THE POST OFFICE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26, 14 December 1861, Page 2

THE POST OFFICE.

To the Editor of the Otago Daily Times

Sir, —I am a stranger in Otago, and must apologise for claiming a short space in your columns, to draw attention to a public grievance which affects the inhabitants of Duneilin, and more particularly visitors who have but a short time to stay in this town, I allude to the Post Office. Sir. I think it is hardly necessary for me to mention the delay and inconvenience I experienced, from the inadequate arrangements of this oiliee to meet the present increase of business, arising from the great influx of diggers, &c, an increase which has grown in the course of the last four months. It is perhaps unnecessary to assure the residents of Duneclin that to obtain a letter entails a task of waiting outside the office about two hours, and even then you have to guard your privilege of priority with the greatest jealousy, to enable you to reach the window in that time, and fortunate you may consider yourself if the hurried examination of the clerk should prove successful. Numbers have no doubt experienced the difficulty of posting foreign letters on the departure of a mail, at the solitary window where letters are registered, marked, perhaps weighed, and stamps sold; and this too, Sir, in a Province contributing to the General Government, by means of its Customs' revenue, &c«, a sum larger than any other Province in New Zealand. Are these the benefits the people have derived from the change in the Ministry at Auckland ? Is this an instance of the activity, forethought, and business habits of the new Post-master-General ? or has that gentleman u urgent private affairs " of an editorial nature which prevent his proper attention to the duties of an office yielding him £800 per annum, and the addition of Honorable to his name ? Or is it, Sir (I hazard it entirely as a suggestion). that the Government at Auckland have really only the concerns of the Northern Island and the settlement of the native difficulty at heart, and feel no interest in uncivilized Otago ? I spent some hours this morning in writing my English and Foreign correspondence, and having gone safely through the trials of posting, as above detailed, was distressed beyond measure to hear that the Aldinga had sailed without the mail, in consequence of its great delay. Whether such is the fact or not I am unable to say, but am given to' understand that should it be on board it is solely owing to a fortunate accident!!!

Men of business in Otago, visitors, aye and even private families, cannot, and I dare say will not, allow this state of thing's to continue. Some representation must be made to the Genera] Government

iat once, with a view to a speedy enlargement of this ■ most important branch of our public service. Mind, however, Mr. Editor, I blame none of the employes in the office. They, as far as lay in my power to ascertain, did their duty, and more than their duty, and it will be to the everlasting disgrace of the General Government, and will be to be remembered at the next session of the Assembly by your representatives, if their burdens are not lightened, and the public service more completely attended to. In conclusion, allow me, as a small admirer, to testify to the skill and energy for the public welfare evinced. by your Provincial Government in matters solely under their control ; I need scarcely say that under the head of the Police being the most thoroughly efficient. Hoping soon to revisit Otago, and to find this little difficulty at an end, I am, &c, Gig Lamps. December 11, 1861.

Yesterday's M. A. Mail says .—" On Saturday the Ajax Company, Bolivia Reef, cleaned up their week's crushing, when it was found that 130 tons had produced the splendid return of 528 oz. This is not only the largest but the greatest proportionate yield they hare had yet. The next crushing is expected to be even more considerable."

Yesterday's Bendigo Advertiser says :— "A well-known and respected quartz reefer, in the Bendigo district, informs us that five Germans returned to Sandhurst yesterday, from the Lachlan, and are unanimous in pronouncing the place a ' duffer,' not a whit better than the Snowy iiiver. We expect to be in possession of particulars to-morrow. — Melbourne Herald.

A returned miner from the Lachlan diggings, writing to the B attar at Star, states that the glowing accounts from that quarter are not reliable. The whole face of the country is swarming with diggers, and the greatest privations must be endured by persons going there. He never was able to make more than 17 pennyweights of gold per week, and this he expended in the purchase of provisions. lie speaks in very harsh terms of the conduct of the squatters in that locality, who appear to have a great antipathy to the miners, and even refuse to sell them provisions.— Age.

The Sydney correspondent of the Argus telegraphs : —Mr. Cowper announced last night the receipt of an official telegram from the Laehlan, to the effect that the northern lead has failed, but the southern was still traceable. —I learn, from a reliable source, that Governor Grey has determined there shall be no more fightingr in New Zealand. The fleet is being broken up. Three vessels have already been sect away.

The Good Clergyman.—l can't tell you how much good it does me to see and to hear your husband again, said the young man to his sister, when they were once more in the sitting-room. "It seems to me, that, as he becomes older, his pure and pious nature becomes more developed—or does this proceed from my being now better able to appreciate him ? " His sister smiled, and said, u You are certainly sincerely attached to my husband, but you cannot fully, know his pure soul and pious heart; people may say he is not snflicieritly observant of church forms and ceremonies, but he is a church in himself; piety prevails through his example ; he needs do us more than simply live here, to exercise a beneficial influence; his gentle disposition ; his untiring love and strict integrity, cause all those who witness his daily life to become good and pious; and his style of preaching is just the same ; his soul is in every phrase; even'' word is sound grain; he is well treated by all, and never meets with rudeness or incivility. The painter Schwarzmann, near this, who once stayed a week with us, and saw the respectful behaviour of the rude peasantry towards him, said a good thiug on the subject:. —" Our pastor seems to prevail on every man, to think in pure German in his presence, and not in patois. Formerly it used to distress me very much, to think that such a man was destined to pass his life in this obscure place, among a set of illiterate peasants; but I have since that time learned that the highest cultivation of intellect, which is after all as simple as the Bible itself, is here in its right and fitting place." — Joseph in the Snow, and the Clockmaker. By Auerbach.

Aspirants for Gentility.—-Mrs. Plantagenet went into her shell that night with the comfortable feeling that for once in her life she had made a mistake. She was fagged out, over-worked, and in debt. Oh! the sorrows of those miterabie people who cannot be content with that station in which it has pleased God to place them ; who are always longing to be something else, struggling with the frantic efforts of a drowning man to reach the next round of the ladder: giving their health, their strength, their self-respect, their peace of mind —we had almost said their hope of Heaven —for what ? To obtain standing-room in a place where they are not wanted, and where they may depend upon it they will never be allowed to sit down. — Great Catches y or Grand Matches. , A Bachelor's Advice.—"Lenz, bring your chair a little nearer," whispered Petrowitsch, confidentially ; no one need hear what wre are talking about. Listen! if you will take my advice, don't marry at all." " There is little chance of my thinking of such a thing at this moment, uncle." " Young people like you never know what they wonld be at—there can be no doubt of that. Now, Lenz, take example * by me. lam one of the happiest men in the world. I have just been six weeks at BadenBaden, and now I return to enjoy myself 4 here; and wherever I go, I am my own v master, and the world must serve me; and there are no girls in these days worth a farthing : those who are simple and good bore a man to death—those who are shrewd and clever require constant amusement and exciter nient —all day long, at every meal, they must have some fresh diversion; And then yoni

hear them say, day after day— 4 Goodness! how tiresome it is to manage a house—you men know nothing of such toil.' And theni in addition to all this, comes the plague ol screaming babies, and relations, and schoo, fees, and taxes.— Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker. ]3y Auerbach. Scotch Landlords.—lt is worthy of remark, that many of those who rent the shooting and deer-stalking mountains and forests, ju" 4- because they can afford to give the largest p'"*"?, are tradesmen from London, manufacturers from Leeds and Manchester, and warehousemen from Glasgow. The ancient and historic families are dying out. Lord Fife, for instance, with a rental of £50,000, has not an income of £4,000. Invercauld, with a rental oi £ 14,000, has not a larger revenue. Other lairds aue chiefs may be found in Cahada—successful tradesmen occupy the seats of their ancestors. The money power is rising like an advancing tide, and rapidly washing away the vestiges of other days. Whether for good or evil it is hard to say. Probably it is desirable that rank without property, and thereby unable to hold its own or fulfil its duties, should disappear, and that out of the common stock phoot up those who shall improve, by their being transplanted into a more elevated place, and in due time fulfil oblications which would otherwise have been neglected and forgotten.

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