DUNEDIN NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 148, 10 September 1872, Page 5

DUNEDIN NOTES.

By U. P. Q. The disagreeable relations between a large portion of the congregation of the First Church and their pastor have at last been brought to a close, in consequence of the acceptance by Mr Sutherland of a call from Sydney, lie preached his valedictory sermon on Sunday last, and proceeds shortly to his new sphere of labour, where it is to bo hoped he will always remember the severe lesson lie has received in Dunedin, and avoid any dis I play of the unbending, obstinate, and unchristian spirit which has earned for him so many enemies among the congregation he is leaving, by clothing himself a little more j with the garb of humility and affability towards | his flock so well befitting a minister of j the gospel, lie goes to a fine church—one of ! the finest in the Colonies : is to receive the ! very handsome salary of £BOO a year ; and | notwithstanding the bitter squabbles and dis- ! graceful scenes which have been among the | results of his ministry here, leaves Dunedin with a purse of 100 sovereigns as a parting gift from his people, and the gratifying know- ! ledge (as per resolution passed at a congregational meeting by those who considered him ! to be a maligned and persecuted man) “ that | this is a call from the Head of the Church to | our esteemed pador to occupy a higher posij tiuii for advancing the interests of the King- | dom of God.” The majority of those present | at the meeting of course did not vote at all, | as it was considered no harm could be done j by allowing his partisans to give expression j to their feelings in parting with him as they 1 pleased, although it would be a piece of sheer i hypocrisy to say that the majority of the congregation experience any feeling of regret at the severance of the connection between j themselves a.id their “esteemed pastor,” It | is pure nineteenth century cant. The reefs at the Garrick Range have of late ; been looked upon with a little more favour in 1 Dunedin than has for some time been the case, and parcels of scrip are, I hear, occasionally changing hands at fair rates. A good I few people are awaiting the result of the Heart of Oak Co.’s crushing, which will bo looked upon as a reliable test of the present and prospective value of shares in that claim, and according as it is good or otherwise will the shares rise or fall in public estimation. The Star of the East claim is j also fancied among Dunedin speculators, but ; operations are still very cautiously entered into, owing to the fact that so many Dunedin people have burnt “their fingers” through investing in Otago quartz reefs. The doings of Messrs Birch and Seaton, the Otago immigration agents and lecturers appointed by his Honor the Superintendent ; to perambulate England and Scotland, and to point out the “ very super’or inducements” | oilered by Otago to intending emigrants from I the old country, have been well canvassed in j the newspapers throughout the Colony, and i the terms in which tl; o two gentlemen have been alluded to, have, as a rule, been the reverse of complimentary. It scorns, however, that Mr Birch is doing a little for his money, for I see by the II one Nev‘: that he has been visit- ! ing the place of his nativity, and creating an | ardent desire amongst its inhabitants to leave for this “ promised land.” The Home News Isays : —“ Mr Birch has been telling the good j people of I toss-shire all about the good things that await them in New Zealand. So great ; has been his success that the local employers j of labour complain of the number of servants j of both sexes who have intimated their in- : tention of not renewing their term of service lat the end of the present term. Those who I have been inllnenced by Mr Birch’s descriptions are, for the most part, admirably , adapted for colonists.”

1 Tin' publication by the Wellington Uegatta ; Committee of the pv 7.o ‘list for their annual ’ regatta, which takes place next February, inj cln ling, as it does, a prize of £l5O for the | winning crew in the intcrcohmial foim-oared i boat race, has had the etlect of giving a reviving impulse to amateur nautical matters | in Dunedin, and the formation of a crew to I try the issue in the harbo ir of the Empire City is already' Spolren of. There is one beautiful rowing skill'in course of construction by a I well-known bnihler. which 1 n v esnme will be 1 brought into requisition in the event of a I crew bring formed, and which for excellence 'of finish aid apparent adaptability for racing 1 purposes is equal to anything of the sort L I nave seen. I have no doubt Otago will retrieve the position which she hj s. by the pevformanc's of her crew at the Lvlb'Wm begatta, if a. crew is at once formed, and steady I and constant practice at once c mnucnccd and. prOoecated.