DUNEDIN NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 219, 20 January 1874, Page 3

DUNEDIN NOTES.

By 0. P. Q. The wreck of the Surat and the subsequent proceedings in connection with the event have pretty well engrossed the public attention for the past fortnight, and are still leading topics of conversation. The hardship that the passengers have been subjected to in consequence of their luggage having been disposed of along with the vessel and cargo has met with full sympathy at the bauds of the public, and there is a general feeling expressed that the purchasers of the wreck would not be doing more than an act of justice if they consented to forego all claim to the personal effects of the immigrants. With the view of effecting some such arrangement as this, the Surat Relief Fund Committee yesterday waited upon Mr Mills, one of the purchasers of the vessel, and after art interview with that gentleman, he promised to lay aside all luggage which had arrived with the other goods, and which had been advertised for sale by auction, pending some arrangement being made in connection with the matter. At a meeting of the Committee yesterday the gratifying announcement was made by the secretary that over £650 had been subscribed in the Province to the fund for the relief of the sufferers, and that £4OO of that sum would be immediately apportioned to those of the passengers most urgently requiring assistance. The Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland is again in session, and among the inauguratory proceedings of the session the speech of the newly-elected moderator (the Rev J. M'Naughton) pitches into the people of the church for not subscribing more liberally to the Sustentation Fund, mentioning the fact that while at home the Fund is on the increase, the reverse is the case in this Province, the ministers here being even more poorly paid than bank and other clerks. It is considered rather early for the Moderator to have started on this subject, and among those who are inclined to cavil at the proclivities of ministers in the direction of mammon, remarks are made as to the Want of taste of Mr M'NaUghton in beginning his Moderator’s duties by an appeal to the people to subscribe more liberally to ministers’ salaries. There is no question, however, I think, that ministers in the colonies have only too much reason to complain of the poor remuneration they receive for their Very often arduous duties. They certainly should be better paid, and it is not to be wondered at they every now and again make public complaint on this head. Poverty Bay must be a charming place for business people if many of them are placed in the same■ predicament as the unfortunate bricklayer whose pathetic appeal is chronicled in the advertisement which I attach, and which caught my eye while looking over a Gisborne paper just now. For the benefit of your readers I give it as it appear# in the Poverty Bay Herald, and they can form their own opinion as to the desirability of at once emigrating to this apparently misnamed place. Here it is : “ Notice to Builders.—As I believe I shall shortly again be the only Bricklayer in Gisborne, I beg to give notice that, being unable to execute all the Orders entrusted to me, and to prevent disappointment, steps should be at once taken to induce another m the trade to settle in this Township.—George Clare.” ' t Many of your readers are doubtless acquainted with MonS, A. Flenry, who for many years 'was leader of the orchestra at the Princess Theatre, Dunedin, and who once or twice visited your district on professional duty, and will regret to learn of his present illness, which has been of long duration, and has rendered him unable to follow his profession. The Carandinis, who have concluded their season at the Queen’s, have tendered him a benefit, which is to take place on Monday next, and will surely, attract a most numerous audience. Much sympathy is felt for M. Fleury in his painful illness, and tho long terra of years during, which ho assisted in the amusement of the city are not forgotten by his old friends,