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Otago Daily Times, Issue 141, 29 April 1862, Page 4

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". Inveniavi viam aut faciam."

DUNEDIN, TUESDAY, APRIL 29,1862.

Perhaps in no respect has the progress made during the last fifty years been more apparent than in the great strides made in the art or science of colonization. It needs not to tell the denizens of the New Zealand or Australian Colonies the wonderful effects that have attended the pursuit of modern colonization. They have not now to learn how rapidly the wilderness and^ the waste can be converted into smiling settlements, or how towns and cities 'will spring up as if by magic spots that previously had scarcely resounded to the footsteps of man. But of late years a sister art has been 1 growing up. What colonization is to the human family, acclimatisation is to the animal and vegetable kingdom, and only lately has the latter art been recognised as a distinct one, and pains taken to develop it. That acclimatisation is an art, a science, or a pursuit, a something haying a distinctive characteristic feature, and not the mere chance result of a caprice, is at length recognised ; the theory has grown out of the practice, acclimatisation was practised but was not preached; it had a reality long before it had a name. New Zealand, for instance, has not a single animal indigenous to it, but the Anglo-Saxons could not do without horses, cattle, sheep, and dogs, and these followed in their'" wake. So with the vegetable kingdom; probably few, if any, of the ordinary vegetables or fruits are indigenous to New Zealand; but they were introduced as a matter of course, and no one.thought that in the simple operation of carefully managing the transference, lay the germ of a science that yet may revo-.. lutionise mankind. If we would- give to acclimatisation its grandest definition, we should say that ;it is the endeavour to bring together within a small compass the wonders of the earth, the ocean, and the air that Providence has Scattered over the wide worluV It is' the attempt to epitomise the world ;to ignore the effects of distance; to bring countries closer to each other; to unite in one vast bond of intimate connection the products of countries separated by thousands of miles of ocean. ■ ■ ' • ! It is astonishing how few species of animals, birds, and fish, or of vegetable productions capable of being.adapted ito Tiseful: purposes; • have been, brought within the general service of imankind. ,: Certain, varieties there are, the uses of..which; have grown so necessary, "that without thinking of acclimatisation, man has dragged them with him where-; soever he-has gone. But "he has rarely extended the number of the species: to which he has directed his attention. Says a writer in the 'Edinburgh Review, in& paper on acclimatisation —"practical results' have, in; fact,' been so entirely lost sight of for ages, that the turkey,' in the year 1524pthe-Muscovy duck in 1650, the.gold pheasant in 1725, and the silver pheasant in 1740, are the only additions to

our catalogue of domesticated-animals-since the Christian era." , i . !.... '•• Probably acclimatisation was better understood to be; a- desirable object some two to three hundred years ago than it was. up to within the last few years. The early explorers of' Northern and Southern America made it a great object to bring home and introduce the''vegetable productions of the strange lands they visited, as also to plant abroad the productions of their own land.' The potato we owe to them, as also the usej shall we say abuse, of Tobacco. In transporting animals they also seem to have been adepts. . Pizarro, in his expedition to |Peru, carried out in his frail barks, thirty-four horses, and despite the difficulties of .their stormitossed voyage, managed to laud them in such condition as to be almost immediately serviceable for use. ; Dr. Bennett, in his valuable lecture points out that Lord Bacon, in his New Atlantis. also shadowed forth the subject of acclimatisation in' these words: ' — "We have "also parks, and enclosures of all sorts "of beasts and birds, 'which we use not " only for view of rareness, but likewise for "dissections and trialls. That thereby we " may take light, what may be wrought upon " the body of man." "We try also poysons "and other medicines upon them, as well as"of chyrurgery, and physicke." "We have " also particular pools, where we make trialls " upon fishes, as we have said before of beasts " and birds." "We have also places for breed " and generation of those kindes of worms and " flies which are of special use, such are with. " you your silkworms and bees." During the last few years the subject has been recognised as a special one, and acclimatisation societies have been formed in all parts of the world. The progress made in the cultivation and redistribution of native productions of different climates promises well for" a vast influence for good in the future. By a . system of interchange between various societies the jabor of each has been materially lightened. In Victoria a society has been formed, under the auspices of Mr. Edward Wilson, which bids fair to take the lead in this hemisphere. Its objects are stated as follows:— •• ' The objects of the Society shall be the introduction, acclimatisation, nnd domestication of all innoxious animals, birds, fishes, insects, and vegetables, whether useful or o"namentol ;-■ the perfection, propagation, and hybridisation .of races newly introduced or already domesticated; —the. spread of indigenous animals, &c, from parts of the colonies where they are already.known, to other locnlitieswhere tlipy are not known ;—the procuring-, whether by purchase, gift, or exchange, of animals, &c, from Great Britain, the British colonies, and foreign countries, —the transmission of animals, &c, from the colony to England and. foreign parts, in exchange for others sent thence to the Society;—the holding1 of periodical meetings, and the publication of reports and transactions, for the purpose of spreading knowledge of acclimatisation, and inquiry into the; causes of success or failure; —-the interchange of reports, &c, with kindred associations in other parts of the world, with the.vjew, by correspondence and mutual.arood offices, of giving the widest scope to the;project of acclimatisation; —the conferring rewards^ honorary or intrinsically valuable, upon seafaring men, passengers from distant countries, and others, -who may render valuable services to the cause of acclimatisation. • It has already put in train the means for procuring the introduction of the salmon, the' "guaramier," an exceedinglydelicate native of the Mauritiuswaters^the eland and koodoo, animals of great economical value, and several varieties of sheep, including the Shanghai which lambs twice a year, and produces four or five at a birth. Of birds, insects, and vegetables, the society also is not unmindfuj. In another column appears a letter from the Secretary to the Victorian Society in which he intimates that at the instigation of Dr. Black, he was instructed by the. committee to offer every facility to the establishmsnt of a society in Otago. . ; He offers to expend, for its benefit, what funds the society may'place at his disposal, saving it the expense of 'a separate staff. It appears a society is already established in Auckland, which derives its supplies via Melbourne. We shall not be accused of a narrow desire to introduce political considerations into a matter which really rises superior to them, when we say that the Auckland Society can be of little use to the southern island. Melbourne is nearer to Otago than to Auckland, so that the first can procure its supplies cheaper than the second, while if it were to look to Auckland it would be at a double expense. It would be a pity to allow provincial distinctions to enter intothe consideration of the question; what we would suggest is, the formation of one society for the whole of the Middle Island. Periodical meetings might be held at the Provinces,'in succession, and other details arranged so as to' obviate any pbssibiliy of self-seeking on the part of one Province at the expense of another. At any rate the experiment is worth the trial. . Let a Provincial Committee be appointed, and the co-operation and assistance of the other Provinces be sought. If these be refused Otago can localise the society to its own use. One thing is certain, it must derive immense benefit from it. Its rivers 'are ad-, mirably suited for salmon, and its country for the various kinds of sheep that the Victorian Society is introducing. In an exchange of vegetable productions, it may receive arid confer an equal benefit. We invite the attention of all, classes of our readers to a suje* t which although it partakes a little of "tb'v~ scientific, is calculated to confer advantages of an appreciable and tangible, if not immediate, nature, on every member of the community.

Another warning has been added to the list and yet the City of JDunedin is without a Fire Brigade.:.. The .inhabitants of the city may wake any morning Jand' find the.'town laid in ashes,: and yet in careless.apathy,.pe'opie retire *to' their beds, knowing' they*are at the mercy of; the merest accident, or the most trivial act of carelessness.; ; , The; winter season is at hand,and every:room -that; boasts a fireplace will- haye; a blazing hearth; the risks attending-fire will be thus; augmented twentyfold,, and yet there is no means of protection at band; or, at any rate, only such as are "miserably inadequate to sa7e the: 'merest hovel. 'Whatwduld'be thought; of V General who, Vith'an enemysilent, insidious.and powerful, at his very door ;> active and ready, to, take advantage of the ; least want of vigilance';' shbuldJ not; only neglect to provide for encountering him, but should actually neglect to provide

his soldiers with arms to repel his attack. And 3'et that is precisely the position of the inhabitants of Dunedin at this moment; they have an enemy who gives but slight warning of his approach—a spark—a blaze—and a heap of smouldering ashes attests his victory. What sort of position would Dunedin be in if a fire were to break out in any of its principal streets? What if any of the largest stores or public buildings were to become ignited? All that could be done would be to gaze in frantic impotency, and miserable regret., The time that ought to have beenspent in careful preparation, has been wasted in profitless debate as to the fixing of the responsibility. Everybody's business has, been nobody's busines:—first it was the Town Board that ought to take the necessary steps,then the Provincial Government and then the general public; in the mean time nothing is done. This is a question affecting every member of the community, for not only the property.^the lives—of fathers, mothers, wives and children, —of every inhabitantare at ?take, and it is their bounden duty that prompt and united action should at once, without any delay, be taken. It is of no use talking about it, action is what is required, and if the inhabitants would wish to save their young city from destruction, means effective and powerful must at once be provided. If not, if they are indifferent to its fate and their own, let them continue to remain in the state of apathy that has hitherto been manifested. Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned, and the people of Dunedin may banish care, and smile whilst a similar iate befalls their city. Biit who can predict what will be the awakening, when at some time, possibly not far distant, their finest buildings and most valuable property are destroyed, and a smouldering mass of ruins alone remains to tell the tale ?

To-morrow, the Town Board will hold their quarterly meeting at the offices in Princes-street, at half-past three o'clock in the afternoon.

At the Police Court, yesterday, a party made a serious charge against the Lockupkeeper, alleging that he (complainant) had been confined in a dark cell, and subjected to much annoyance, if not maltreatment, from two drunken men who had been locked up in the same cell with himself. Oue of them had vomited all over his bedding arid the other had rudely fallen on him several times. Besides all this, when his wife wished to visit him, the police had repulsed her, and told her to go and cry somewhere else. This story was contradicted by the police officers, but his Worship gave directions from the Bench, that the case should be investigated.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, several .persons werei prosecuted by the Inspector of. Slaughter-houses, for illegally slaughtering cattle without a license, contrary to the 3rd sec. tion.of the Slaughtering Ordinance, 47. In eacli case the defendants put in a plea of ignorance of the law.- Mr. Strode remarked, that Dunedin was proclaimed in 1848 or 1840,- and said the law ought to have been well-known by this time. The names of the several defendants to these.informations, which were brought into Court by Mr. Redmond Walker, are as follows,:—Roderick Cooper, James Balderston, Andrew Simpson, John Wilson, besides Messrs. Morse and Or bell.. His Worship^ administered due caution in ea<ih instance ; recommending the various parties to take out business licenses forthwith, the fes being only; 2s. 6d,, and the permission to slaughter being obtainable ten days after lodging the half-crown. It was. not worth while to incur the risk of a fine at the rate of £5 per head on all cattle illegally slaughtered for the mere sake of two shillings and six-pence. R. T. Dosset was yesterday arraigned at the Court House on a warrant signed by Major Croker, wherein he stands charged with having threatened the lifts.of one; Henry Chamberlain;' under circumstances duly noticed in our Police report. It will be seen, on reference to that report^ that the case has been remanded to Tuapuka, the locality where the offence is alleged to. have been perpetrated : and the defendant, at a subsequent stage of the proceedings, was, on the application of Mr. Prendergast, admitted to bail in a personal recognizance of £50, und two eligible sureties of £25 each. Dossett made a complaint to the Court to the following effect: he stated, that: Major Croker, at Tciapeka, had bound him over to find two respectable sureties to keep the peace ; that he procured them in due course : but, that Major Croker then said he would have nothing to do with him, and he had since come down toDunedin where he wits arrested on a warrant. The following statement shows the condition of her Majesty's gaol oh Saturday last:—Awaiting trial before Supreme Court, 29 males, 1 female ; under sentence to hard labor, 42 males, 3 females; under sentence to imprisonment only, 3 females: 4 male lunatics; 2 debtors... Received during, the last week, 15 ; discharged, 14; total number of prisoners in the gaol on Saturday night, 84. , From our own Correspondent at Waipori, we learn that there is a report of a rush to the Manuherikia, about sixty miles to the northward, and that several miners have already: started from Waipori in that direction. He is, however, hable to furnish any particulars. The letter appears elsewhere. It will be remembered that there- was a report of the discovery of gold at Black's station, Manuherikia, some time ago, but that it was found that nothing payable ; had been struck, and that the miners had.'knocked off and left the spot. . It was in the same neighborhood also,' that Mr. Reyman was prospecting ; the person1 who, it will be remembered, put forth a claim -to have discovered a new gold field some months ago. It is possible that this rush, if.rush there be, may be occasioned by these reports having travelled round insomequcer way, or of course, it may be, that the indications, previously obtained may have led to valuable discoveries. Time will show. .

About 300 feet of the new jetty is completed and ready for/use. The work appears to be of the most substantial character, and carefully constructed, and reflects great credit upon the contractor. We are informed that in spite of the inconvenience experienced on the old jetty, in respect to the employment of trucks on a tramway, it is conteirplated to adopt the same plan in the case of the new wharf, although the jetty is amply wide enough to allow the drays to load at once at the vessel's side, with sufficient room for any traffic that may be expected to occur. If the construction of the jetty was a. public necessity, why do not the authorities open the. completed portion for traffic at once ? The contractor is quite prepared to:hand it ; over, and no impediment totlie works at the other end' would; occur. I We'believe,the majority of the commercial public are against the adoption of a, tramway. , . ' ; '

We ,'publish'elsewhere under- the. head of the " The London Times on Otago," an extract from

the Melbourne correspondence of that journal It was to this extract we alluded in the second leading article in our issue of yesterday.- It was omitted from jesterday's paper by an oversight. There was a tolerably good house at the Princess' Theatre last night to witness the performance of the Dream at Sea and the InvisiWe Prince. The performance to-night will be a repetition of the same programme. On Thursday Mr. Tom Pawcett will take a benefit.