The Southland Times. THURSDAY, OCT. 20, 1864.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 61, 20 October 1864, Page 2

The Southland Times. THURSDAY, OCT. 20, 1864.

The first eight miles of the Great Northern Railway have been opened as a public highway in a manner so peculiar that we venture to say no one but His Honor the present Superintendent of Southland would have hit on it. However much opinions may vary as to the advisability of having railways at all in the Province at present, every one will agree that the method of celebrating the completion of the first portion of them was about the worst that could, be chosen. Tie Committee of Management, whicti means Dr. Menztes, made out, a list of favored individuals and forwarded: them tickejbs for ah excursion to the Makarewa liiVer, and, a luncheon

afterwards—to be" given in..the railway station. . That \is to say, the celebration was to be confined to a few selected by the Superintendent; Such was the programme, and it was adhered to ; in ajl particulars. ■ At the hour appointed, the train started on its way, leaving behind hundreds who would have liked to participate in the festivities. Alas! not for them were the smooth-rolling cars of the jolly contractor; not for them the breezes of the Waikivi plain, nor the tempting prog and well-selected No. 2 of the host of the Club Hotel. It was enough for them to know that a paternal government had done what it thought right in the matter ; and as for pleasure trips there were plenty of conveyances to be had for the hiring. The train went out and returned, and then came the select Provincial Government carousal Both host and guests eat — some say they drank — and gave themselves up, after the manner of Britons, to hilarity and speech-making. They toasted " the railway " ; they toasted "the ladies"; and, permission having been graciously accorded, they toasted " Mr. J. B. Davies, the contractor," although in so doing the strict letter of the well-concocted programme was departed from. It was necessary that this departure should be taken notice of, and with singular good taste the chairman intimated that " he thought the Committee of Management who had undertaken the entertainment, and put their hands in their pockets, should have been allowed to control the arrangements." Now, it seems to us that the Committee of Management had better have put their hands in their pockets, and kept them there, than have had anything to do with such an exclusive affair as this Provincial G-overnment railway celebration. The initiation of our railway system is a great public event, and the public had a right to participate in it without taking into account whether they stood well with the Superintendent or not. "We are quite sure they are not reduced to the extremity of asking^ His Honor and a few of his personal friends to pay for their amusement; norwould they wish the Provincial Government, which is unable to meet its liabilities, to provide them with the creature comforts appertaining to a pic-nic ; but they had a right to expect and did expect that the line would be thrown open for their use on this occasion, paying of course a small sum per head for the trip to cover the working expenses of the railway. Had this plan been adopted, and trains run at stated hours throughout the day, instead of a Provincial Government pic-nic, to which a few only were invited — who were civilly reminded during the course of the entertainment that it was not they who " paid the piper," — we should have had to notice very many snug little parties, who would have been able, even in these hard times, to provide themselves with a sufficiency of solids and fluids without appealing to the charity of a Committee of Management. The select " Provincial Grovernment carousal " might nevertheless have been held, the tickets to it being charged at a rate which would have altogether obviated the necessity for the Committee of Management putting their hands in their pockets. His Honor's ideas of a public celebration are not those generally entertained, but they are strictly in accordance with his wellknown predilections. The public desired one thing, and of course the Superintendent did not agree with them. It is pleasant to learn that our citizens do not mean to be deprived of their railway excursion. Tuesday next will be observed as a public holiday, and trains run throughout the day to the Makarewa; and other arrangements are in progress which will render the occasion what it is intended to be — " a public railway celebration."