DUNEDIN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 703, 8 October 1875, Page 3

DUNEDIN.

(FROM OUR COROESrOSDEVT.) Octobers, 1875. The.-e is no tilings of the Strathmore. She is given up as lost. The surmise is that she is blown up, having a large quantity of powder on board, and it appears that there is gross carelessness, if not criminal neglect, in the proper stowage of powder on hoard ships. Some instances have been shown where it has been stowed on the top of general cargo, and on arrival found t> be scattered all through the hold to the railway iron stowed at the bottom, and only hv the act of Providence the ship was not Mown up. The latest epidemic imported is the Spelling Bee, two of which have been held in aid of the Cricket Club. About twentyfive ladies and gentlemen came forward as competitors. A good deal of amusement was caused by the candidates for prizes who came to grief, among whom were lawyers, telegraphists, commercial men, &c., and some ladies, who caved in on some most simnle words, and retired from the stage, looking anything hut pleased with the bursts of laughter which greeted their discomfiture. A meeting was hold in the Athenaeum to consider the action of Mr D. Eeid’s proposed amendment in the Employment of Females Act. A resolution condemning it was carried. Mr Reid is acting on behalf of the Mosgiel Factory, which desires to work three shifts of 8 hours. The objectors contend that if the hours are not stated when the work is to commence that the Act will he evaded and detection difficult, in fact, destroy, the usefulness of Mr Bradshaw’s Act. , Forty to twenty-twh is ' the division on the third reading- of. the-Ahnliton Bill. It is said t' at some of the majority begin to feel uneasy ahmft'theirsSatS ih'' the coming contest. A feedingjslgainingJground that a great mistake is being made in surrendering local control, and although Provincialism might he not all it should be, the abolition is ton much of a revolution. Had a modification been made, and Provincial institutions lormed of the absurd idea of playing Parliament, it would have been better for the public. I understand it is the intention to give a banquet to Mr Macandrow on bis return from Wellington. It is not intended to be a Province 1 aff dr alone, but to mark the appreciation of the efforts of his Honor and the staunch men of the opposition. His Honor was never more popular than at present 1 heard a pretty list of names of gentlemen who had been bought off by the Government to gain the majority, mid retain their hold of office. , If true, the corruption of Provincial Governments pales in the shade of the Hydra-beaded monster of Wellington, into whose arms our unscrupulous members have committed us. The Honorable Old Fogies of the Upper House are at their mischief again, amending the Land Act, a"d endeavoring to prevent settlement on the Deferred Payment system, by raising the price to 40 shillings per acre. During the past week the weather baa been very unsettled. This morning the snow was lying about a cnuole of inches in the low lying points of the town. The hills of the peninsula were quite covered withsnow,