THE OTAGO INSTITUTE.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1969, 27 August 1869, Page 2

THE OTAGO INSTITUTE.

To the Editor of the Evening Star. Mv De \r Mr Editor,— “ Yet think not, thus when Freedom’s ills I state, I mean to flatter kings, or court the great.” Oliver Goldsmith wrote that, and I say it in reference to what follows. Being one of those mysterious individuals who are sometimes poetically alluded to as “ rolling stones ” (felicitously so in my case so far as the acquisition of “moss” is concerned), I have rolled into this great centpe'of commercial, municipal, and squatter-grasping activity. lam free to admit that I like it very much ; and if certain persons who are in it were out of it—if its skies were wate: tight, and your Province had another Superintendent—l might buy it; but these requirements being at “present unattainable, I hereby content myself with gazing on it from beneath an umbrella, entreating you to let me promulgate my ideas on what I observe.

fc'o your lawyers are sinking their jealousies, and combining to form a law association. Excellent! excellent! But while Mr Macassey is hatching his “ Bill,” the impending birth of an Act frvm which, he announced in the cavernous apartment where these gatherings take place, he might also take measures to separate the profession of a barrister from that of a solicitor. It is sadly needed here T observe. Where are your reformers? Why do not those who suffer cry aloud, “ Now’s the day and now’s the hour.”

The Otago branch of the New Zealand Institute is “ afloat,” and that darling Judge intrusts to us ladies the task of seeing that it is properly “ manned an onerous task, for judging from the speeches the other night, one would suppose it merely existed from being “old bayed.” I and other ladies were pained to see the unnecessary trouble which some members took to declare t : eir uufitness for interfering in the task of the evening. But of the success of the object of the meeting there can be doubt ; for did not the President say that similar institutions were merely dependent on the presence of ladies at meetings of members. “Allah be praised ! that element of success will be assured so long as the tickets are gratuitously disposed of, and tho nights are fine.

So Dunedin cun soon boast that tlie members of her Scientific Institute baptise their own seals and find themselves in “spirits,” despite Dr Hector and common sense. We, ladies, trust that the necessity of “ agapemones” may be considered at the next meeting of the members. Need more be said to secure the gratification of our desire. Also that discussions may take place regarding the relative merits of sewing machines, and the construction of Bereeannettes of somniferous influence. As my baby has been giving a “ bawl” for the last two hours, I must leave off now, and run for the bottle.—l am, Ac., Julie Tonjonesatob.