DUNEDIN. (From our own Correspondent.) October 31st, 1864.

North Otago Times, Volume II, Issue 37, 3 November 1864, Page 3

DUNEDIN. (From our own Correspondent.) October 31st, 1864.

The meat question has occupied more of our attention dunng the past week than anything else. Kxeiybody feels in his tenderest place the presen' price of mutton and beef, and the agitation that has been commenced is not likely to be allayed until the ports are leopened, unless our stockowners can prove their asseitiou that they can supply the market themselves at reasonable prices. The Government and a large majoiity of the Provincial Council are, as you are aware, united in opposition to the demand of the town population. How the mattei will end it is not easy to pi edict, but E hope the solution will be that which I alluded to last week— a good supply from Provincial sources. Let us have that, and the stockowners will hear no more about opening the ports. We have no desire to be fed on beef which has been subject to the deteiioratin^ effects of a sea voyage. Like good patriots, too, we prefer home produce because it is home pioduce, but we cannot afford to pay the present prices of meat; and if there is a way of relieving ourselves from the burden of them, we will find it. At a public meeting which was held last Monday, it was determined to present a petition to the Superintendent, since that addressed to the Provincial Council had met with such a scurvy reception. The representative of the Moeraki district— Mr (lleeson — attended this meeting and made a speech which brought him into trouble. lie laid the blame of exorbitant prices on to the butchers, and said " he was now prepared to supply sheep to Dunedin at the rate of oil per lb. for a year, and enter into a contract to that effect giving due security for its fulfilment." A bta'ement of this sort naturally attracted universal attention, and from none more naturally than from the butchers themselves. Whilst this iron was hot they determined to strike it, and were sorely vexed when they waited upon Mr Gleeson in a body to enter into his proposed contract, to find how rapidly he had cooltd down. Hesitating at first, and saying he must consult some of his brother squatters, he finally withdrew from his offer altogether, which was no doubt under the circumstances the best thing he could do. II is marching up the hill so bravely, however, only to march down again has harmed his cause and exasperated his opponents. In connection with this subject I should like to propound a question to your Agricultural Association and to all the other bodies learned in things bucolic. Is Otago a country that can be depended upon for fattening cattle ? An impression is abroad to the contrary, and the subject is worthy of being carefully inquired into. A fair trial has, I should think, been given to large tracts of the Province during the last twelve months, and it would be interesting if we could obtain a tabulated statement of the results. Our agricultural associations are the most likely machinery for procuring such statistics. In the Provincial Council this meat quegtian came up again during the week in a rather peculiar manner. A proposal was made to allow cattle to pass from infected to clean districts after proper inspection and certificate of health. If this sort of thing is to be allo »ed we might as well do away with any distinction of diseased and healthy districts, and adopt a machinery similar to that which the Scab Act provides in the case of sheep. The prevailing impression is thatpleuro pneumonia is not a disease that can be dealt with by mere inspection. If stockowners are ready to admit cattle supposed to be healthy from the proclaimed districts into those which are free from disease, what possible harm can accrue from their admission from other countries through our ports ? This argument is the stronger, because cattle arriving by sea are landed within the pro • claimed districts, and not in those where the disease has never been. The resolution found very little favor in the Council. Owners of stock who have exhausted their pastured, and whose cattle are now suffering, and as I hear, in many cases half starved, were favored with many expressions of sympathy, but the remedy they euggested was not granted. It was indeed a gross absurdity on the part of men who had a few dnys before strenuously opposed the opening of the ports to bring forward such a .resolution. The question of reduction of salaries has been

"ealt with in a very vacillating manner by the Council, which seems afraid of interfering too much with the Government, and at the same time unable to restrnin its desire to have a finger in the pie. This meddling with particular items in the list of salaries has always appeai'ed to me to be a very indecorous habit of our Provincial Council, and the sooner some strong-minded Treasurer puts a stop to it once and for all, the better for everyone. What the Council have to say nboi't sulaiies should be in general terms. If the Government cannot deal with its own servants, it is fit for nothing. Besides, to make tlje merits or demerits of particular individuals a subject of debate when their salaries have to be voted, is a mischievous thing, and likely to lead to all sorts of improprieties. In Government service a salary should be attached to an office, and not regulated according to our estimate of the individual who fills the office. There is evidently a strong feeling in the Council against the reduction of salaiies, and in favor of reducing the number of officials. The decision of the Commissioners that Wellington is to be the future scat of Government for New Zealand has evoked very little comment here, and had, from what had oozed out before, been pretty much expected. It is undoubtedly a matter for regret that some pfcice in Marlborough could not have been found suitable for the purpose, but no one seems to take the contrary decision much to heart, or to trouble himself about it. No move has yet been made to induce our representatives to meet their constituents before they leave for Auckland. Judging from expi i ience we need not expect them to trouble themselves about it if they are not invited in such a manner that they have no loophole for escape, Volunteering continues with unabated vigor. The new corps formed since the issue of the Militia proclamation must now number seven or eight, each mustering a fair number of members, whilst the old companies have received large accessions to their numbers. A very good photograph of the Exhibition building has been procured by the Otago Local Committee. One or more copies may no doubt be seen somewhere in your good town, as the object of the Committee is stated to have been to supply the district committees with the photograph in order that country exhibitors might pee what sort of a place bad been prepared for the reception of their exhibits. The thing is, in fact, a little bit of ingenious advertising. As the time approaches there are signs of activity in all parts of the Province, and I have no doubt the Exhibition will be a very successful affair. The session ot the Court of Appeal is closed, but judgment has in most cases been reserved and will be delivered on Thursday next. The hea\ iest cage is that of the New Zealand Banking Corporation v. Cutten and Vogel, in which the defendants claim a new tiial on the grounds mentioned in a previous Utter.