The joy of the Otago Daily Times editorial writer was somewhat tempered: this was the second time a foundation stone had been laid for a proper railway station but — other than a "temporary" weatherboard building thrown up in 1884 — little actual progress had been seen for some time.
"We have put up, with quite exemplary meekness, with the annoyances that are incidental to the use of a station which we have completely outgrown," the ODT noted.
"And, now that the construction of a new station has been definitely started, and that the cornerstone of the building has been well and truly laid, we shall certainly, in anticipation of the conveniences that are promised to us in 18 months or so ... endure quite cheerfully the discomforts to which we are subjected under existing conditions."
Despite some dismay that light showers had caused the raising of umbrellas, the ODT reporter covering the ceremony was more positive, reporting Mayor Thomas Christie’s pleasure that the plans suggested the new building would be of imposing character and an asset to the city.
"The government had not spared expense in the proposed structure, either from an architectural or from a utility point of view," the mayor was reported as saying.
"The building would be provided with all the equipment necessary to serve the requirements of a city of Dunedin’s proportions and expectations and might be expected to answer for many years to come."
Mr Ward was back in town on November 12, 1906, to officially open the station, this time in his capacity as premier, Mr Seddon having died earlier that year.
Given a gold key to unlock a building which had already been in use for some weeks, Mr Ward said the energy and enterprise of the people of Dunedin had been demonstrated by the building behind him.
"I believe that when the government is laying foundations of public buildings for the use of people it ought to put up buildings that will not require to be pulled down in the course of 10 or 15 years and be rebuilt.
"The policy ought to be, when erecting structures of this kind, to make them so that they will last not for our own day only, but for the generation that is to follow us."
Or, build it once, build it right, to borrow a phrase from somewhere.
"The people of Dunedin, however, are not disposed to look a gift horse in the mouth. They have waited long and they have waited patiently for a new railway station," it said.
"Now that they have got it they fully recognise, whatever differences of opinion may exist among them as regards its architectural merits, that it is a substantial and, in many ways, an admirable one."
Now it was important that full use be made of the new station.
"We share with the Premier the conviction that the district, of which Dunedin is the business emporium, has before it a future in which the glories of the past will be more than reproduced."
