THE ROMANCE OF THE RAILS. Social interchange at the southern extremities of South Island.

The train left the southern city of Dunedin for a party to introduce the bachelorettes to rural bachelors. Social change during the past 50 years has seen more New Zealand women migrate to cities for education and careers, and men now account for 80 percent of the population in some remote areas.

``The first year we did it, the poor local lads took to the hills. They were a bit spooked,'' said Marilyn Anderson, who organizes the Love Train for the Dunedin council. ``Now we've got them coming in droves.''

The train ride, started in 2001 and held every other year, is one of several private initiatives -- including a singles ball and dating service -- aiming to revitalize agricultural communities in a nation where farm produce accounts for two- thirds of annual export earnings.

Just 14 of every 100 New Zealand females live in farming towns, according to the Ministry of Women's Affairs. The portion of the nation's women living in such settlements decreased to 1.9 percent from 2.2 percent in the decade through 2001.

The Say Aggregation Principle figures in the matchmaking. Perhaps there are better work opportunities for women in what passes for the more urban parts of the South Island.

"All people expect to have some sort of career now,'' said Jacqueline Rowarth, director of agriculture at Massey University in Palmerston North. "We have closed down the rural hospitals and rural schools, so those jobs that you could do while you were producing children no longer exist.''

Via Newmark's Door.