Excursions By Rail.

The formation of the country does not tend to promote sight-seeing or railway excursions on the Canterbury Plains. For over one hundred miles, north and south, and thirty to forty miles east and west, the difficulty is to find an page 49

Onawe, Akaroa.

eminence from which one can see anything at all. Yet even here the desire for novelty and change has produced its natural results; and occasional railway excursions from Christchurch to Timaru have been patronised on a most extensive scale by the people of North Canterbury unfamiliar with the south. But excursions in the proper sense may be said to be confined to the areas lying outside the Canterbury Plains—to the Mount Cook district, to Banks' Peninsula, and to the hill country in North Canterbury. The Mount Cook trip involves over ninety miles' coaching, but trains leave Timaru (100 miles south of Christchurch) daily for Fairlie (thirtynine miles away), the terminus of the line leading up to the Mackenzie Country. Special inducements are offered by the Railway Department for this trip. As it takes at least three days each way from Christchurch, it can hardly be regarded as an ordinary excursion: and the same remark applies to the West Coast trip, via the Otira Gorge, for which tourists take the train to Springfield, forty-four miles from Christchurch. The unsurpassable mountain scenery to be met with in the Southern Alps, is, of course, the inducement for these excursions.

The Hanmer Plains district is a health resort, which has already become popular throughout New Zealand. To reach it the traveller takes the north train, which runs daily as far as Culverden—sixty-nine miles. The remainder of the distance—twenty-four miles—is done by coach. Occasional excursion trains to Amberley or to Waikari are put on by the department on holidays, allowing visitors to see something of the picturesque Mount Grey Downs or the Weka Pass.

The only railway approach to Banks' Peninsula is by Little River (thirty-six miles from Christchurch), for which trains leave daily. Thence coaches daily take passengers and luggage to Akaroa or the bays, into which the harbour is broken. Little River itself, with Lake Forsyth and the picturesque Okuti Valley, is well worth a visit if only for the day.

Of scenic resorts within comparatively easy distance of Christchurch the most noticeable are the Waimakariri Gorge and the Otarama bush. For the gorge and its famous bridge, there is no regular train service, though it can be reached without much trouble from the Springfield or Oxford line. Otarama is, perhaps, the wildest and most picturesque bit of country on the east side of Porter's Pass; and its preservation as a sort of national park is pretty well assured for the future. On special holidays trains are run down to the Otarama station, the first halting place on the still unfinished Midland Railway line. But on ordinary occasions it is easy to walk or drive the three miles from Springfield to the bush, or through the tunnel to Paterson's Creek. As the daily train from Christchurch does not reach Springfield till midday, it is not possible, with the ordinary train service, to visit Otarama within one day.

Kaiapoi, fourteen miles north of Christchurch, well deserves a visit for its river and its woollen factory; and three or four miles further along the North Road is the Maori Pa, which though now highly civilised, is interesting as a relic of the days when Kaiapohia was one of the greatest of Maori strongholds. Two trains leave Christchurch for Kaiapoi every day, and the trip can easily be made within twelve hours.

Besides the occasional trips already mentioned, the Railway Department frequently takes advantage of public holidays to run trains from the country towns on the plains towards the hills. Thus from Timaru special trains are not infrequently run to Fairlie or Albury, and from Ashburton to Mount Somers and Springburn. The holiday excursion fares are so low—twopence per mile first-class, one penny per mile secondclass, counted as return—that the excursion traffic is now assuming large dimensions. For the year ending the 31st of March, 1900, there were issued at Christchurch excursion tickets for 193, 126 passengers, representing a return to the revenue of £25,878. The figures for the other chief centres were: Dunedin, 132, 955 passengers, £24,681; Wellington-Napier, 90,296 passengers, £14,386; Invercargill, 59,991 passengers, £11,957; Auckland, 86,857 passengers, £10,963.

The position of Canterbury in this list is a sufficient proof of the popularity of her holiday resorts, and of railway facilities afforded to those who desire to reach them.