DUNEDIN.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1561, 6 August 1873, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

{from our- own correspondent.] V ' ;: " "" July 26.

The Provincial Council are still in ses ■ sion, and have spent most of the week in discussing ancl Hammering ; into orout^of : shape (Various .series :of \ resolutions. Of tneseVperhWps the' one on railways promembers being most divided on tKe,^matter, as well as displaying a good deal of 'ignorance about l the districts .through which the; lines ;.are^| proposed to run. The majority of the- f lines .propose^ are r termed ' ' branchlets, 5 ' andirit'ehded as feeders to the inaih^rurik 1 'j line runnin^ : thrbii?h' tHe Province. ' The • two gaps in ! this main ! lihe-^Duriediri fo J Moeraki, and, Balclutha, to J^ataura:- are * to be constructed as soon, as possible, land ' along both sections being ( hypothecated l for the purpose. Members snowed 1 much I ignorance of detail in this .discussion, and i talked as if, these resolutions being passed , '■'] the works would 'be begun' f at■ •' 'once ;' ■ whereas, there is not even a preliminary, h survey made. 1 question r much if, a year hence, the " first sod "of- either line will be turned;' The 1 proclamation ' ; o£ certain 'Hundreds was another subject of keen discussion. It'is !( a ; strange 1 thing that whenever anything connected with the Land Law comes on -the* carpet', members; t seem to prick their ears like a lot of dogs i preparing to fight 1 over; a ;bone. r Oh,t|ie/, waste of time there was in talking over f the Hundreds . ; and th^ampunt of twiddle thrown out ! It was pitiable to hear what are supposed to be sensible men talking nonsense ' by :the'i ! yard. ;;i: Then ff 6ne ■tiohJ' member moved ia the matter of altering the constitution of the-Legislatiye .Council $ as if anything said or done here would" have any effect; in anpiiher place, as.they are fond of calling it. Educational matters came in for! a, share of. ..discussion top, the hon. member for the city, Mr Fish, having moved a string of, resolutions regarding the management of the ! High [School," and recommending its total:abolition, or conversion; into- a^wteict school, for the purpose of forming it intoT a normal i or. '■ training school,;for teacher^ a want;; very much felt in the Province. The Gp : | vernment propose a igreat alteration/in/ the management of* the Dunedin Hospital, removing i it . partially, from ; ; own hands into the hancfopf ascommittee, to be' elected' from among "the contributors — the public being : ; asked :i 'to' ; give largely towards the cost .of r 'iiiaintenancei^lt is not veryeasy to see how.this can be ; dbhe, seeing that the institution' r i3 ; as' much a Provincial, or : e^en Colonial Hospital, patients being received from all' 'quarters. But it 'has- been left to the Government to ! elaborate a scheme for its future conduct. The: .proposition, to form, a. School of .Medicine in connection with- the may have something to -do : with .their proposals 1 At odd times, generally at the i evening sittings, good-progress has been made with what is- the real. work: of ?the session, viz., passing : the Estimates, on which there>as yet been very little /; discusr, sion —they being passed in' blocks, thou : ' sands of pounds 'being,,, voted ; a way with-, out a word. 'On the Supplementary Estimates, however, there has been lots •of discussion, and: members take' 1 the opjportunity of moving Vfbr votes of ; money ( for their respective; districts, for. all sorts of purposes, from the' bridge of a stream 1 to the endo wing.of a: Mechanics' Institute. A few days more r will) finish the. work. ,• „-. i- i There has been a little stir in Municipat , .matters this'week/ we! having elected our 'Mayor for the ensuing year, and yesterday the r usuial vacancies fell 1 to.be filled, I up. The three candidates for the Mayoralty? : aU trie 3 hard to 'get the coveted 1 position i at the top of the' poll; and' tried the usual j

means of posters, cards, and cabs, to effect their object. The, day was a miserable one, and cabs were' 'turn-ups. When the poll was declared at / 5. 30, till which; time a crowd had waited patiently • in'j;h r e..rain and cold, it was found that Mr Mercer had ! obtained the post of hohor>hej, .haying I polled 970 votes -against ,Thoneman's;63o, j and .Barnes'. soo— -thus giving him a clear : majorityi-of 340. J At the Ward nomina--1 tions yesterday, the candidates for High and Leith Wards, Messrs K. Ramsay and C. JSi Reeves -were ; returned unopposed. ; For South Ward, Mr Fkh opposes Mr Prosser; jand for Bell Ward, MrPatterson fights Mr Beck. ; " ; ' . V • ; '

A serious fire broke out on Sunday evening in the new Immigration, Barracks at Caversham, a very expensive pile of wooden buildings, lately erected by the General Government. Fortunately the fire was in one of the isolated houses,' used as a laundry,; and more fortunately the wind was from the S.W., which blew the flames from the other hquses7'so that when assistance; was Vj gbt 'with plenty of water, the fire was confined to the building ! in which 1 it broke oiifcj and the rest w.as saved. - :/ : ''■■'•' :/ '-' ■'■'•' :; "/•'■■, : ' r J A. man named M'Leod was drowned in the Water of Leith on Monday evening. Ho was a wool-washer at Pelichet Bay, and had been ; electioneeringj' and -had been imbibing too freely. In attempting to cross : a ruinous bridge near this bid Botanic Gardens he lost his footing and fell into the stream, which being slightly in flood, washed him away and drowned him. Verdict accidental death, with a rider about the state of the bridge. The new daily paper-— the Guardian— made its appearance on Wednesday morning. The appearance is riot creditable to its getting up. The : matter, in the .first number^ appeared to ,be just, shovelled together anyhow. It has ; improved a little since, but does not possess the look of a town paper— moro Hike some of those published in some ot the towns up-coun-try. It is hardly up to the mark in news either, many of its items being, of dates' a week, or ten days old. The projectors have adopted the ; questionable dodge of leaving it. eit the door of all the'house? their runners can easily reach— free, till the 31st instant, hoping to receive a host of subscribers. ; The tywn, has been very well canvassed for advertisements, of which the paper makes a fair show— large type, however. Its politics are undecided as yet. ' -■„.. The weather has been very severe all week. Strong S., S.E., and S.W. gales have prevailed, accompanied with a great deal of sleet and rain. Traffic on the coast has been all but stopped ; even the steamers had to run for shelter y no fewer than ten coasters and two steamers were at anchor at the Heads for a day or two. The wind moderated yesterday, and most of them got away. The roads up country are in a deplorable state, and traffic on ; wheels at a standstills Even our best roads— -those on the main line nbrth and sputh^are Very much cut'up. The rivers liave been pretty high; 1 too, ; though no

damage has been done. "The streets and crossings in town aredisagreeably muddy. Thelsun has hardly/been seen for more than a few minutes 'at a time all week.