interesting walks, lies behind it, and the sea is just around the corner, as it were. Kaitangata is certainly a more attractive spot than most people imagine.