A HOLIDAY TOUR IN THE SOUTH ISLAND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 59, 21 March 1879, Page 2

A HOLIDAY TOUR IN THE SOUTH ISLAND.

(By ax Excursionist.). After crossiug the Mataura River, and getting into Southland, the railway runs through miles of magnificent country— open plain land— with a luxuriant growth" of grass c.untry, which at first thought one imagines should be growing grain ir. preference to ..ed'ng shoe,), but whic!. on second thoughts bringing to mind the short J duration of real sumiu'i* weather which prevails ther. and tho lanje rainfall, you are j compelled to admit would bo unable to com. pete with the plain lands of Canterbury on account of tho climatic di_ereuc.s. The country I have been passing through of late has rcveale 1 no forest growth whatever, but as I approach lnvercargill, standing timber again meets the view, first in patches, then ufterwar.U, when the Seaward Bush i« seen, in an extensive forest stretching for many miles. Express trains, drawn by Amerioan engines, now run between Dunedin and lnvercargill, as well us betw.cn Chri.tchur.l_ and Dunedin. The run to Inveroargill from Dunedin occupying about six hour*. lnvercargill, though not a very large town, is a very clean and noat place, and appears to bo tlirivtn * rapidly. It* most, noticeable feature 19 its Bplendid broad' streets, all the principal thoroughfares being a chain aud a half wide, and now that street tramways are coming so much into vogue, tlio advantages of good broad stroots aro ovory day boooming m.re apparent. Some of its building, too would bo a credit to any town iv thu colony tho one's most worthy of mention boing tho now Athemeum, tho Bank of Now Zealand, and the Albion Hotel. The railway station when flrst erected was no doubt considered a Jnoblo odillco, and it certainly has somo pretentions to grandeur, iuasmuoh as it has a platform both sides of the station, while the wholo space betweon is ooverod by its .pacious roof; but besi le some of th. Une buildings which now adorn tho town it looks an exceedingly gloomy and dismal placo. Inveroargill is not a shipping port, but it is connected with tho Bluff by rail, and ii as well off in this respect as aro Christchuroh and Dunedin. I had now reaohod tho Southern extremity of tho colony, and tlie remainder of my journey to the Laki _ lay in a Northerly direction. On tho lino of railway from Inveroargill to Kingston the luxury of oxpres. trains has not yet bo.n experienced, the traffio at present being only sufficient for ono through train per diem, with anothor as far ns the Elbow. Consequontly the through train, being thoo.ily oie running the w.olo way, has to perform all tho functions of a goods and pa.sengor train in ono, and necessarily takes some considerable timo iv performing itH journey. The time of my departure from Invercargill was early (a littlo aftor 6 a.m.), but the morning was beautifully fine, though a little cold. The beautiful plain lands which I had crsssed in ray journey from Dunedin, I now traversed again, but in a different direction, but T still found thorn used almost exclusively for pasturage, with an oco.sional patch of grain growing. The line on whioh

I was now travelling passed nearer to the ' bush than the Dunedin line did, and in several instances outs right through forests of good timber . here, as might be expected, the saW-mllllng industry thrives apace, atd manp a stoppage the train had to make for the purpose of leaving empty trucks for these pebple's timber, and bringing away those ihey had filled. This line, as far as "Winton, was constructed by tile" Provincial Government, and it is of more substantial style than the General Government lines, the rails used were double-headed ones, about 70 lb to the yard, and longer sleepers were employed, giving additional solidity. This is as it is seed to"-d_y. it had rather a chequered career ' however, at first wodden rails were used, and the engines employed had no llange on their driving wheels, but were kept on the rails br means uf .nail wheel, ufc either end, placed diagonally, and running on a portion of the woodeu rail chumped off to suit tlieiil.