SKETCH OF DUNBDIN.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 419, 19 December 1884, Page 2

SKETCH OF DUNBDIN.

" Dunedin," says a writer in the ' Spectator ' ( Melbourne)' •' is the largest city in New •Zealand, hawing a population offabout 40,000, -and is the principal centre of the wholesale trade. It is only thirty-six years' old, having been founded in 1848 under the auspices of the New Zealand Company and the Free ( 'hurch of Scotland. One cannot but admit the', courage and fortitude of the pioneer settlers. The two vessel-* having the first batch of emigrants —numbering 326 persons .-^-ori board arrived at an unfortunate season of the year. During the first two months^ it rained incessantly, so much so that the. ladies and children were unable to land. They had the melaocholy satisfaction day by. day of watching from shipboard their husbands and. brothers as they strove in the 'midst of the rain to provide some sort <^f shelter for them "upon the drenched shores. The country which had been painted to them in suchflowing colors did not turn out' upon their first acquaintance with it to be the promised land they expected ; still their hearts did not fail theni, and thdr children enjoy the rewards of their enterprise to- lay. For some time, though, things must have been in a very primitive condition. One who reached Otago in 1849 describes his arrival and passage up the bay. On reaching Dunedin he, in company with some friends* weut to a coffee-house, where the coffee proved to be black and thick, and where the sug in ». wop&en'dish.'was the blackest and sandiest of cheap 'rations.' The dish, an V its supposed sand was mistaken by one of the party in his innocence for a spittoon 1 i The first judge appointed in the inf-mt colony was aMr Sydney- Stephen. He is said to have been a political appointment, and to have been very distasteful on this a c count 'to the people. The -population was only 800, and for two whole years there was not a single case, either civil or criminal , before the Supreme Court. The judge. himself Was "brought before a full bench^of magistrates, for assault... His solicitor, who was a magistrate, went on the bench, and adjudicated upon the case.- The judge pleaded guilty, but in, an elegant speech, in which he is said tb have' virtually told the bench I ' they Were a parcel of old women, he urged provoc iiion, and maintained that it was unreasonable that lie should wait the; slow and tardy- ) progress of the. law. By a, large majority the case was dismissed, 'to the utter amazement'of the audience," which embraced- almost -the^ whole adult population of the city of Dunedin. <- --'••- -.-..- ■ The prison arrangements in those days were of a very , primitive character. The prisoners were' called in - each i evening to family prayers in the governor^ house. They . went out every day to' wbrkih families which ibad engaged them, and returned in the even- ' ing. On Saturdays . th,ey .- went, to market, iand. the governor is said to 1 h'a v ve : always -ad--' : dressed to them the following injunction : — ! "Now,- lads,! see. that yon return, in time. llf you don't, mind, you'll be' shut out." j Many a tinic have the prisoners who were a ] little late b&_& l seen .'running towards,, the, prison^ fearful lest.theVfShpuld be late. .On . ©ne occasion the .prisoners were allowed to go to the races, each one being presented in the i morning with half-a-crown to spend, with the i admonition to be back by five o'clock, or : they would be shut out. The story goes that on one occasion a woman was actually turned : out as being altogether too~ bad . and in corrigible for such a gaol. * *'- '■ The first Presbyterian minister of Dunedin came with the original emigrants, and was the Rev Thomas Burns, D.D., a nephew of Scotland's famous poet/ He died 187.1, 1 aged seventy- six. The ,walks about this city, especially in the Town Belt, aro levely > irv the extreme. The visitor isj powerfully reminded of the country lanes of the fatherland and as he saunters along, the birds that were so familiar I to him in his boyhood days cross ani recross his path, delighting him with their plumage, and charming him with their songs. It was a common thing to hear four and five larks singing at one time, whilst the blackbirds, thrushes, and other birds made the bush vocal with their cheery, inspiring notes. All over Otago the English lark is found, and may be heard all day long. The drives iv the neighborhood of this city are just as delightful as are the walks. We went one day to Portobello, going by one road and returning by another. The drive was one of the most romantic conceivable ; we had just one continued series of magnificent views. At one time we drove along the edge of a deep precipice, and then there was spread out before us a glorious landscape. Here we have a grand view of the Pacific, and there a sudden bend in the road lays before us the landlocked harbor, with Dunedin sitting proudly at its head. The simple English daisy was everywhere, and made some of the ' fields look as if a mantle of white had been spread over them. -In one of our walks to the water of Leith and the falls of St Nicholas the fuschia trees attracted our attention. Many of them were as big round as a man?s body, and not a few were ladea with flowers. We went one evening to Knox Church.! The appearance outside is not so striking aa' : is that of the Scots' Church Melbourne, but the interior is very fine indeed, and drew; from us at once the- exclamation that there i*' no church anywhere iv Victoria that can approach it: It ia a spacious buiiding,chastejand beautiful to a degree. They have a very ligz organ and choir, but the night we were there the singing was very indifferent, and it was ! an anniversary occasion, tool Dunedin cannot, only boast a church. superior to any in Victoria, it also possesses an hotel which is acknowledged on all hands to be the finest in the colonies. The Grand Hotel stands alone; Kvcry convenience and luxury is to be found by travellers there. The tramway system in Dunedin. and, indeed, all over New Zealand, so far as we have gone, is quite noticeable InvercargiU, with seven thousand people, has its trams, and makes it- pay, and yet a town like Geelong cannot even sustain a line of 'busses or cabs. At Dunedin the cable trains up and down the steepest hills are full of interest to Victorians. The engineer who laid these is now. I believe, in Melbourne to superintend the laying of similar lines there. In New Zealand every caie seems to be ex^ exercised to make travelling everywhere cheap and easy.