That sort of thing occurred to me except that the town of Ballarat is a
long ways from New Zealand.  What does seem possible to me is that
Twain was thinking of the Puget Sound Flyer when he was writing this.
 I do find it strange that there seems to have been absolutely no
comment on his error in any of the New Zealand papers even though there
is much about his time in Wanganui:  Jesuits about to murder him, his
visit to monuments and even his delivery during his speaking
engagements.

On Thu, 2018-03-15 at 00:14 +0000, Robert STEWART wrote:
> Perhaps it is a local colloquialism, such as is noted in the
> following news=
> paper clip from the Mariposa Gazette of 23 January 1901 on page four
> second=
>  column citing the London Chronicle as its source.The Brevity of
> Ballarat.I=
> t was in Ballarat that Mark Twain found the local language so
> puzzling at f=
> irst, the good people of the place deeming=C2=A0life too short to
> dawdle in=
>  their talk. The mayor called on the American humorist and
> laconically said=
>  "K'm." Then when Mark Twain gave him a cigar he simply said "Q."
> Subsequen=
> t inquiry revealed that these terms were Ballaratese for "welcome"
> and "tha=
> nk you."
> =20
> 
>     On Wednesday, March 14, 2018 2:23 AM, Scott Holmes <scott@BSCOTTH
> OLMES.=
> COM> wrote:
> =20
> 
>  Having found no reference to a Ballarat Fly, outside of fly-fishing
> in
> Ballarat, I remain curious as to where Mark Twain came up with that
> name for the railway known as the Napier Express. =C2=A0Are there any
> known
> Twain scholars in New Zealand that might have a clue? =C2=A0Twain
> refers to
> it both as the "Ballarat Fly" and "The Fly" in the first paragraph of
> chapter 35.
> --=20
>  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt
> of
> =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0
> =C2=
> =A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 in your philosophy.
> =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0
> =C2=
> =A0 =C2=A0 http://bscottholmes.com
> 
> 
>   =20
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                          in your philosophy.
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