A WEEK IN DUNEDIN.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 397, 25 May 1880, Page 2

A WEEK IN DUNEDIN.

(from an oc&asional correspondent.)

Having just returned from Dunedin after spending a very pleasant holiday there, it has occurred to me that some readers of the Akttroa Mail (particularly those who are unable to travel) would be interested in reading an account of what I saw there. . .-" ;

The day after our arrival we experienced what is known as- regular Dunedin weatker, i.e., a fine driz_hng irain, very penetrating, but not ■fidcdmpajnied.With much wind. This /did not my going out, as my stay being limited I wanted to see all I could in the time. It is scarcely eighteen months since I was last in Dunedin, but even in that short time I notice freat improvements have been effected, he first and most important is, I think, the system of tramways which is so successfully carried on there. I must premise, however, that Dunedin is one of those towns particularly suited for tramways, as it is a long, narrow town, and quite unlike Christchurch, which is nearly ■square. The cars are running every five minutes, from seven in the morning until eleven at night. They start from;the Caiigill ■ monument, which is about the centre of Dunedin, and run about three miles: in each direction. You can-get a dozen tickets for 2s 6d, and,one ticket will take you from the Water of Leith to the suburb of Kensington at the other end of the town. The cars are very comfortable; some are drawn by steam engines, but the greater number by horses. Mr Proudfoot (the proprietor) employs over 150 horses and ■: about 60 tfl^nln the : business. The conductors only receive 80s a week and the driver 50s. - For this the greater part o£ them have to work seventeen hours a day, and about seven or eight hours on Sunday. The labor market (for unskilled men) is so glutted in Dunedin that one of the conductors told me thatwere he to throw up his billet there would be scores apply for it directly. I noticed also two or three very fine buildings wjrich have been erected during the last twelve mouths. The most noticeable f>re the new Town Hall and Borough Council Chambers, the Exchange Hotel, Wain's Hotel, which has lately been rebuilt. The building is five .stories high, and from the leads on the top of the hotel a splendid view is obtained. Many travellers in the old coaching days will remeanber Wain's SB being the place from which Cobb's coaches started to all parts of Otago and also to Canterbury. It was known far and near as one of the most comfortable houses in New Zealand. The upper rooms are provided with fire escapes, very simple but effective; they are made in Dunedin. Talking about fire escapes reminds me of another novelty in Dunedin, via., the fire indicators which may be seen all over the town. On breaking the pane of glass which encloses them, you have to press a button, which gives notice by electricity to all the stations! at once, and the advantage is that they knowin what part of the town the fire lias occurred. There waa an alarm of fire during the second night of our stay, but it was nothing to speak of. To see the people, however, running by hundreds to the scene of the. fire was a sight of itself. The next morning was very fine and just: sufficiently cold to make a walk enjoyable, so we were determined to take the train as far as it went.in the direction of Port Chalmers and then take a good walk. W© alighted at a place called Kelvin Gro-ve, which a few months ago was only looked upon as grazing land. Since the tramway has come there, however, the land has come up very much in value, and many working men, artisans, &c., have little freeholds in this charming spot. We commenced wending our way up the old Port Chalmers road. Like the road between Lyttelton and Christchurch, it is not much used now except by pleasureseekers. It is not very much unliko what the road from Akaroa to the Head of the Bay used to be in olden days before the ! grand old busk was destroyed. I said the | day was cold when we started, but long I before we reached the top of the hill my i wife had gradually dispensed with all her out-door (accoutrements, and vowed that sho would never again attempt a long walk in the dresses as they are now made; they are «lmost as bad as straight jackets. The view.from the hill-top well repaid us for our trouble, apart from the fact that whatever has cost labor ia always more appreciated by us than that which can be had for nothing. There lay below us the beautiful harbor of Dunedin in so many respects like Akaroa, to our left was Port Chalmers, fend to our right Dunedin and all its suburbs, while immediately opposite to us was Larnach Castle, h building which is said to have cost £30,000. It is situated on the brow of a hill on the South head and overlooks Port Chalmers and Dunedin. It is distant from Dunedin about nine or ten miles, and the road to it is one of the prettiest in New Zealand. The little township of Portobello is just below the Castle; I very much regret that we were unable to visit it, but Owing to the season, the steam launch that runs frequently during the summer, connecting Eortobrilo with Port Chalmers, only makes Iwo trips in the winter. There is a coach daily to and from Dunedin, but as going by water would have necessitated us spending a,night at Portobello, we did not go. The Railway between Dunedin and Port Chalmers winds round the harbor at no place many feet above the level of the sea. It is very picturesque and of course full of curve*. The distance is nine miles.

The mofit difficult thing to convey an ! idea of to those who have not been in Dunedin, is the Ocean Beach, and how to get there. The Ocean Beach is only about three miles from the centre of Dunedin. I will try to explain this to Akaroanians in this way :—Let Barry's Bay represent the town of Dunedin; then Akaroa would about correspond to Port Chalmers, except that the greater part of Port Chalmers is built on a peninsula something like German Bay bill. Now suppose that between French Farm and the Little River Road all the hill were taken away, you would then, I think, find that the ocean was not more than a mile or two from Barry's Bay, and yet to go round by boat to it would be twenty miles or more. Ihe trains run to the Ocean Beach every twenty minutes, so the morning after our visit to the northeast valley we determined to spend a few hours there. The weather was still all that we could wish. There were two young men in the car with bathing tcwels and the driver told me that they never missed their morning bathe however cold the weather or rough the sea. There is only one house at Ocean Beach but that is like;

twenty rolled into one. It is such a size. It is an hotel kept by Mrs Proudfoot, tbe mother of the tramway proprietor. It is more like a nobleman's residence than an hotel; everything is on so grand a scale. There is a balcony all round the house, completely enclosed with stained glass, but so arranged that any part can te opened as desired. Tbe beach itself is a long narrow strip of light grey sand, rather coarse, and quite unlike anything I have seen in Canterbury. There is a low mound at one end of the beach, where we came across two very ancient specimens of cannon. They reminded me very much of what we used to have at Akaroa some years ago, when the Artillery Corps was formed. The date on them was 1841, and, of course, they were muzzle loaders. I suppose on public holidays the sham fights are held on this hill. The other end of the beach is called Forbury, and of course the name is [ quite familiar to all who take any interest in horse racing. Some of the jockeys were out practising their horses the day we were on the beach, and I should think there could scarcely be a more suitable place for horse training than Forbury.

The only amusements that were going on whilst we were in Dunedin were the Carandinis and the Froliques. , We. went to see both ; it is astonishing how Madame C. still keeps her voice and also her good looks. It is nearly sixteen years since I heard her, and that was at Akaroa. What a treat they gave.us then 1 Mr Sherwin is as droll as ever, though his voice .is not what it was. Mr Gordon Goocli is a great acquisition; he has a fine bass voice, though to my thinking more powerful than, sweet. This, h6wover, may be partly oyving to the fact of-his singing in so small a room as the Rattray street hall. The most enjoyable part of the Froliquesentertaintnent was the violin solo played by Martin Sitrioris'en.'

On the fourth day after our arrival in Dunedin we paid a visit to the Port, and were again favored with lovely weather. I must say that Lyttelton has made far greater strides in the way of shipping accommodation than Port'Chalthers during the last few years, though I can remember the time when Port Chalmers was far before Lyttelton in that respect. There is a new railway station at.the- Port, bat it was not quite finished when we were there. It will, be very convenient for passengers by steamer, as they will bo able to step out of the steamer into the railway carriage One object I had in going toPort Chalmers was to call upon my old friend Captain Sinclair, so well known in Akaroa as mate and afterwards captain of ; the Maori. To my disappointment, he was not at home, but Mrs Sinclair wasvery kind and seemed pleased to see me. The captain's history for the. last few years- ; has been one string of troubles. He went on a sealing expedition, to some unheard of islands, \vas nearly starved, a gun burst in his hand and he haß lost nearly the whole 1 of it since ; the speculations turned out very badly, two of his children died within ■ a few weeks of each other, and beside* ; this he had a long illness himself. Let us* ! hope there are better dajs in store for : him. He is now master of the tug Krat i that belongs to the Harbor Board, but: 1 times are not what they were even in that; • direction. There is an opposition tug, the p.s. Titan, owned by Cameron of Lyttelton. I and the following will give you,some idea of the effect of the competition... They 5 are each so'anxious to be ihe first at a ship- • that they spend most of their time at the- • Heads on the look-out if there is a shipi d«e. The other day a ship hove m r sight, and immediately there was a racei between the two tugs te> see who would I get the job of bringing iier in. The capl tain asked the first one that came up what i he would take him into harbor for. The . answer was £30. He then put his head v over the other side of the ship and spoke 1 to the master of the other tug thus c J " Captain A will take my ship in for £30, ■ what will you do it for ?" Answer: t "£25." The cunning x>ld fox then went i to Captain A and said : " Captain B says. •he will take me for £25; now what will >' you do it for?" Answer: "£20." And ; so he went on until last he had beaten • them down to the small stun of £8, which • wodld scarcely pay for the coals. I rather ; think the Harbor Boar.! will have to pay ; Cameron something iandsome to clear I out.

(To le continued.)