PEOPLE OF DUNEDIN,

Dunstan Times, Issue 576, 2 May 1873, Page 3

PEOPLE OF DUNEDIN,

In the iiccoimt of the Rev. A. J. Campbell’s trip to New Zealandpublished in the Geelong Advertiser—that gentleman thus speaks of the people of Dunedin ;—The people of Dunedin are full of activity, very comfortable, and in'-all respects, I should say, prosperous. They are busy in all kinds of industries. One of them, the son ofthe late Dr. Purus, has succeeded in establishing the woollen manufacture. Wages are higher than with us —7s. for labor work, and 10s. and 12s. lor skilled work; other things, however, are also higher But the workman has almost constant employment, and the eight hours system has been in operation since the loundation of the colony. As most of the tradesmen seem to be owners of their own cottages, you will see at once how well off they ought to be. Add to these the advantages of a bracing c’imate and a wellordered administration of law, you will be inclined to think that Otago is what it claims to be—the poor man’s paradise. 1 havn’t’feeen a beggar on the sheets, nor a drunken man, although I learn from the police reports that drunkenness, with its bitter home miseries, is not unknown hero. There is much less of the “pride of life,” much less of the show and ostentation of wealth you might expect to see in the capital of the province. There are porsoi a who have risen to position and wealth. But they don’t ali'ect that style and luxury that is corrupting the upper stratum of Melbourne society. Hard work and happy homes seem tolethe two conditions.of life ; and there still survives among many of them the recollection of the early struggles) of settlement, which is a source of much good feeling and hopefulness.