DUNEDIN.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 636, 15 February 1870, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

(from ovr own correspondent.) February 5. The annual meeting. of the members of the Athensenm was held in the Po3t-office Hall on Monday evening; There was a good attendance, and Mr J . Bathgate, Vice-President, was in the chair, The report and balance-sheet were read, and, after some discussion, 'adopted! Objections were f however, made to the fact of the report not having been circulated among the members till the night of the meeting, and this led to quite a scene, in which the Chairman, and Mr I. N. Watt . were the chief actors. During the conversation the Chairman addressed Mr Watt as his friend the Sheriff, which the latter did not seem ti) like; and replied rather testily; one word led to another until there was a regular uproar, and My Watt was compelled to sit down. The voice of the meeting was quite against him, and an amendment which he made' was rejected almost unanimously. The new building for the Atheneeum is rapidly approaching completion, and is expected 1 to be ready for occupation about , the beginning of. next month. : ' . ' The Education Board also 'held 'its. annual meeting on Monday. . An able report on thestate of education throughout the province generally was read by the Secretary, Mr BHod. . Although the scheme of Education, in Otago is perhaps as near perfection as possible, yet hitches sometimes occur, and one such is pointed at in the deficiency of inspection. - Every school ought to be inspected at least once a year, but the schools have increased so rapidly, and the localities are so widely spread, that it ha 3 been found quite im- : possible for the chief aud sub-inspector to perform the duty., In addition, .the sub... has to perform the duty of music master fur the whole schools in tlie province. So, while 1 attending to the one d»ty-the other, has had to be neglected to the injury of both; It is proposed: to appoint another sub-inspector. The amount paid by the Province for salaries, buildings.- 'repairs; &c, amounts to the large sum of L 24,000 a-year. : : :' Tne preliminaries for the construction of the Port Chalmers Railway are now all completed, and I iear that the actual work will be commenced in a day or two, the contractor being meanwhile busy in getting the plant together. The series of matches by the. boats of the Otago Yacht Club for a silver, cup was brought to a conclusion on Saturday last. The -course was from the jetty to Pelichet Bay, down the harbor to the cross channel, then up that channel, : and by the long channel to the starting point, and the cup to be won twice by the same boat before it becomes the property of her owner,^At the first match, Mr Hay's cutter, Spray, came in the winner, but at the second one Mr Mason's Royal Alfred won, and at +he. third match the same boat was first, so the cup accordingly fell to her. All three races were well contested. The Carandinis are attracting moderate houses atSt. George\Hall, while Thatcher has generally a crowd to hear his local song's in the Masonic Hall. Some of his songs are good, tlie others only so-sol' - The J. N. Fleming sailed this week for London with a full cargo of wool, some 73570z. gold and a full saloon. The other wool ships are filling up rapidly. We have had beautiful harvest weather during the week, and the crops, in our neighborhood are being rapidly cut dovyn and secured;^ ■ '