DUNEDIN

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1254, 6 August 1872, Page 2

DUNEDIN

[FROM OtJR OWN .CORRESPONDENT.] July 29. The annual meeting of the Otr go Institute was held in the University Bu M ding, on Monday evening. The night wa3 very cold, and the attendance consequently rather meagre. From the annual report which was read, it appeared that the amount of work done by the members of the Institute was rather less this year, than during the preceding one, though the papers read were all of a valvable and interesting nature. The . secretary of the Field Club read a detailed account of of the work done by this branch of the Institute. The office-bearers and council for the ensuing year were then elected, and Mr J. T. Thomson read a learned disquisition on the " Barata numerals," being a supplement to a former paper by him on " The Whence of the Maori;" an

endeavor to trace the origin of the native race to one or more successive migrations of a people once inhabiting "le Peninsula of Hindostan, remains of which are to be found ail over the eastern seas. Examples of the numerals in the languages spoken by the inhabitants of countries ranging from Madagascar to Easter Island were given, showing their dose affinity. A short paper by Mr J. S. Webb on some extraordinary fluctuations of the barometer, concluded the business. The President, his Honor Mr Justice Chapman, is to deliver an address at the next ordinary meeting, in a week or two. _ On Tuesday evening, the Rev. Mr Watt, of Green Island, delivered an address on Spiritualism before the Mutual Improvement Society. The Rev. lecturertreated the subject very cleverly, and took considerable pains to explain the matter to his audience, He admitted a good many of the facts brought forward by the advocates of Spiritualism, but denied their teachings ; and attributed many of the manifestations, admittedly spiritual, to the work of evil spirits. He also maintained that the pursuit of such studies was not profitable, either mentally or morally, to those who followed them. On Thursday night, the Spiritualists held a meeting, at which the above lecture was discussed. The principal speaker was Mr Stout, who went io for maintaining the authenticity of the teachings of the spirits, and impugned the conclusions of Mr Watt on the subject, asking if it was at all likely that God would graut powers to evil spirits which he denied to good ones. The teachings of Spiritualism Mr Stout made out to be that there were certain laws which guided us as spiritual beings as firm as those which related to our physical being j an 4 that these laws could not be broken without bringing their punishment. He also defended Spiritualists from the charges of immorality which had been brought against them. Several other speakers followed on the same side, and an irregular discussion on some of the more salient points brought the meeting to a close. Several new members were elected. That annual storm in a tea cup— the election of Mayor— was brought to a close on Monday. The polling-bpoths were pretty busy during the day, but beyond that things were very yqujet indeed.- To? wards five o'clock, howevej?, a consider-

Water street, and waited as patiently as they could in the cold, while the scrutineers were numbering the contents of the ballot-boxes. During the interval, the usual chaff and horse-play ware indulged in by the crowd, in which some of the new chum bobbies were made the butts and had rather the worst of it. Shortly after five the Town Clerk accompanied by the rival candidates and their friends pushed their way through the mob to the steps of the Government terrace, and the numbers polled were read out as follows : — The votes given for Fish were; 1093 ; do for Rossbotham, 414 ; majority for Fish, 679. There was a good deal of cheering by Fish's friends, during which he came forward to the terrace, and after quiet had been restored, delivered a short speech to the electors, thanking them for returning him as Mayor by such an enormpus majority over his opponent. Mr Rossbotham them camp forward and thanked those who had ypted^ for him, and stated that he only contested the election on principle, as he never expected to get returned, and thought that no one should be allowed to run the election without being opposed. For the Wards, there is opposition in two only, Mr Mercer being returned for Highland Mr Barnes for Leith, without opposition. In South and Bell Wards, a keen contest is goirig on, there being only two candidates for the one, and three for the other. . .■ • ;

A meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday, at which the new Bankruptcy Act was considered. The clauses of the Bill were discussed seriatim, and several alterations were proposed, in order to make the measures of the Bill more workable. :

The small-pox panic still continues, and great number of people are getting re? yaccinated. Tfre megs made with our mail .arrangements Js creating much discontent; a§ wglj as disgust at tjie trpubld occasioned by the Nebraska, T?his vessel is to be kept in quarantine for some fifteen days, and vessels have arrived in our harbor since she arrived in Wellington, and yet we are without the mails. Great carelessness somewhere. It was rumored here last night that there were three cases of small-pox on board the Nebraska. The weather has again been wet, a good deal of rain having fallen, but yesterday was a glorious bright mild spring day, quite a relief after the thick muggy weather of late. Accounts of floods have been received from some of the country places. The lower part of the Taieri Plains was under water for a day op two, and some of the rivers to the north of Dunedin were very high. -