The Modernity of Railways.

Railways have become so much a part of our ordinary business life that we are apt to forget how modern they are. Yet it is only a little more than a hundred years since the first railway was opened; the Stockton and Darlington Railway was commenced in 1821 and opened in 1825, for the transport of coal only. New Zealand Railway history dates back only to 1860, when a contract was let for the construction of a line from Christchurch to Lyttelton. The first portion of this line was opened on the first of December, 1863, and though other lines have been formed since then at a rate surprisingly rapid for such a sparsely populated country it is still possible to find, not only children, but elderly adults who have never seen a railway locomotive. Many of us can remember the excitement when the railway train was first seen making its way across the tussock-clad plains or through the virgin bush, and we have often descended on a dark night at some lonely “station” consisting only of a landing platform of shingle or earth lighted by the kerosene lamp carried by the guard travelling with the train. For years the settlers who used these railways had something more urgent to think about than the formation of gardens, even at their own sod whares or timber-built shacks. At the flag-stations there was no stationmaster to attend to the passengers and the goods, and even at the stations dignified with the presence of an officer-in-charge there was for many years no thought of a station garden other than the patch of vegetables and perhaps a few flowers around his own cottage.