OTAGO.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 12, 4 December 1863, Page 2

OTAGO.

[FIIOM OUR OWN - CORHESPONDENT-] DtftfEDiN, Wednesday 2nd Dec, 1863. ] - Last Monday being the anniversary o f St>Andrew, bankeis ami merchants clerks ap,. peared to be well posted up on the subject but the rest of the community were altogether ignorant and indifferent respecting- tfcJXAint i However, the employes of our large mercantile establishments and clerks of the several banks impressed with the solemnity of the day, and their gicat love for the memory of St. Andrew, made high holiday, to the very great inconvenience of people coming in from the country, who, knowing nothing about St. Andrew, wished to transact business, and draw out or pay in money. The matter of holidays is very indifierently understood in our Province. Instead of fixed days at -stated seasons t© be generally kept, we have only class or creed holidays which are most tmsatisfactory, being merely recognised hy some particular sect, and ignored by all others. Mr Swyer, our Provincial Engineer, has been committed for trial to the Supreme . Court, upon tire charge of taking forcible possession of a building at the wharf, known as the " Clutha Coal Shed," the property of Mr Green, Mr Swycr is engaged on the part of the Government in reclaiming certain land near the Custom House. Mr Green's coal shed stood in the way, and forcible possession was taken of it by Mr Swyer's order, which was done by about twenty pick and shovel men. The defendant was admitted to bail o« his own recognizances of £100. An opinion prevails among the ■good people ot Dunedin, that a mail's property is not to be forcibly seised upon, even although it be done by a high official acting under an order of the Executive Government. But of course, such an opinion is pure nonsense. Very great changes will, in a few 'days, take place in the composition of the members of our Town Board. Mr John Cargill has re. signed his seat at tlio Board, as also Mr Switzer, its late Tieasurer. Four other vacancies will also occur by "members who retire in rotation. Already the burgesses are up and doing, and there is a great deal o! talk about an infusion of new blood, and returning candidates capable of looking to the interests of the city. One of these, I observe, is a gentleman who has a fancy for making a " cross " stand for his signature. Whether, if elected, he wi I come under the designation of "new blood," or one ■"capabte of looking to the interests of this city," I ana not in a position to inform you. Our cricketers are haid at practice for the great forthcoming All England Eleven matches. A scratch match was made at the Cricket Ground on Satdrday lnst, and I assure you there was really some first class playing. The bowling was specially good s The fiist two Elevens of the team will shortly be matched to pray on the ground, when a first rate muster is expected. A great deal of interest was caused by an Amateur Sculling Match, which came off here on Saturday, for £20 a side, between two well known amateur, Mr Braithwaire and Mr Prescotfc. The race was splendidly contested for some time, l'rescott having a slight lead for nearly a mile, when suddenly his efforts ceased ; one of his arms was perceived to have dropped, and when a boat pulled alongside of him, it was learned that he had taken the cramp. Braithwaite, under the circumstance, of course, came in an easy winner. ~>j The 'General "Wlndham, from London, ar- ■ rived here on Saturday la«t. She brought only 16 passengers. Among these was Mr Mackenzie, General Manager of the BaiP /.,- Corpor-aiion of New Zealand. The Alhambra, which left here on Satuiday afternoon last, took away the large number of 222 passengers. I cannot but view this as something very significant of the times. That there would be a large flow of population from this Province at the close of the summer I, in common with others am well informed of; but I certainly did not expect such au exodus at the very commencement of the digging season. We are getting very jealous of Southland, and occasionally very indignant at your persistency inseizinguponourLakeDistriets, and calling them yours. To show you how seriously we view the matter, I shall quote from the leading article in this morning's issue of the Daily Times. It writes : — " The past week has witnessed the ceremony of turning the sod of what our Southland friends call their ' Great Northern Railway/ This line, of which a contract of some -seventeen or eighteen mi'es has been taken, is avowr-" edly intended to connect the great Lake district of this province with the port of Invercargill. The Southland journals habitually speak in their summaries of out-going news, of the Wakatip, as the * Border Gold-field ' of that province^ and we notice that the trick has been played so far successfully that the Ar</us quotes from the Wakatip papers, under the head of Southland, in its Intercolonial News. Of course it was to be expected that the utmost advantage would be taken of the conduct pursued by our own Government in throwing practical obstacles in the way of the maintenance of direct communication between Dunedin and the Lake country. This proj'-et of a Northern Railway has doubtless received a powerful stimulus from the indifference to the Wakatip traffic displayed by this province — or, rather, by its Government. Amongst the Igcjil politicians of the Lake district itself, we notice that much capital is being made out oi the discovery of an available harbor on the West Coast, and of a practicable route to it. Smarting under the sense of some real or fancied wrong at the hands of Dunedin, our Lake friends are calling out for separation, and rejoicing that they are in a position to found their claim upon the possession of a port, according to the conditions of the Provinces, Act." The accounts from the West Taicri goldfields are still most unsatisfactory. The whole of the district has now been thoroughly prospected, and it is considered as quite unlikely that any more payable ground will be discovered. The discovery of several quartz reefs has b.en made, but without a large outlay of capital upon machinery for crushing the quartz, these are unavailable. The veiy inaccessible na'ure of the country, the absence of timber, and complete ignorance as to the richness of tlie Teefs will prevent any attempts being made to turn them to account for this season at least. The fearful weather which we have experienced for several weeks has broken up. Yesterday was one of the finest days we have had for several weeks, Trade is stil very dull, and the expectations of merchants, that orders would pour in as the season advanced has not been realised. The escort arrived in Dunedin last night, bringing down the following quantities : — ozs. dwts Queenstown 4,250 10 Aitow River 2,777 10 *m Dunstan 6.137 0 Teviot 340 10 Mount Ida 3,431 10 Tuapeka 1,850 15 Waitahuna 322 O Woolshed • 514 5 i WestTaieri 1,262 19 Total , 20,886 19 The whole of the above are the fortnightly returns, with the exception of the West Taieri, which is weekly. At Mount Ida a gigantic race has been cut from the Ewe Bank Creek. It is eight miles in length, and has- occupied a. company of sixteen miners five months in executing. It promises a valuable return to the owners, and a great convenience to the diggers.