DUNEDIN NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 182, 6 May 1873, Page 6

DUNEDIN NOTES.

By 0. P. Q,

The Oberon, with a shipment of salmon ova for this Province and Canterbury, arrived at the Heads on Thura lay, and a tug proceeded down from the Port to tow her in. Experiments for the introduction of salmon into the Province, conducted some years since cost the Government about £6OOO, and resulted in failure. It will be a great pity if a similar fate awaits the present one, although it really seems very probable that such will be the case, for it is now some 112 days since the ova which the Oberon brings were taken from the parent fish, a period of time which is generally considered sufficient to destroy any great hopes of success in experiments of this nature. Everything has been in perfect readiness here for some time, in order that every chance might be given the ova on arrival, and we can only hope that our Southland friends will be successful in hatching a percentage of the ova sufficient to warrant hopes of the acclimatisation of the salmon in our waters.

Two of Messrs Patrick Henderson and Co.’s favourite dippers—the Wiki Deer and William Davie—also arrived the same dav. They had been in the vicinity of the Heads for some days, but owing to the dense fog which has prevailed, they were obliged to keep at a respectable distance from the land. The William Davie has reached her anchorage and from a friend of mine who has just arrived from the Port, and who had some conversation with Captain Peacock of that vessel, I learn that Captain Whitson, of the Wild Deer, had some communication with his naval confrere while the two vessels were Iving close to each other when outside the Heads. Among the pieces of information conveyed to each other was the gratifying announcement by Captain Whitson that while off the coast of Ireland he had fallen in with an abandoned ship, with a valuable cargo of I copper ore. He placed an officer and three of h's men on board of her, and while lying by had the satisfaction of procuring some more hands from a steamer which was passing. With this aid, he calculated on them easily nac ,ing one of the Irish ports. Unfortunately, however, a fresh breeze sprang up in the evening, and Captain Whiston was obliged to take the men off the derelict vessel. Next morning she was not to be seen, and it was supposed she had foundered. At a rough estimate, Captain Whiston valued thv vessel and cargo at £IOO,OOO. |;j One of the daily papers in a leading article' this morning exposed matters in connection with a Government land sale which certainly bear a strong resemblance to something like jobbery. For a short period some half-dozen sections of the reclaimed land near Rattray-street jetty have been advertised to be sold by auction at the Land Office, where terms and conditions of sale were to be ascertained on application ; and among these conditions of sale there are some of the most extraordinary innovations which a Government probably ever introduced. As if to place obstacles in the way of persons who might otherwise wish to purchase, and confine the bidding to the two or three persons whose business would enable them to comply with them, the following unique conditions were attached to the sale, viz., that for every halfacre purchased there should be plant, machinery, &c. (to be approved of by the Superindent), placed upon the land to the extent of £2OOO ; and also, that for every quarter-acre purchased there should be not less than five apprentices employed by the buyers, to be instructed in the business or trade of their employers ! ! As might be easily imagined, these extraordinary restrictions upon the sale, evidently drawn up to suit the views of special persons, would have resulted in the bidding being confined to a select few, who could no doubt have each secured his particular sections at his own price. Whether owing to the timely protest by the or from some other cause with which I

unacquainted, the sale, however, was postponed. As the Council meets in a day or two, we shall no doubt receive some enlightenment as to the meaning of what at present appears to be a very shady transaction. The new Roman Catholic organ, the TM is, I understand, to make its first appearance on Saturday.