FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1874.

Dunstan Times, Issue 660, 11 December 1874, Page 2

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1874.

That the large portion of the public expenditure which used to be devoted to deepening and otherwise keeping the Harbor of Dunedin in order promises to coino to an end is a matter for congratulation for country residents. The new Harbor Board, as lately constituted, will be compelled to provide from the harbor revenues all the necessary funds for further improvements and repairs. The contemplated expenditure is a very large one, it being intended to make one deep channel from Port Chalmers to Dunedin, and, as this will be required to be deepened by dredging, :o an even depth of 14 feet at low water, the expenses will lie something enormous. To execute this work it is proposed that the Board should borrow, upon the security of their revenues, 1.250,000, debentures for which will be issued ; and, from what we can learn, there appears every probability that the Board will be able to obtain the money. The Harbor Board will occupy the same position to the Province as the various Municipalities. The power to borrow money is granted them by the Council, but the responsibility to pay rests entirely upon themselves. The Board will have the control of the whole revenues of the harbor, excepting dues upon railway piers. This, together with a grant of one hundred acres of land surrounding the harbor, and the most valuable in Dunedin, will form a very handsome endowment, upon which the sum of a quarter o( a million of money may bo very safely borrowed. This is bow it should bo. We have no possible objection whatever to any expenditure upon Dunedin Harbor providing the Provincial chest is not called upon to contribute tire outlay. In the case of a wealthy city like Dunedin, and its harbor always full of shipping, together with the fact that large and most valuable blocks of ground are continually being reclaimed from it, it is nothing more than reasonable that any works necessary for the repairs or improvement of the harbor should be locally provided for, and not executed at the expense of unfortunate up-country districts, whose means of communication are pretty well as nature formed them. We did think, at one time, when the Port Chalmers Railway was completed, that very little more would be heard about deepening the Harbour of Dunedin, but it appears that nothing short of a ship channel all the way to the city will satisfy the mercantile public. We can say, now, let them have all they want, as they are in a position to pay for it. That imported goods should be landed in the Province as cheaply as possible is an important point to gain, more especially as upon the completion of the railway system om merchants may hope to become still larger exporters to other portions of New Zealand. The larger the trade of Dunedin the more favorable it will of course react upon the interior districts of the Province Rome tew of the crumbs of our neighbor's wealth must find its way, in some shape or other up-country; and we can only be pleased that Dunedin may possibly become the recognised emporium of trade for the colony, To accomplish this the Province has contributed largely, many portions of which, such as the goldfields, deem themselves to have been unduly taxed for this purpose, while their complaints have been attributed to jealousy and selfishness. To this charge they must be acquitted. None objected to the prosperity, and even beautifying of the capital; but there existed just cause for complaint when money was being lavished on one place, while districts, where the real sources of wealth lay. were being starved ; and we feel assured that, had the goldfields been treated more liberally, the depression relating to matters of mining would have had no existence. Let the present public expenditure cease, and

the value of Ihe goldfields will soon become apparent. It may be all very easy to say that gold costs more than it is worth,to raise it, but the loss falls upon the miners themselves if they choose to work for less wages than other people, and longer hours in the bargain. None but themselves suffer, while their wants create trade, and by administering to them the mercantile public obtain all the gold at no reduction in its value. Those that dig gold out of the earth are the proper persons to complain that it «osts more than it is worth, and not those that obtain it in exchange for goods. Let us hope now, that from this the up-country districts will have nothing mox-e to complain of an unfair division in the expenditure of Provincial revenue upon Dunedin.

Our new Governor, the Marquis of Normanby, has assumed the administration of the Government, and by proclamation in the Gazette, has prorogued the General Assembly till the Ist of March, 1875. His Honor Wilson Gray, Judge, sits in the District Court, Clyde, on Monday the 14th inst.

We arc informed by the Postmaster that the San Francisco Mail will close on Sunday evening next at Clyde. Prizes, to the amount of 1.200, will he competed for at the Arrow Annual Paces and Sports, which take place on the 28th and 20th instants.

Mr Eedwood’s horses, Lurline and Papapa, are announced for sale privately in Melbourne. We are informed that it is not Mr Wilson Gray’s intention to retire as District Judge at present. Writing of his successor, however, the Grey River Argus has the following :—“ Wo can state with authority that His Honor Judge Harvey has definitely accepted the offer of the Government to relieve Judge Gray on his retirement from office. Judge Harvey will continue the duties of his present circuit until April next year, when ho will assume the functions of his new position in Otago.”—Waikouaiti Herald.

We draw especial attention of contractors to the advertisement in another column, inviting tenders for the erection of a wire suspension bridge across the Molvneux, at Clyde.

The entries for the two principal events of the Cromwell Annual Race Meeting are as follows Grand Stand Handicap, The Maid, Backbiter, Kathleen and Brunette ; Flying Handicap, Backbiter, Kathleen and Brunette.

We are given to understand that Mr Ratcliffe’s tender for the removal from off the Dunstan Flat, and re-erection at Alexandra, of the Presbyterian Manse, being the lowest was accepted, and that the building is to bo completed by the end of March.

The Tnapeka Jockey Club programme bn- their Annual Meeting' to take place nn the 21st and 22ml January is published in the local paper. The total amount to bo run for is L 335, and ten events.

A Regatta is to be bold at Queenstown on the 2Gth instant (Boxing Bay).

A meeting of gentlemen was held at Holt’s Sydney Hotel, Clyde, last evening, when it wasbarranped to hold a Caledonian Gathering on the Clyde Recreation Ground, on Boxing Day, the 2Cth hist., and Monday following, the, 2Sth inst. The programme will appear in next issuo. From the amount promised in tho room the total amount to be given away in stakes it is presumed will reach about LSO.

The busy season up country may now bo slid to have fairly commenced, and with tin demand for men by station holders for shearing, pressing, and tho other station work, and by farmers for petting in their bay crops, the np-conntry districts present an excellent field foi the superfluous labor of Dunedin.

Wo have to acknowledge, with thanks, tho receipt from tho General Government Printer, of volume of -Statistics for 1873 ; Appendix to Journals of tho House of Representatives, and other papers, including the 'Nominal Roll of the Civil Kstahlishmcnt of Hew Zealand. In tho latter we find many errors of omission, more notably amongst tbeJOtago Goldfields Officers.

Val Vose, the celebrated ventriloquist, announces bis”cntortainment to night and to-morrow night, in the Town Hall, Clyde. From the high eulogiums paid to the ability of this very clever gentleman, the entertainment is worth a visit; and Miss Jenny Bayne, a vocalist of no mean order ; and Professor Saunders, a harpist, vary the entertainment with vocal and instrumental music. A publican at Geelong was fined for holding a sweep on the Melbourne Cup. The Wakatip Mail says—“Mr Thomas M‘Moran, brother of Mr Robert M ‘Moran, has received tho appointment of Ranger for the. cattle country. It will he to the interests of cattle owners, farmers, and tho miners that they now assist tho Ranger in every possible way, as the commonage is for their benefit.”

The Olutha Leader, a weekly, published at Balclutha, appeared last week as a twosheet double domv, with .'>2 colurana of reading matter, and 24 columns of advertisements. The Leader is now the largest paper in the Province of Otago. Trout fishing has been legalised in New Zealand in those streams in which fish have been liberated six years. The following are the places Shag River, Kakanni, Island Stream, Waikouaiti, Water of Leith, Silver Stream, and Fulton's Creek, West Taieri. The open season is from December, 1874, and January and February, 1875 ; but each disciple of Isaac Walton must bo the holder of a license (LI), not transferable, before he can indulge in hia favorite amusement.

Ripe cherries, strawberries and other seasonable fruits are now being brought into the market from the various gardens in the district. According to all accounts the fruit crops are looking well and promise an abundant yield. Wednesday last for the purposes of witnessing the Transit of Venus was unfortunately uupropitious, the sky being obscured for the greater portion of the morning by dense rolling clouds coming from a westerly direction, with occasional showers of rain. At about one o’clock however there was a break in the clouds, and the sun shone out in full splendor, and keeping in view with but a few intervals until 4 p.m., when a heavy bank of clouds again came up, With the primitive appliances two pieces of burnt glass, a fa ” view of the sun was obtained, showing a block spot travelling across its face, and which we must infer to have been Venus,

The Wakatip Mail savs—Onr Moonlight correspondent describes a trip among the mountains in his locality, in company ■with two gentlemen of the United States Transit party (Messrs Phillips and Pierson). The testimony of those gentlemen to others of our magnificent scenery has brought to light another locality worthy of a visit from tourists. One of the gentlemen stated that he had travelled nearly all over the United States, and had seen views of scenery from most parts of the world, but none of them could equal tint of the Moonlight Gorge. Forty-five views have been taken.

A most determined attempt at suicide was made a few days ago at V* ellington. A member of the Armed Constabulary Force entered the shop of Mr Levin, hairdresser, at about a quarter-past seven, and solicited a warm bath. The man is a regular customer to the shop, andnothiugunusual was noticeable in is manner. The bath was prepared and the man entered the bath-room and locked the door—a practice not uncommon. In a short time another customer requested a bath, which was given him, the room being next to the one occupied by the Armed Constabulary man. He. thinking the occupant was in a fit, called the proprietor of the shop, who broke open the door. The surprise he experienced cannot be described. The unfortunate man was lying in the bath half full with water which presented the appearance of blood. Upon extricating him his left arm was found to ho severly cut above the wrist; anil to make his end doubly sure, he had partaken of chloroform, an empty phial being found in the room. The man was removed to the hospital in a dangerous state.

The Spectator, of tire 29th August, taking up the statement of the times as to the intention of Canadian statesmen, strongly supports the policy of a more complete union. “ That design,” it says, “though not in accordance with English opinion, is, we believe, a fine one. These little governments are not cheap. They arc very apt to become corrupt. They occasionally quarrel in a very hitter and dangerous way, hating one another, as regiments sometimes do, all the more because they have not the smallest reason for so doing ; and they absorb in provincial work the abilities which might benefit the nation at largo. The first need of a State is statesmen ; and statesmen do not grow th'ck in countries where Provincialism is allowed to be triumphant. Every slop taken by tbe Canadians towards centralisation in politics is a step towards the formation of a strong, rapidly moving State —and, therefore, of that separate and effective nationality which they so greatly desire, and which they will secure all the more rapidly if they can draw into one governing and deliberating Council all the political brains of the Dominion.”

The Fev. Charles Clarke.—Referring to the visit of this rev. gentleman to New Zealand, the Christian Record of the 14th ult. has the following “Vo observe that the Rev. Charles Clarke, of Melbourne, may shortly he expected in New Zealand. We do not presume to settle off-hand the divided Opinion which exists concerning this highly gifted preacher ; but our strong conviction is, neither the church nor the world has done him justice. The church has been too ready to frown upon a man who has dared to slight the conventionalities—they arc no more— on which she insists, as remorselessly as ever Dame Fashion insisted upon the cut of a bonnet; while the world, which phrase wo may not unaptly translate by ‘thePress’—has written him down ‘an actor.’ This latter criticism reminds ns of a remark of Dr Chalmers on Fdmnnd Burke. ‘Men thought him superficial,’ says Dr Chalmers, ‘ simply because they themselves were arrested at the surface. ‘ Callhoy ’ and ‘ Prompter ’ are far too apt too sec in a great preacher, gifted with oratorical power, only another edition of the Bandmann or Barry Sullivan, with whom theatrical criticism has familiarised them. And this, we arn convinced, is the explanation of this trite and obvious criticism of Mr Clarke. W r e shall welcome him to this land as a Christian man and as a Christian minister.'’