DUNEDIN.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 148, 22 December 1866, Page 3

DUNEDIN.

(Fitoir ot'i: ows cohuksvondent.) ■, : December -15. Business has been a good deal interrnpted in the Provincial Council this week by l»nij cliscusßions which liave taken L place oii various subjects. The principal \ji of these was a set of resolutions on the : management of the Gold Fields, which M-eru based on tl»e rejH»rt of a Committee, and indicated at least the direction in' which reform should be effected. The tirst resolution gave rise to a long debate, in which nearly every member Spoke, and was at length 'adopted, with a few alterations ; the others were adopted without discussion. The land laws, also, in the shape of a very animated discussion on the declaration of an additional Hundred in the West Taieri district, underwent a severe heckling, in which the farmers and the wool-growers were pitted against each other. A fair amount of miscellaneous business has been proceeded with ; but the real work of the session, the Estimates — the voting of money for works up and down the country— has hot got beyond the departmental portion. There vvasvery nearly a Ministerial crisis last night i on the ijuestion of appointing a profes- I sional auctioneer to conduct the Government land sales. A- majority of the House could not see that this would be any advantage, and voted accordingly. . The work of dredging the harbor has undergone most wholesale discussion in the papers during the week. One writer — "Master Mariner" he signs himself — has gone in against the movement tooth mid nail, advancing arguments to prove the thing can never be done, that it would cost .more than the place is worth, that it would' ruin the Province even to try it, ttc. While, on the other hand, the reasons "Master Mariner" gives are taken up by other writers, discussed,' disproved, mid torn to pieces. That the work is desirable, even a necessity, is admitted by nearly everybody, the only difference being how to do it. and how to find the wherewith. The Committee of the Provincial Council recommended steps being taken at once, and, among other things, advocated the formation of a Harbor Board for that and similar purposes. In the meantime the Government are about raising a loan for the purpose of L 20,000. In the Supremo Court this week- there was a case, Sullivan v. Tame, which arose out of the cases tried at the hist session by the Wafer-works Company againnt two of the o nployees, the cases ending in verdicts of acquittal. Sullivan sought a civil remedy for the wrong then done to him in putting him in custody, and so on, and after a long trial, obtained a verdict ofL3OO. , ' Per the steamers Omeo and Otago, we have tliis week received an addition of 11 (5 Ciiinese to our mining population. They are mostly for the Dunstan district, where lab:>r is very much wanted. Eleven of the Dunedin Cricket Club played fvventy-two Volunteers a match this week, beating them e;isily. As a return match eleven of the Volunteers are to shoot against twenty - two of the Cricketers, but it is a poor chance they have, as there are some good shots among the Cricketers. . Scarlet fever has been vagmg at Wai- ..,. kouaiti for some little time back, no fewer & than sixty cases having taken place, fourK teen of .them fatal. The disease was m'troduced from Melbourne, two children having arrived from that town in a dangerous state. Happily, however, the ' disease is now subsiding, no new cases having occurred for some days. Considerable alarm existed in the township and district, though, otherwise, the general health w:is good. • From the Gold Fields good accounts come down. All the quartz claims are briskly crushing, or getting ready to do so. The Escort brings down (5244 ozs. Business is steady without any fluctuation in prices. . Both Theatres continue open, the Princess being about the best patronised, principally owing to the attraction offeredby the. engagement of the ' com-c singerBarlow, who di'aws immensely. v The general run of business in the Council would be very dreary, were it not for the interpolition of a bit of fun now and then, in which the learned member for Dunedin, Mr Grant, generally figures. On .-Wednesday, when the motion .for. altering Standing Order No. 104, anent strangers in the House, was brought on, the Treasurer gave Mr Grant a well-de-served castigation for the way in which he took up the time of the House in making so many meaningless speeches and observations. ' Whereupon Mr Grant, assuming his most pompous and grandiose style, whined out that he was never reported ; some members got five columns in the paper, others two and a. half, while he got only five lines.. After the division was taken he rose to a point of privilege, and. addressing the. Speaker, gave in his resignation, at the same time handing him a small bit of paper. The Speaker, however, informed him that; the resignation must be sent to the Superintendent. After sitting a few minutes, Mr Grant, gathering .up all his digni ty, retired. After sleeping on the matter ho seems to have thought better of it, for v he reappeared in the House next day as usual. At the evening sitting he spoke, interlarding his address with copious Scriptural and classical quotations and allusions, whereupon ' Mr Haughton asked him, as he was so fond of quoting Scripture, if lie .remembered the individual who spoke only once, spoke to the point, and was reported ? Mr Grant asked who was that? Mr. Haughton replied ." Balaam's ass," ..which produced a roar of laughter from everybody present. Gracefully yielding to the pressure from without, the City Council have reduced the proposed rate for next year to the moderate sum of Is 9diiithe£. Every possible means is to be taken to reduce the expenditure, so as to make both ends meet if possible, so it is not likely any hew works will be commenced'during the year, and only such repairs as can be done by the eight day-men. This is to be regretted' as many of the streets want looking to badly, and if much wet weather como more expenditure still \vill be needed. In connection with the rates, a proposition was made by Mr Grant in the Provincial Council,- that those suburban townships fjk just outside the : BelS should be included F^l by Ordinance within the City, so as to -_\ lessen the amount of taxation by increasing the area over which it would be levied, but the proposition came to nothing. The new season's garden produce, both fruit and vegetables, is beginning to make (it appearance in the shops, and the market ; is pretty well supplied from the immediate' ■■-.■"■-•.' ' ' i

neighborhood. Things this year are rather early, the first part of the" season having been very favorable to growth generally. For the past few days, however, the weather has been very severe, and a great deal of raiiv has fallen up country, the rivers are all in flood, and connnunicatison is all but suspended in different parts. Cobb's, coach got stuck for a daj r or two on a bit of laud; between Hwp rivers at Otepopo, and could neither get back nor forward.