DUNEDIN NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 129, 30 April 1872, Page 5

DUNEDIN NOTES.

Bv 0. P. Q. Professor Shand delivered an able lecture on Friday evening, the 19 th inst., in the North Dunedin Presbyterian Church, in aid of the building fund of that comfortable little place of worship, the subject being “Spectrum Analysis.” The electric light was brought into requisition by the lecturer to illustrate many of the wondrous properties of light ; and some beautiful effects were produced on a screen placed against the wall by the burning of various metals, each preparation reflecting its own peculiar colour on the screen. By this means all the colours of the rainbow were produced, first in succession, and then together as they appear in the rainbow. As they shone on the screen in the darkened church, the colours presented a very beautiful appearance, and the exhibition was received with marked applause. Here praise of the lecture must end, for the Professor’s delivery of the paper he had prepared was of the driest nature, and devoid of any pretensions to elocution. The Rev. Dr Copland, the pastor of the Church, occupied the chair.

The unsightly debris of blackened and charred remains which have for such a length of time marked the scene of the last Prjncesstrcot tire, has at length been cleared away. A handsome new shop is being erected by Mr Reichelt, which ho intends to re-open as a fancy goods emporium. New buildings are being erected in several of our principal streets for business firms,- —the warehouses for Messrs P. Hayman and Co., and Messrs North and Secular, in Rattray and Maclaggan streets respectively, being among the most noteworthy. It is universally acknowledged that times are bad now.a-days, and almost as universally thought that Hi 3 country 1 is going headlong to “ eternal smash,” as the ' result of the enormous and reckless expenditure of borrowed money to which the Colony has been committed by the existing Colonial Executive ; yet, notwithstanding all this, the I people don’t seem to have lost faith in the ! Colony, and Otago in particular. NewbuildI ings,—business premises and private residences, churches, schools, public halls, —are being constantly erected in Dunedin ; town 1 I sections are increasing in value, and are ; aardly obtainable in anything like decent sites; and the owners of property congratulate themselves on being the lucky possessors of such “good things” as quarter-acre sections and houses. L.200 and L.250 are now the common figures for quarter-acre sections in good sites, with the chances of a still greater advance in prices. Sections in the most inaccessible situations are now daily being brought into requisition as building sites ; and Dunedin is fast becoming quite a large city, with its numerous suburban townships, each rivalling in size the mother city of a few years back. With these evidences of prosperity, and with the corroborative testimony of those nomadic individuals, the commercial travellers who “do” the Northern Provinces regularly,-—that Dunedin is by far the most prosperous city in New Zealand, —1 suppose we should be thankful that wc are privileged to live in the bright city of the South. Personally speaking, 1 am afraid that in two or three years the bright side of the picture will have departed. J am not ; generally disposed to take a gloomy view of things ; but I am much inclined to think ! that so far as New Zealand is concerned, ji will before long be truthfully remarked of her u Hie transit ijhria mmuli," and Julius Vogel C.M.G., will cry peemvi when it is too late.

The vexed question of the disposal of tlio Dunedin Water Works to the City Council by the Company bids fair to be settled at an early date. Negotiations up to the present time have reduced the difficulty to very narrow limits. The Corporation offer for the shares the very liberal price of L.15 each, — that is, an advance of 59 per cent, on the capital invested by the Company, the original shares being L.lO. This offer the directors and shareholders evidently consider too little, as they are holding out for L.IG 10s, Jt is pnbable, nevertheless, that the price named by the Corporation will be accepted, as a considerable number of the shareholders acquiesce in the offer, and us the Corporation have resolutely determined that they will not go beyond the figure 1 have mentioned.

Great preparations are being made for the ball which is to be given to the Volunteer representatives to-morrow night in St. George’s Hall. The ball-room is being renovated and decorated in the most artistic style, the best musical talent available has been engaged, and the influential committee of gentlemen who have the management of the affair seem determined that our crack shots shall have some amends made them for the disappointment which they experienced at the ball in Christchurch. M.P.C.’s are beginning to arrive in town in view of the opening of the session on the 39th. It is not anticipated that the session will bo a heavy one ; but there is no certainty of members despatching the business more quickly than they can help, so long as they receive that reward which their arduous legislative duties entitle them to, the honorarium.

The fluent of Professor Haselmaycr, the wonderful conjuror wiio has been delighting large and enthusiastic audiences in other Provinces with his feats of legerdemain, arrived lately, and lias engaged the Masonic Hall on behalf of his principal, connected with which engagement there have been several passages-at-arms, in the shape of letteis to newspapers, between the professor’s agent and the lessees and manager of the theatre, in which they have referred to each other in terms the reverse of complimentary. Among other things a rather amusing episode in the career of one of the belligerents is alluded to, which doubtless many of your readers will remember. In one of the well-known mining districts of Victoria the gentleman in | question had the honour of introducing to the public two extraordinary specimens of animated nature, in the shape of a “ singing duck,” and a wonderful crocodile. To the I intense disgust of a very large audience who j had assembled, the crocodile turned out to be a wooden one, while the duck—genuine | enough certainly—was fastened to an ir< n 1 plate, which by a concealed process was ! gradually hratc l, and as the temperature of tbo plate increased, the “Singing Duck” became indeed a reality. It is hardly necessary to | add that the proprietor of the show disappeared with the proceeds of the bumper house which had assembled.