OUR DUNEDIN LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4413, 12 May 1875, Page 3

OUR DUNEDIN LETTER.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Dunedin, Alay 8.

The Ladybird did not contain my usual budget to you, inasmuch as I was not aware the boat was going at such an early date, a steamer having left for the North two days previously. The Supreme Court sessions having concluded, his Honor the Chief Justice leaves today by the Taranaki for Wellington. On the whole, he has displayed great aptitude for the position which ho was called upon to fill, and he will do doubt make an excellent Judge. The Governor arrived in town yesterday, but there was very little demonstration on the occasion. It is true that a half-holiday had been proclaimed, and the banks and Government offices were closed after one o’clock, but it was not till past three that the citizens put up their shutters, which were taken down again as soon as the “ procession” had passed. His Excellency and Lady Nprmanby (in the same carriage with whom was his Honor the Superintendent), arrived ■at the Water of Leith Bridge (the entrance to the city). They were here met by the Alayor and members of the Corporation, who presented them with an address, assuring them that we were all very loyal, and enumerating the great public works which were going on in Otago, and giving it as their opinion that Dunedin was “ the” city of the colony. If they did not say this in words, they left it to be inferred ; and so I have no doubt it was inferred by his Excellency, who replied in a short speech, in which he stated that he had always heard Dunedin was the Queen City of the colony that he had been everywhere surprised by the signs of improvement visible, and so on, full particulars of which you will find in the local papers. And then, as the day was cold and bleak, and threatened rain, the “ cavalcade,” consisting of the Governor's carriage and two or three private vehicles, drove on amidst a very dismal effort at a cheer. There were comparatively few people in the streets, and nowhere was the slightest enthusiasm displayed. A few flags were visible, but very few. The Governor was driven to the Club at Fernhill, where he will take up his residence during his stay in this city. The aristocrats of the Club have taken up their residence at the rooms lately vacated by the Press Club, who, in their turn, now occupy the rooms once occupied by the aristocrats at Wain’s. On arrival at Fernhill, a few dismal-looking volunteers presented arms, the band struck up “God save the Queen,” the artillery fired a salute, and so ended the first chapter. On the whole, the entrance of his Excellency into Dunedin was not a success. People say they are getting used to the aristocracy, and that nothing less than a prince can rouse them to any enthusiasm.

The case of Barrowman v. Stevens, at the Supreme Court, was an action brought by a late passenger of the ship Auckland against the captain, for false imprisonment and assault during the voyage. The defence (which was taken by commission, the ship having left port) was that it was necessary for the preservation of order to iron the plaintiff, Who had been getting up monster meetings of the passengers, for the purpose of growling at everything that was not to their liking. A committee had been appointed, of which the plaintiff was head, and it was alleged that this gentleman had informed the captain that he must do os they wished him to, or take the consequence. Some of the witnesses for the defence stated that had it not been for Barrowman’s arrest in all probability there would have been a mutiny on hoard. Plaintiff was confined in the hold for a few hours. The damages claimed were £SOO ; the jury gave a verdict for £SO. In some districts of this province the pheasants are increasing fast. Some seven years ago a pair were let loose at Wangola, where the bush is pretty thick ; and it is now said that the birds are here most plentiful. In the way of public buildings, Dunedin is undoubtedly ahead, by a very long way, of the rest of the colony. We are now to have another addition to our street architecture, and at the same time to our public buildings, in the shapeof anewtelegraph-office,theplans of which are out, and which is about to be commenced immediately, next to the Custom-house. This was greatly required, for the amount of telegraph work now carried on in the present inefficient premises is enormous. The new building is to be finished in a twelvemonth ; for every week that it remains unfinished over, that time the contractor is to pay a penalty of £IOO.

At last the Princes-street award business has been finished. The amount allowed is nearly £27,000. Great indignation was yesterday expressed at the appearance of _ the various items of the award in the Daily Times. The arbitrators looked aghast ; each thought his fellow-arbitrator to be a traitor in downright earnest, and great indignation was manifest on all sides at the publication of the award before it was intended to make it public, while it was secured in the safe, and while moreover the arbitrators were pledged not to disclose the amounts until a certain time- a day or two ahead of that when the award appeared in the paper—had elapsed. But, of course, all are just and honorable men, and each and every alike professes the most entire ignorance of how the matter “ could have crept into the paper.” Tire working men have at length a club of their own, and in all probability it will be a success. For a very long time it was doubtful whether it would ever come into existence, although it was taken in hand by a few gentlemen who stipulated that the working men might have the ordinary privileges to be enjoyed at gentlemen's clubs, but that they must not be allowed to “ drink beer” on the premises—a piece of impertinence which the working men resented, and the thing fell to the ground, but it has been taken up again by the men themselves, and is being brought to a successful issue. They will make their own rules, and are quite capable, I have no doubt, of deciding for themselves the question as to whether it is “ to beer, or not to beer.” Our City Councillors are splendid engineers. Some two years ago they commenced a cutting from nowhere particular, and leading out, if properly followed up, to somewhere about the same place. Well, they delved and dived into this for a good two years, getting deeper and deeper, until the people who had house property near began to be alarmed,, and there was certainly ground for alarm, for _ the other day there was a great laud-slip in this cutting, which had the effect of frightening all the people in the school close by—scholars, masters, and all. The children were at once sent home. The school—a large brick one, known as the Middle District School—was considered to be decidedly unsafe, and the upshot of it will be that the building will have to be pulled down, and a new one built at a cost of three or four thousand pounds. If the City Councillors had to pay this among them, they would perhaps not rush so wildly at works that are bound to do more harm than good. Mr. Ramsay, our Mayor, is very indignant that the Harbor Board has decided that the Mayor of Dunedin shall not be, ex. officio, a member of that board. Mr. Ramsay got a gentleman to second the motion which he brought up on the subject,—the gentleman (Councillor Beeves) observing that he agreed with his Worship,—but when it came to the voting the Mayor stood alone, and his motion was ignominously lost. As one of the members of the Board observed, “A man might be a very good mayor, but a very bad member of the Harbor Board.”

The Provincial Council was opened on Monday, with all the honors. The Superintendent made a tremendously long speech, a great portion of which related to the abolition of the provinces. As I telegraphed you this portion in full, I need say no more on that head. The Council, so far, are going through their work very steadily, and I don’t think their sitting will bo a very protracted one. On the first day of the session, Councillor Fish distinguished himself by calling the attention of the House Committee to the fact that last session the drinks supplied were very bad. He trusted there would bo an improvement in this respect for the future. He did not drink much,butwhatlittlehohadho likedgood. “Man

wants but little here below, nor wants that little long,” observed a member; upon which another hbn. member was heard to remark sotto voce, “That may be ; but, my young friend, I generally find you are as thirsty as a Fish—and it's not such a very little you take after all.”