DUNEDIN NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 232, 21 April 1874, Page 6

DUNEDIN NOTES.

By 0. P. Q. The / prompt steps taken by the City Council to obtain a special analysis of the water supplied to the citizens by the Dunedin Water Works Company, have resulted in anything but a satisfactory state of affairs being disclosed. Professor Black was communicated with by the Corporation, and his report to a certain extent bears out the analysis of the water made by Dr Bakewell a week or two since. The report submitted to the Council is of a rather different nature to one made by Professor Black in June of last year, the water then being remarkably pure and deserving of the favourable remarks it elicited from the analyst. In his present report Professor Black, referring to the increase of organic matter which is observable in the water, says ".it is probably to be accounted for by the circumstances that the present analysis was made at an earlier period of the year, before the cold weather has set in, and before the heavy rains of winter have swept away the loose vegetable growths." So that it is plainly to be inferred that during the summer season the citizens are supplied with water of a most impure nature, of which I suppose that recently examined is doubtless a fair sample. Professor Black recommends in his report to the Council that a process of nitration should be adopted before the water is supplied to the public, and also suggests other means whereby greater purity could be easily secured. Unless the Water Works Company take some steps in the direction indicated by Professor Black, they need expect very little sympathy at the hands Of the public in the endeavours which they are about to make to obtain authority to extend their business by an increase of capital. As it is, the powers they already possess are looked upon by very many people with great disfavour ; and any disinclination to introduce much-needed improvements into their works will only serve the purpose of alienating friends they may already possess.

The shareholders in the Standard Fire and Marine Insurance Company held their first general meeting in the lower hall of the Athenaeum last night, the object for which the meeting was held being the election of a permanent Board of Directors and an Auditor. The gentlemen who acted in a provisional capacity were elected as the permanent directory, and Mr A. C. Begg was elected auditor. This promising young company has already' got together a very large business, and is being conducted in a manner highly satisfactory to the shareholders. Agencies have been appointed throughout Otago, in nearly all the Northern Provinces, in Melbourne, Sydney, and London, and proposals have been made to a large firm in Glasgow to accept an agency there. Within the last few weeks the shares have risen in value very mv.ch, and those who hold shares do not seem much inclined to part with them even when a liberal price is offered. It is not too much to expect that this local office, begun in a quiet'and unpretentious manner, will in course of time attain to a business second to none in the Colony. After reading the accounts which- appeared in the papers concerning the savage proceedings of the Chinamen who arrived here os passengers by the Tokatea from Hong Kong, I was quite prepared to see some villainouslooking faces among them ; but they appear very much like the hundreds of their fellowcelestials who have preceded them, without any particular points of villainy distinguishable in their features. They have been wandering about the city for the last day or two, in knots of half a dozen or so, in the usual new-chum Chinaman style, and as we have had most execrable weather, will no doubt be anything but favourably impressed with their new home. It only remains for them to spend the next three or four months at the Nevis, or some other of your out-lying townships, to give them a good idea of winter in Otago.

The contest between Mr Barton and Mr Wales for the seat in the Assembly rendered vacant by Mr Bathgate's resignation, is looked forward to with considerable interest in Dunedin. The nomination of Mr Wales was a complete surprise for Mr Barton, who quite anticipated that he wa3 going to have a walk over. Mr Wales' chance of election is considered by most people to be small. The impression that he is a nominee of the Water Works Company—put forward in order to support the Bill which they intend to introduce into the Assembly next session—got abroad, and although Mr Wales has since the nomination distinctly disavowed any such connection, and expressed his intention of opposing any further monopoly by the company, his candidature is still looked upon suspiciously. It is hard to say, however, how the election will go. I certainly thitilc Mr Barton will carry the day by a considerable majority, but after the many instances we have had of the supposed popular candidate having at the election to be content with second honours, I should not feel inclined 1o risk many new hats upon the polling.