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mended the substitution of 20 ft for 40 ft spans, and his bridge, thus strengthened, was accepted by Vogel’s Government for the southern railway. He had also undertaken to protect and reinforce the banks of the river upstream, but in February 1872, as the last piles were driven, the Rakaia rose to its full width and washed out both ends of the bridge. The latter had therefore to be lengthened and was not opened until 29 May 1873. On that day a special train conveyed the official party from Christchurch to the ‘South Rakaia station’ in seventy-two minutes, although it crossed the bridge at walking pace. The day was cold and the ceremony brief. But newspaper reports recognized the significance of the occasion: ‘As a public undertaking there can be no doubt that next to the Moorhouse tunnel . . . the construction of the Rakaia Bridge will vie with any other work which has been initiated in [New Zealand]’.^[1]

The village of ‘South Rakaia’ originally contained the chief place of business in the region and served as the main social centre, where men from the runs gathered for the earliest race meetings and cricket matches. It maintained this position until after 1870 but before the bridge was opened it had been eclipsed by Ashburton. For a short time, however, the township secured some small prominence of another sort because railway rolling stock was constructed there. The Canterbury provincial railway, the first locomotive railway in New Zealand, had been built to a wide gauge of 5 ft 3 in. The New Zealand Government, on the other hand, decided to establish its general railway system on a gauge of only 3 ft 6 in. By its arrangement with Vogel, the Provincial Government was permitted to continue its line as far as Rakaia—the narrow gauge was to begin at that point. Thus it came about that during the year 1874, following the opening of the railway to Rakaia, the yard at that station was a scene of considerable activity as the new, light locomotives, carriages and trucks were assembled ready for use on the extension to the south.

It is worth noting that the contractor for the bridge, William White, eventually became a well-known landowner south of the Rakaia, as also did relatives of the railway contractor, George Holmes. Similarly the successful tenderer for the extension of the line from the Rakaia to the Rangitata, Edward George Wright, in due course became a noted landowner and local body member in the region. By the 1880s he was the local member of Parliament. Wright secured the contract for the line to Ashburton in January

1. ↑ Canterbury Times, 31 May 1873