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Story: City boosters and promoters

Railway promotion

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Railway promotion

Newspaper owners used their publications to air public concerns and promote their towns, cities and regions. This 1880 clipping from a Wellington newspaper shows the importance placed on securing infrastructure like railways. At this time the Wellington business community was frustrated by the lack of rail connections to the Horowhenua and Manawatū districts. The article suggests that Wellington’s prospects were poor compared to places like Christchurch and Dunedin, which had good rail links to their rural hinterlands.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: The Evening Post, 1 March, 1880, p. 2

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Kerryn Pollock, City boosters and promoters – Boosterism, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21705/railway-promotion (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 6 April 2010.