DUNEDIN.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 15, 23 February 1870, Page 5

DUNEDIN.

<From our own Correspondent. ) February 17, 1870. The weather during the past week has been gloomy, with frequent showers oi rain and hail. In the country districts considerable damage has been done to the crops, and in Dunedin the result of the 1 weather is strikingly exhibited in the miserable state of the roads. ... On Saturday last, Messrs M'Laudreaa Hepburn, and Co. held a sale of the sm plus English song-birds recently importci in the Warrior Queen. The birds af ( peared in excellent condition, and brough good prices : thrushes brought as much a

£4, blackbirds 15s. to 285,, goldfinches 30s. to 35h. ; larks averaged 3()5., and a splendid silver pheasant brought £2 10s. On Saturday afternoon a yiicht race came oft between Mr Mason's Koyal Alfred and Mr Hay’s Spray, tho latter allowing the former four minutes in the twelve miles' run. The boats started together, and the Spray came in only two minutes before tho Royal Alfred, to which tho prize (£2O) was accordingly awarded. Considerable interest was felt in this match, and a good deal of money changed hands, Polichet Bay Jetty was crowded with spectators. There are at present a great number of vessels at Port Chalmers, and they are getting comparatively quick dispatch, owing to tho large arrivals of wool from up-country districts. There is an evident objection on the part of captains to take flax as a cargo, seeing that, in the first place, it does not stow into such a small compass as wool in proportion to its weight, and, in the second place, they have become possessed of the idea that there is great danger of spontaneous combustion. I believe this latter notion to be a great mistake, for I have been informed by ware-house-keepers in town that for their own satisfaction they have experimented on it, by leaving wet flax subjected to heavy pressure, and after leaving it thus for some weeks they were unable to discern the least symptoms of heat about it,—The flax sale advertised for Monday last lias been postponed till that day week. . The good news from your district has caused considerable excitement in town, and has been the means of making Dunedin people generally assume a little more cheerful expression of countenance than they have worn for some time past. Thera are also good tidings from other quarters of the Province. At Canada, Tokomainro, the reef lias been struck, and there seems, at last, a fair prospect of success in that direction. Tim new Presbyterian Church (St. Andrew s) in Walker-street, was opened last Sunday, and the services were well attended. It is a flue edifice, but it will be’ totally eclipsed by Mr Sutherland’s new Church on Bell Hill, which, when finished, will be by far the best specimen of ecclosi- - astical architecture in Dunedin. Mr M‘Kenzie is fast progressing in his contract for forming an embankment across Pelichet Bay, by which means tho good people of North Harbour will at length be furnished with a good aud direct road to town. Ihe contractor for the Port Chalmers Railway has not yet shown any signs of commencing work. I hear it stated that he intends to delay proceedings until after the harvest is taken in, when labour can be obtained at more reasonable rates. The Bruce Standard suggest that during tho harvest all Government works should be suspended. There is by all accounts a great scarcity of labour in the farming districts, and if this suggestion were acted on, it would do something towards overcoming the difficulty, and this plan would decidedly he preferable to the promotion of immigration, which has recently been strongly urged by some, when it is a notorious fact that, except at this particular season of the year, the labour market of Otago is sadly overstocked. The steamer Charles Edward has, I see, been chartered by the Provincial Government to convey the survey party round to Martin s Bay. She is advertised to sail next Monday, and, I presume, will carry the first batch of enterprising settlers to their new home in the forests of the West. Mr M‘lndoe held a meeting of his constituents at Mornington the other night, at which he underwent a severe badgering. At the conclusion of the proceedings, a vote of confidence was proposed : it was passed indeed, but in the face of such violent opposition, that we cannot but look on Mr MTndoe’s prospect of re-election as anything but promising.