AS OTHERS SEE US.

Evening Star, Issue 3047, 23 November 1872, Page 3

AS OTHERS SEE US.

A. Christchurch resident paid Dunedin a flying visit a few weeks since ; and this is what he says of what he saw Fort Chalmers presents a busy scene to the new comer fresh from the sc tntily furnished harbor of Wellington. When wc arrived, there was quite a little crowd of shipping at the entrance of the port from large Gnglisti merchantmen, such as the Hydaspes, to the curious little two-donkey powci tug boats, with their two kettles standing on the op n deck. It was in some such craft as this that the passengers from the Kmgitoto were called upon to entrust their precious persons. As we were getting into it, I noticed that two or throe stout passengers w* re very nearly bringing about a shipwreck, ( r oocidebnat-wreck, by their fraternising on one side of the craft, and so causing her to li,t dangerously to that side. By and-bye we were off, amidst a clatter amongst the machinery that rcsembladed the serenades so simply and expeditiously improvised by little hoys on the occasion of a new marriage. We had clattered along some little distance towards the shore when suddenly there was a great crash on board, and all was still save the anxious voices of some of the passengers. Some one called outthat the “biler’s busted, but before the apprehensions of the passengers have reached a serious phase, we are re-assurod by the voice of the captain--a hardy little Scotchman—calling out to some anxious friend on the shore that M It’s just ane o’ the wheels, mon 5” The little episodes of breaking wheels arc by no means uncommon. By the aid of warps we reached the shore, and in a few minutes indefatigable Major Richardson has secured a special train for the passengers, who have thodistiuguished honor of proceeding to Dunedin by the third train that has run along the line, and the tir.-t that has carried passengers. Moreover, we ai'c carried free. Wc pass th ough two short tunnels, several slight cuttings, and into the outskirts of the City of Dunedin. And now, hero we are gliding through a thick cluster of hou es, than which more wretched hovels are not to be found in the three kinidoms, or in Maoriland. Houses dingy and windowless ; homes rotting away with age ; houses roughly patched up with rust tin ; plenty of houses standing on drainiess, unhealthy ground ; dirty, unkempt, frowsy women at the doors; squalid children making mud-pies by the wayside—geese and fowls and bipeds evidently startled and excited. Wc get out of the train, and pick our steps through a sea of mud, into the heart of the town, with its bustle and commercial energy.