The Globe. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 913, 29 May 1877, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1877.

The merchants of Dunedin are awakening to the fact that their commercial supremacy is far from being so undisputed as it was. Not only are other ports in the colony rapidly overtaking them in the race, but there is a danger, it seems, of the inland trade of Otago even, slipping from their grasp. This time it is Oamaru that is the rival. An agitation in favour of an interior railway as far as Naseby is being carried on at Oamaru, and so the Dunedin people are getting alarmed. With them it is not a question of which route is the best, but whether is Oamaru or Dunedin to have the trade of the particular district. The Oamaru people show that if the railway is made to Oamaru, some considerable saving in the number of miles of railway to be built, will be made, and some good country opened up. The Oamaru route would involve the construction of thirty-four miles of line, the one via Palmerston fifty miles, and the one via Outram sixty-five miles. Yet in the interests of Dunedin the Daily Times strongly urges the adoption of one of the two last named. It is, says our contemporary, " the immediate intent of Oamaru to get the Naseby terminus, so to speak, alongside their breakwater ; it is equally the interest of Dunedin to have it at the Eattray street jetty. We call on the Chamber of Commerce to give some attention to this matter, and if required, to put some pressure on the Ministry to make the Manitoto line, by way of Strath Taieri, or up the Shag Valley, and not through Duntroon." We have drawn attention to this matter to show how the people of Dunedin look upon all public questions. To aggrandise their city, they are prepared to bring pressure upon the Government to construct the longest, and consequently most

expensive line. Even were the money available, the extra £IOO,OOO or more which would be required to make the line by way of Strath Taieri, might be more usefully employed in opening one in another district. But that would never do. At whatever sacrifice, Dunedin must have the first consideration, and so pressure is to be put on the Ministry in favor of the longest and most expensive route. We fancy, however, that neither city is likely to reap an immediate commercial advantage in this matter. Grovernment will have enough to do without undertaking fresh lines, to find the means for finishing those already authorised.

The Acclimatisation Society think that the Protection of Animals Act requires amendment, and has appointed a committee to make suggestions. The committee consists of Sir Cracroft Wilson, Dr. Frankish, Messrs Hill and Boys. We look forward with some interest to the report which those gentlemen will bring up. There is a growing tendency in some quarters in these colonies to reproduce the inquisitorial legislation of the old country, especially in connection with the game laws, and if the people do not look out, they will find themselves before long surrounded on every hand with penal restrictions. It is proposed that a gun license should be substituted for the present game license, the reason assigned being that under the law as it exists, people shoot pheasants and other game without a license, and without being detected. No doubt the Act is evaded, and in quarters where we should have expected a rigid observance of it. But we question the wisdom of making the restriction more severe on that account. We should prefer to see all restraints whatever, except as to season, removed, and the protection of game left to the landowners themselves. Were this course taken the preservation of all iiseful game would be secured with the least possible annoyance to the community at large. But we protest against the creation of a set of laws, whose only aim is to secure to the privileged few, amusement at the expense of the many ; and we wonld suggest to the Acclimatisation Society the wisdom of letting the Act alone, for if it is amended at all, it will most assuredly not be in the direction of making it more stringent.