DUNEDIN.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1284, 10 September 1872, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

[from our own correspondet.] August 31. The long-pending dispute between the minister and the congregation of the First Church has terminated amid a display of the most disgusting hypocrisy that ever was perpetrated. J mentioned in a late letter that the Rev. G. Sutherland, had got a call from St. George's Presbyterian Church, Sydney, and that he had.accepted of that call. Consequently the congregation were brought together to take the usual steps necessary on such occasions. This m eeting was a very warm one, and some of those present made exhibitions of themselves and used language the very reverse of parliamentary. The Rev. Mr Gow, of St. Andrew's Church, was in the chair, and after a good deal of barneying, the following, resolution was put andcarried :— " That the congregation express their regret at Mr Sutherland, their beloved pastor, being about to take his departure from their midsfc, and that they regard the call as one from the great Head of the Church tp a higher sphere of usefulness in" promoting "the interests of His kingdom." Now, on the face of it, and the congregation knowing all the circumstances, could there have been a more hollow affair possible? After about a year of congtant quarrelling, how could they style the man "their heloved pastor?" Verily,, verily ; yea verily. Where has consistency, where has common honesty gone? that the First Church congregation should have so far forgotten all that has taken place as to have adopted such a resolution as the one above. The matter has been the laughing stocV of the town ever since. The Presbytery met next day to take further steps in the business, and their deliverance was nearly as bad as the congregational one, only in a more roundabout way. The upshot of the whole is that Mr Sutherland is loosed from his charge as from the 6th September next, and the church is to be preached vacant on the following Sunday, the Bth. And now the work of appointing a successor lies before the congregation^ who will find it a very difficult matter, in their present divided Jstate, and a serie* of very stormy meetings may be looked forward to. The polling for the Caversham election resulted in the return of Mr Tolmie by a considerable majority over Mr Cutten, who may now retire to his Rip Van Winkleian sleep again. Mr Tolmie had a majority at all the polling places except Anderson's Bay, where, as may be supposed, Mr Cutten had the lead, the voters being mostly his neighbors. Mr Tolmie also resides there, but his residence is of much shorter date thaii his opponents. Caversham, the principal polling place, was in a high state of excitement during the most of Wednesday, and there was a fair gathering at .the time the poll was declared, which was done amid a deal of fun. Mr Tolmie was present, and delivered a short speech, thanking the electors for the honor conferred on him, but Cutten replied by advertisement, intimating that he would meet the electors on Saturday, when the official declaration of the poll is t.« be made. A very curious complicate, has a:isen out of this election. Mr Tc «nic is Deputy Superintendent, during the absence got E's Honor at Wellington, cud should the

Deputy leave the Province the Speaker of the Provincial Council becomes not only Deputy but Superintendent in chief, and holds office till the dissolution of the Council by effluxion of time. Mr Macandrew, in such a conjuncture, would find himself deposed, which would be awkward for him, and to avoid doing ho he has paired with another member of the House, and comes down in the Luna to relieve Mr Tolmie, appoint another Deputy, and then he and the newly-elected member for Caversham will return to Wellington to their legislative duties. This is another specimen of the absurdities so common in New Zealand legislation. The usual fortnightly meeting of the City Council was held on Wednesday evening. There was a large attendance of the public, as a grand fight on the late stuffing of the Citizen's Roll was expected to come off. The Mayor owns a section (leasehold from the Corporation) inPelichet Bay. From this section ho managed to secure six votes by a system of subdivision among his personal friends^ and the affair smelt veiy Fishy. He (the Mayor) was taxed with the affair, but sheltered himself by saying "the law allowed it," and threatened to double the number before next election. Of course, . if the creation of "faggot" votes like these were to go on to. any extentj tho r Fish " ring" would become a permanent institution, and the "rolling office" would always roll the oneway. With the view of preventing this a motion was placed on the paper that the matter might be discussed, but the Mayor ruled it out of order as ultra vires, and a modification of the motion was made, only to be referred to a committee. So the public lost the * treat expected in its discussion. However, it is to be hoped the committee will do its duty, and report against the continuation of such a practice, and as there is a pretty compact opposition in the Council, the discussions will be the more likely to throw light on any of those. dark matters. The other business transacted' was not of much importance. A rather peculiar case of suicide occurred in Grange street the other night. A man named Roberts, who had been out of regular employ for a considerable time, had got into low spirits, and told his wife he intended making away with himself, and had. even written several letters and made a sort of will, all bearing on such a fate befalling him ; but nevertheless she took no notice of his expressed intention, and no one was even told of such a possibility. considerable time elapsed, and his wife seemed to have forgotten all about it, when on Wednesday about dinner time he came in, addressed some trifling remarks to his wife, who was bustling about as usual, lifted one of the children up for a minute, sent another out of the way, went into the bedroom, threw a rope over the door made fastto the handle outside, put the other end round his neck, and though his'wife found him hanging almost immediately she ran screaming off to a neighbor who, instead of cutting him down, ran off for the police. The result was that the man was quite dead when cut down. At the inquest, it turned out that he was not at all in destitute circumstances, as a sum of L 305 was lying at interest in one of the banks in his name. He had been.predisposed to suicide, as it transpired that his mother had committed suicide, so the jury gave a verdict of insanity." " ....'■.. . The weather has been very cold during the latter part of the week. On Wednesday night and Thursday morning there was a heavy fall of rain, quite a" spate indeed, but no damage was done.