Story: Colonial and provincial government

The provinces all engaged in railway building in the 1860s, but did not always choose the same gauge (distance between the tracks). Mostly flat Canterbury, for example, selected a relatively broad 5-foot 3-inch (1,600-millimetre) gauge, while other, hillier provinces opted for a narrow 3-foot 6-inch (1,067-millimetre) gauge. The value of standardising the gauge was one argument for centralisation, and it duly took place – at 3-foot 6-inches – in 1876, at the time of the abolition of the provinces.