THE Otago Daily Times " Jnveniam viam aid faciam,"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 210, 11 August 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times " Jnveniam viam aid faciam,"

DUNKDfN. MONDAY, -AUGUST I], 1862.

If some Eurystheus of modern days would give to a modern Hercules an impossible labor to perform, he would set him the task of conquering a deep-rooted prejudice—a pre-1 judice of thutkind which derives nourishment, j in the breast of him who entertains it, from the fact that he is singular in his belief. I 1 here, are some dozen or two. of prejudices favored by a few, scouted by the many,' but which are strong iv the inverse ratio of the number of those that entertain them. We j are not disposed' to be severe oti the holders lof prejudices. However fallacious these may ! be, there is something that appeals to i sympathy in the strength of mind that leads j (their holders, to maintain them in despite of < | opposing numbers, in despite of argument, of | ridicule, and we may add, in despite of practical ! j results. The single juryman who, from con- j sciiiiitious motives holds oat against the other j | eleven, challenges admiration, however erro- j neous his viewd. But it is one thin-' holdhi" ! a prejudice, and another the inflicting the prejudice on those who do not believe in it. j However deeply felt.a prejudice may b», the i ' person who in the fullness of his self-conceit, ' I not content with being singular in entertain- ■ j ing it, persists in hurling it at those,who hold • different opinions, is neither more nor less j than an unmitigated bore. Proselytism of j ! thi* kind answers no good purpose. The pc- \ ! culbr view is sure either to be ridiculed or I detested, in fact nine men will not .submit to ! have.the opinion-of the tenth stuffjd . down i | their throats. |We are induced to these reflections by a | letter which appeared ia the column* of a ! f contemporary, bearing the signature "Enquiry/ j ! aud which, as w.; nre commenting on it, we re- j | publish in another column. We do not desire ; jto deal harshly with the writer, for the* reason i that his letter, be.-ides being well written, is | j both earnest and temperate in its tcme. No \ i one who reads the production can doubt the; i earnestness ■of the author; and there is also I evidence that he has restrained himself to the | use of temperate language, when he probably ■ I felt the inclination to indulge-in much stronger i expressions. Having said -o much,'we have exhausted all that can be uttered in prahe of j | the letter, for the production is one that j bears the stamp of the narrowest and mo^t I illiberal of prejudices. "inquiry" has) doubtless a right to the prejudice*, he j glories in, and, seeing how deep roof el I they are, we should n->t dream ! of attempting to disturb them, did he not throw down the gauntlet and say, L alone am right, whoever disagrees with me is wron,'. ! To begin with, he has wholly overlooked the i J most obvious part of hi; subject, that he is ; j setting his face against that v.-bieh uinctv-ninc ! j men out of a hundred do'notobjeuto. Instea.l { I of, with becoming modesty, allowing that it is j the task of the one to prove the ninety-nine I in error,he assumes that the one is right and i asks the ninety-nine to take the offensive. He 1 certainly recruits his strength with a quotation j from General Walker, but forgets to add, tint I the good man who uttered it was supposed to be j slightly crazed at the time. What would be j thought of a person who came forward with I a new discovery that up«et all preconceived j opinions, who would at once assume tho j truth of his new theory ; sneer at thoic goner- ! ally entertained;-and ask that unless his... be ! disproved, its truth should be taken for \ granted ? ■ . i Notoriously the stage has received the warmest support from the best aud wisest of all lands. , It is an institution that continues to flourish, and shows no sign, of waning. No one can pretend that its support is confined to the immoral portion of society, crowned heads and mitred clergymen have delighted to tiphold it. The Queen, whose moral sense is of the highest, and who has many times gone out of her way- to evince her unqualified disapproval of practices that incline to the immoral, is an ardent and constant supporter of the stage. She loves the art, she approves it as ennobling, and whenever she has had the opportunity, has encouraged its followers. Evcji from the pulpit the stage has been upheld. If we mistake not Canon Stowell, Dr. Chalmers, Kingsley, and Sydney Smith have spoken of it in highly laudatory terms. But let us not be understood to vest the claims to support of the stage on the mere fact that it is supported. No, we fearlessly aver that the drama is a most meritorious institution, and the fact that "Enquiry " and others, see evil in it, reflects on themselves, and not on the object of their reflections. '• Enquiry states what his •' personal experience " of the stage has taught him, aud goes on to describe the effects it produces. All we can say is that he is much to be pitied that he is susceptible to such sensations;-and as far as he is concerned he is right to stay away from the Theatre. Lord Byron in his bitter satire on Lord Elgin's spoliation of the Parthenon, reflects on the inability of the English to appreciate the -glorious, works of the Greek Masters. " ' Round the thronged gato shall sauntering coxcombs creep. To lounge and lucubrate, to prate and peep, While many a languid maid, with longiug fiigh, On giant statues cants the curious eye ; Mourns o'er the difference of nmv, an.\ then Exclaims, " These Greeks indeed were proper men!" But, because, to the impure, meretricious thoughts might be suggested by the Elgin Marbles, was ever one found so bold as to declare, they ought'to be excluded from public gaze. "To the pure all things are pure;" and

should the many be punished because unholy fires burn in the breasts of a few? Possibly, to some the statue of the Greek Slave might have suggested impure thoughts. But, because of such, should the thousands have been robbed of the pleasure who gazed upon the lovely work of art without one unholy emotion ?

Before "Enquiry" ventures again to assail the stage because in him, and those who think like him, it raisesunholy ideas, let him attentively study the following pithy remark of Burkes: "The age unquestionably produces (whetherin " a greater or less number than former times, " I know not) daring profligates, and insidi- " ous hypocrites. What then ? Am I not to " avail myself of what good is to be found in " the world, because of the mixture of evil " that will always be in it? The smoilness " of the quantity in currency only heightens v the value. They, who raise suspicions on " the good on account of the behavior of ill " men, are of the party of the latter." Again we say—why, because of the vicious few, should the deserving many be robbed of I healthful enjoyment? Nine men out of ten, nay ninety-nine men out of a hundred, can go to ! the theatre and derive moral benefit ! from it. " Enquiry" sneers at the imagi- | native powers, and reprehends their j indulgence. His is a hard philosophy, or he i would deplore the repression of those powers, j From the imagination Faith h born, and on ! faith depends the purest of religions—the re- | ligion of childhood. To few in after years j docs reason supply the place of faith ; the trust ' Jin the Rock of Ages is a heritage from ! childhood's holiest days. The imaginative '. ' powers of the world wearied man are blunted. , ila manhood's dawn, we freely admit the j ' visitor at a theatre is likely to have hi* .sensii " ! • bilities excited, but not unworthily. The | i majority of Kngli.-h plays inculcate v proper i morality. Virtue is almost always triumphant, ; vice defeated, and heroism applauded. Many a ' ! young ambition baa been kindled as it has ; I witnessed a soul-stirring play worthily per- j ! formed : kindled in v proper direction. lias j \ one not heard of instances in which young | ; playgoers have in a transport of excitement, ■ j rushed on the stage to the rescue of an injured J i heroine—are these impure impulses? lias i any one ever noticed ho.v a moral aphorism \ I however ?ta!e or trite, and however ill recited, ; jis sure to call d-r.vn applause? Even those ' who have outlived the tendency to emotion, of ■ which in earlier d«iys they were capable, still , j derive benefit from the stage. We defy at*y | (one to sit through a production of one of the \ I great masters of the Kn^li.-di drama without I carrying aw.ty with him n now Uleri—the food fur | reflection and for reproduction. It i> impossible I | to estimate the value of a new idea, and in its ; j suggestive power —suggctive to the good of j good—lies the inMielit ol" the stage. I , Tts. I.tit in tint uhi-h <l,th c.-.;.iU', ' Dur >ti>n 'Mil \<c -si>u.#5,t ; : j A v.vna ("aa v»:t--t<' the cativas*-- FuU% ! j Me'or Mv--;a iroiii tiiac a thought. i But Enquiry hints th:it the lives of actors I ■ j and actresses nre objectionable, and that theatres summon together objectionable elm- ; | ractcrs. To deal with the last first; we doubt I whether iv any large assemblage of persons, j objectionable characters would not be found. ! I»!jt the fact of their assembling does ! j not make them worse, —vice bidden, is ; still vi:e. One thing is certain, the vicious j are for a time restrained fiotn vice, i ; For instance, th.* habitual drunkard is tempoj rarily otherwise employed tln:i in visiting the ' dram f»hop<». Whilst in the theatre people (arc const rt'ned into behaving respeetnMy— : disorder und riot would lead to the expulsion ij of the offenders. The argument then comes j brick to that to which we have before adverted, I j that on account of a few who are disposed to • j evil, and whose evil tendencies would always t i find some channel into which to flow, the I many should not be made to suffer. In regard ■j to the private lives of the actors, we do not | believe them to be as bad as painted, aud if i j they were, it has nothing to do with the quesI j tion. There is nothing in the dramatic pro- • Tcwion to lead the follower of it into sin. No doubt many young actresses are exposed to j temptations, but in by far the large majority ■of cases they form early and virtuous marri-iges. fn considering the question it : h to be borne in mind that the errors . an actor or an actress may commit are from , his or her public position sure to be more spoken of than those of a private person. r Statistically we doubt whether the immorality < of the followers of the stage could be borne ■ (out. We take it that the social disadvantage f 1 under which they labor is chiefly to be ex- | plained by the fact, that they have not the ■ (same opportunity of selecting their associates , as other people have. But be this as it nmv, supposing actors and actresses are loose in 3 their morals, it is not a consequent eof their - art, and the art should not be blamed for it. i Who ever thinks of asking the private character of the painter before he admires the , picture ? Nay, to borrow an apter illustration, t the private lives of professional singers are at least as notoriously immoral as those of actors, ; but they are engaged to sing in churches j and to perform oratorios at which the r sturdiest and most pharisaical do not refuse - the light of their presence. i If ''Enquiry" would only understand that the .Stage is an art —a noble art —he would free r himself from his petty scruples. It is an art ■ that has called forth the noblest productions 3 of our own or any other language—the 1 plays of Vv illiam Shakspeare. Divines have - quoted them in the pulpit; until some of the " moral aphorisms have been endued with the ' sanctity of v household words." As a 1 rule, as before said, the tendency of most plays is a moral one, although 3 some, of course, are objectionable. c Such plays as " Camille," are highly meretricious, and the " Stranger,"—another one frequently performed, —is morbid in its tendencies. But, should two or three doubtful productions be held to prohibit works such as those of Shakspeare, Talfourd, Sheridan Knowles, Uulwer and others? Even the " modern sensation dramas are not hurtful in

the moral they convey. Take, for instance, the "Colleen Bawn," —the deserving are made happy, the would-be murderer (Danny) is killed, —the weak Hardress suffers an infinity of agony : so also his proud mother; and the

villain Cregan is baffled at every point. The 1 qualifications of an actor arc not comino!i- s place; but it is "Enquiry," and those who I think like him, who, by discouraging ' the stage, limit the number of those ( who tread its walks. But there is as 1 much genius required in acting as in any of the other arts. Mimicry is not acting—the actor should be both a scholar and a gentleman. He should be able to enter into the ( thoughts o( the author, and give vitality to . the inanimate production. In some respects it is perhaps the greatest of arts, and certainly it is as difficult and as rare to become a dis- ( tinguished actor as a distinguished painter. ' Campbell not inaptly apostrophised the art — and again we commend a quotation to , 11 Enquiry's" notice, whose scruples we suffici- ( ently respect to be desirous, if possible, to , remove them. , " Thine was the spell o'er hearts which only acting ■ lends— The youngest of the sister arts, where all their b?auiy blends. For ill can poetry express full many atone of thought sublime, ! And painting mute and motionless steals but a I glance of Lime, , But, by the mighty act rr wrought, illusion's perfect ! triumphs come. I Verse ceases to be airy thought and sculpture to be j dumb.1' j " « j We observe with pleasure that Messrs. Holt ! and Le Hoy propose giving a benefit to the s Lancashire Relief Fund, in the shape of half i the gross receipts of admission to next Friday : evening's performance. We trust that not only will the benefit be liberally patronised, i but that this step will stimulate other people I into exerting themselves on behalf of a cause, j the commendable nature of which no one can ; question. The poor Lancashire operatives are | suftcring distress no tongue can do justice to i nor pen depict- Mothers are watching (heir ; starving, dying children, —husbaud3 their ! perishing wives. The strong man's strength ■is reduced to that of a child, and smiling, ; happy homes have been converted into dens o* ) desolation and ruin. Even amidst all the sufi fcring, there appears to have been an absence |of that recourse to riot and violence which 1 has so often marked similar events. What wonder that widespread and deep sympathy ; h felt for the*e poor sufferers from the faults I and follies of others. They are thrown out of ! work hccau?e the mad fratricidal war in : America has limited the cotton supply, from ■ the weaving of which they were accustomed 'to gain their livelihood. It has been ! said that the people of Otago have nothing to do with the matter; but we are happy to say that the (sentiment is i only uttered by a few, aud we trust will re- , ceivc general disapproval. It is in a case \ of distress like the present that the wenlthv I colonists should show, that neither time nor ! distance, nor new interests and new ties, have . effaced the associations of earlier rears, the I i clinging recollections connected with the | i country to winch the early colonists owed j ■ their birth. In tiriu-s of distress tics like these j • a-xert themselves, and arguments to the con- I ! trarv are forgotten. What would be thought of pnrt-nts or brothers who would suffer a ; d-nightcr or a sister to remain in distress because she had married into another family and j h;nl removed to a distance. The colonist* ' should not forget their relationship to the old ; country, neither should they forget that if any ] misfortune overwhelmed them to that coun- ! try they would turn lbr assistance. New i Zetland may be desolated with as savage a war ;as that which lately over-ran India. Should ! the Xcw Zealanders forget the gigantic sum j | that was raised isi Km-land n« a conlrihution to the relief of the suiTorer.* by the mutiny? I They >huuld be only too glad to give what i they can afford to help the distressed of the ] ; mother country, that has never shown itself 1 deaf to the wailing cry of suffering from her i far oil* colonies. I I We would be glad to see an influential com- j , i mittve formed to take active steps to procure I ; contributions towards the fund. The co- i operation of the neighboring provinces might ;be solicited. In reply to an intimation that j we were prepared to receive subscriptions to ■ the fund, a, few pounds have been sent us, , which we shall gladly hand over to the ! committee, convinced that their efforts to ; I swell the timount would necessarily be more j : successful than ours. They can use personal \ persuasion, whibt we can only drive the • pen. i ♦— —- j At a late hour last night we received by our j own boat from Port Chalmers, the news j brought by the Wonga Wonga from Welling- | ton. The intelligence is of the most imporj taut character. The Ministry were defeated ; on the very question we have lately been at ; pains to discuss—their acceptation oftheresponi sibiliiy of conducting Native affairs. Mr. j Stafford and Mr. Fitzgerald both declined ; office, and Mr. Domett formed the following | Ministry :—Mr. Domett, Colonial Secretary ; | Mr. F. Dillon Bell. Native Minister; Mr. j Mantell, Postmaster-General; and Mr. Gillies, j Attorney-General. Members of the Executive without office, Mr. T. Russell and Mr. j Tancred. We publish a most important dispatch from the Duke of Newcastle ; also Mr, Domett's proposed resolutions on Native affairs. The news 'from Taranaki sounds strongly of Mar. One chief in the excitement of a strong pro-war address dropped down deadFrom Coromandel the intelligence is much the same as before, the reefs appear likely to turn out well, but no good alluvial diggings have : yet been dincovered.

The Itoyal Princess' Theatre will this evening be Jre-opened, after being for a short time closed to the public^ The spirited proprietors and lessees of the honse have not been idle in the interval. They have made the most of their time, keeping men at work night and day building and decorating, and ut all the multifarious work that must be done before a new Theatre can be opened; and the Princess' is now, to all intents and purpose?, a no*- Theatre. The old name is retained, but it is only in the name that the old Theatre exists. That the change has been for the better must, vr» think, be acknowledged by all who sec the really beautiful house that is to be opened tonight. An extremely attractive programme 13 put forth for the opening night, involving as i does three " first appearances" in New Zealand, that of Mr. Charles Youug, Miss Taburney, and

Mr. R. W. Kohler; while the old corvpany will still be present, in its full strength. The firs piece, " A Friend in Need," a capital comedy byTom Taylor, will afford an opportunity for Mr. Charles Young to make his bow. The piece has we believe, never been played in Dune<lin. Thi will be followed by an absolute novelty Dunedin, in the chape of the musical entertain rrient of Mr. Koliler, who will perform on variety of instruments; and the whole will con elude with a farce, entitled the " Young Widow, also a novelty here. At the late Teetotal Meeting in Canterbury one of the speakers gave the fair sex of tha Province a very bad character. According to the report, he does not appear to have been hissed down, or kicked out. "He was-sorry," he said, " to state that drinking appeared to be carried on to a great extent by the females in Christ- | church. Since tlu last meeting he had beheld j one in a beastly state of intoxication, dragged by the police through the street, and afterwards taken on a stretcher to the lock-up." We recommend, upon the advice given by those professing to be knowing in such matters, to persons occupying residences which are surrounded with flax, that it should be cleared away for a considerable area, as it holds the moisture which, without its presence, in close proximity to dwellings would much more quickly evaporate. There is also an exceedingly noxious vaponr exhaled fro:n flax, which is highly injurious to health, engendering, it is said, low fevers, ague,and disorders of a like nature. That this may be the case, there can ba little doubt, as we learn from tho?e who live in the neighborhoods where flax was formerly abundant, that they now experience an immunity from the damp which they formerly suffered from. Saturday was an unusually light day at the Resident Magistrate's Court. There were only two cases disposed of, both for drunkenness, for which offence, Win. Kiely, and James McDonald were fined 20s. each. Is there no lav,- which can be brought to bear against, and adequately punish, ruffians guilty of cruelty to animals ? Yesterday afternoon, we ■ witnessed in Stcwart-strcet a carter beating hia horsL- over the head with the handle of his whip, until it drop:*.-1 stunned to the earth. One gentleman passiug by at the time, remonstrated with the fellow, but only received a volley of abusive epithets, as a rcvarJ for his interference. The carter however, had mistaken his man, for the gentleman walking quietly up to him, as qi'ietly knocked htm down, and wrenching the whip from the iVHow, threw it over the embankment, and without further parley pursued his way, to the evident satisfaction of all lookers on. A most ingenious innovator upon modern customs has been bold enough to introduce into Dunediu the nuuufaetuie of wooden clogs for gCT'tk-rncn, and pattens for the ladies ; both of winch went out of use about the time that lucifer matches, omnibuses, and steel p-?n* first made their apjienran'.-e. The clo^s are made with stout wooden ."oles about an inch and a half thick, toed ] and heeled with Lather. These are really very serviceable to slip on over the boots, and defy the I mud. To gentleman having to pass through the ; fiviriiii luorougiitsires which intervene between 1 their homes ami places of business the re-intro-duetkm of the oM-tHsliioiied clog must be considered a grc.it boon. They apj>ear clumsy and rather outre, hut the comfort of dry feet and polished uppers is something nrjre than a"set-off a ; _-ain=t so inconsiderable a drawback. Whether the la-H-.-s are likely to a.'ypt pattens as generally as it is probable the rougher sex will do clogs, is uncertain. Tlk> distance froai the Ill^'i-ftrect end of Farley's Arcade to the Melbourne Club Hotel, at the corner os'Manse-street, is, as nearly as may be, fifty feet. But as the direct approach is defended by an impassable barrier of laud a::d sludge, the travelling directions far getting from oue side of the road to the vtlier, are -as follow":—Leaving the Arcade, a sharp turn lau-t be made to the left iv a direction N. E. by E. until Mercer's comer at the junction of Princes ami High-streets is reached, when a detour to the right lias to be effected in the direction of X. W. until the tobacconist's at the angle of Manse-street is arrive;! at. Turning again to the riprht the traveller is to proceed as far as the chemist's shop, aa,l then cross over to Messrs. Fmnck a:s?l Co.'s stores, when diverging three points fix-ni the footway on the road, he must proceed to the first boap of stones opposite to Moir's hotel, at which he will ma!;? a second crossing, bringing np at Messrs. Cleve & Co.'s establishment. Then passing along closj to the wall through successive layers of mud from eighteen to twenty-four inches <leop, he will reach the exact spot desired. The distance by this route docs not much exceed ! a quarter of a mile. , Wo understand that an active movement is at last set on foot for the formation of a Volunteer Fire Brigade. The names of those who are willing to co-operate are being collected, and a public meeting will then be called. It is to be ! hoped that the affair will not be allowed to fall to the ground ; every person ia business in Dunedin is interested in it. t The land sales in the Province of Canterbury still continue to bring in a large revenue. The land sales for the month of July comprised 6473 acres, realising £1-2,940. On the 4th inst., land was sold amounting to £2176. I We extract from the Ly-Helton Times an account , of the expenditure by the Provincial Government t of Canterbury on immigration from England for . the year ISGI, and the first three months of the current year:—" Amongst the papers to be laid before the Provincial Council :it its first sitting, is an abstract of the linancin! details of English Emigration for the year 18G1 and the first three months of the current year, from which it appears that nine vessels worn chartered for this ssrvice f by Mr. Marsh man, which brought to the province * passengers equal to 120G statute adults. The total • cost of chartering these ships was £16,702 15s. s the price per head varying trom £16 to £12 10s. i Towards the whole cost, tlu; statement shows that » for passages, cash has been received to the amount ol LG573 17s 6..; and that promissory notes are held ibr a further sum of LSO4S 6s 8-1, making the ultimate cost to the Government about ' L 5100." 1 The Timaru fishermen have been fortunate in - capturing a whale itf the roadstead. The (, Ly Helton Times of the 6th inst. says—-"For the last 1 week the men at the Timaru whaling station have t been busily employed boiling down the blubber of a ; humpback whale; it is estimated that the oil will ■ amount to somewhat over three tuns and the !. whalebone to about three cwt. A visit io the c whale became quite a fashionable promenade, i" notwithstanding the odonr from the carcase Wing c most offensive to the nasal organs; fortunately it i- is nearly a mile from the town. The whale was 3 caught on the 18th ult., but sank for three days, i and was only beached on the following Tuesday. - Since then another whale was seen close in, but d too late in the afternoon to give chase."

We would recommend the Town Board, at their usual meeting to-day, to take into consideration the quality of road metal that contractors are expected to supply. There is a quantity now being carted from opposite the Bell Hill quarry which is totally unfit for road-making purposes It is scandalous that the public funds should be so misspent.

The Colleen Bawn still continues to attract lame houses at the Theatre Royal. The . performance on Saturday evening was attended with its usual thcTtf ,?, amV VaS f°lloWed h * the tiie Artful Dodge. For this evening, the Colleen Bawnis again announced, and it will be followed by the farce of the^Wandering Minstrel, W S will be represented at the Royal for the first

m We oWe by^n advertisement that a meeting of Licensed \ictuallers is to be held this evening at the Queen's Arms Hotel

A notification appears elsewhere to the effect that persons desirous of obtaining shares in the Dimedm Gas Light and Coke Company should send in their application before the 13th August. The line of electric telegraph between Dunedin and Port Chalmers is fast approaching completion. The wire is now stretched as far as the Cutting, and in a few days tho communication will be complete.

We have heard of a singular incident that attended the alarm of fire in Gcorgwtreet, on Thursday mght. A lodger sleeping upper floor at the .hotel, opposite, Avas awakened hy a flood of light which fell upon the window of the room in whu-h he was sleeping, and this sight accompanied by cries of-fire!" so alarmed him that he spran- half unconscious to the window, which he partly opened, with the intention of jumping to the ground, under the impression that'it was the hotel which was in a blaze. Fortunately he dis> covered his mistake as he was about making the leap, in time to sare himself from the danger-he was incurring of breaking a limb, or otherwise seriously injuring himself.

Every newspaper reader must have noticed the many cases of fraud perpetrated upon the Banks of England and elsewhere, by means of forged cheques, which are continually occurring. In England, no small difficulty in the way°of the swindling has "been the procuring of blank cheques to operate upon, and the cunning means adopted to obtain them has led the Banks to" enjoin upon their customers great caution in the disposal of their books. Although Otago has not been free irom frauds of the kind to'Vhich we refer, it is astonishing what an amount of carelessness obtains in Dunedin, on the part of merchants and others, in respect to the custody of their cheque books. It has not unfrequently occurred, that a judge has had to severely censure tradesmen for a reckless exposure of their goods outside their premises, and thus holding out a temptation to crime ; and the careless exposure of blank cheques in an accessible situation, is even more to be stigmatised as holding out a premium to crime. We regret that there are one or two hotels in the town, where in the public room, where all sorts of characters are in the habit or assembling, blank cheque books are carelessly hung up in the easy reach of any unprincipled person, who might wish to make a fraudulent use of them. We trust our remarks may have their due effect, and lead to a greater amount of caution being exercised in this respect. We understand that the Agents of the different Insurance Companies in Dunedin are directing especial attention to the subject of Kerosene ; and ! we believe it is their intention to limit the quantity to be stored by insurers to a minimum ' amount, on penalty of the vitiation of their policies. I