OTAGO.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 16, 14 December 1863, Page 2

OTAGO.

(from our own correspondent.) Dunedin, Bth Dec. 1863. Yesterday morning the newspapers announced, through their advertising columns, that three steamers would leave on the morning and afternoon of that day for Invercargill. The Gothenburg was officially announced by the Post Office authorities to take the letter bags for Invereargill, and people, depending on this arrangement, posted their letters accordingly. Towards the afternoon a notice was issued that the Gothenburg would not be dispatched until to-day, and now I learn that although she is to touch at the Bluff, no mail is to be made up for her. I must trust to chance for you getting this communication, as I have done before. If it arrives in due course, it is of very little consequence ; and if it does not, it is much the same, for the news I have to communicate is almost nil. Tfie Criminal Sittings are on, and the calendar is a heavy one, although there are but few eases te be tried calling for serious notice. It is quite amusing to note the different schemes and devices adopted by jurymen to escape serving on the panel, and, really, very little wonder ; for, be it understood, that the common jurors are for the most part composed of men to I whom time is literally money. The sittings generally last from- three weeks to a month, and the jurors* receive no compensation whatever for their attendance. Until the

present session,- lunch— in the shape 0 t sandwiches and filtered -water - used to found for jurymen; now fl. cheeseparing ; economy has withdrawn the thin slices' 0 } bread and beef, and jurymen muslfc|tt ve j faint, carry refreshment in their poc\)rts, or go out, upon tlie judge's permission, to obtain it. His Honor made a very quiet but '' cutting remark upon such a miserable economy. '"Jurors," said the Judge, " until the present session, were found in sandwicli es at the Government expense ; now, beinc deprived of this indulgence (?), I must extenJ} the adjournment each day for a longer peri 0| } than is the usual custom, and the cost of delaying the Hjusiness of the Court win certainly exceed the small expense incurred for refreshments." Such is the policy of ooru r wiseacres. The election of four members for the Totvh Board came off yesterday. There was a good deal of excitement as to the result, but the very best order prevailed up to the close of the poll. At four o'clock it was ascertained that the following gentlemen had been returned . — South "Ward Mr James Lowe High Ward . . Mr Woolley Jenkinson * Bell Ward Mr James Bloch Leith Ward. ..Mr Thomas Kedmayne The number of our banking establishments will shortly be increased to five, the New Zealand Banking Corporation having pur. chased the large premises of Messrs. Smith and Marshall in Manse street. It will be opened for transaction of business so soon as the necessary alterations are effected. While on the subject of banking, I may mention that there is a general outcry against the stringency exercised by the banks in the matter of discounts and overdrafts. It is said that the best paper offered in the bank parlors for discount is thrown out ; and that a cash credit-, under the best assurances of re-pay. 1 mciit, 5s now invariably refused. I presume 1 there is good and sufficient reasons for such a | restrictive policy, as I do not see where the profits of abank (gold buying excepted,) lie, if it is not from discounts and interest charged for overdrawn accounts. The fact is, bank managers see much that is unknown to the outside world. Things commercially just now are very shaky and undue indulgence would, while delaying the crisis which is impending, only make it moie wide spread when it comes. A well established and respectable firm of this city had to succumb to the pressure of the times, and ask the advice of creditors during the early part of last week. It is feared that this is a warning note of what is to come. Too heavy expenses, and bad d bts — "Twin sisters, hell born," — may be attributed a large proportion of the failures which have lately been so frequent with us. It is painful to read down the columns of the daily papers, and be compelled to notice the number of estates which are being assignad or placed under trust. The ship Stp, arrived here on Sunday morning from Melbourne. She brings with her 246 horses and 430 sheep TJiis beautiful clipper ship, and I assure you she is worth while going a long way to o itain a sight of, made the passage from Melbourne in six days, bringing four days later i:e a s than was obtained by the Gothenburg. A new steam ship, the Hero, is to be placed on the berth between Melbourne and this port. She is a large and powerful vessel, with great steaming capabilites. I hear she will average the passage from Heads to Heads, between Victoria and Qtago in something about five days. By the Star we have re«r ceived intelligence that more large vessels have been laid on at Melbourne for Otago. It is prubable that some of them will bqj^vrithdrawn, as the number of passengers osering was very limited. On Sunday morning the dead body of a man was found in shallow water, near the old Jetty. At the inquest, which was held yesterday, it was ascertained that the deceased's name was Thompson, and that he was formerly mate of the Pride of the Yarra. He was seen on the night previous to his death, in good health, and perfectly sober. It is supposed that on stepping from the Jetty to the Pioneer schooner, to which liis boat was made fast, that deceased missed his footing and fell into the water. The deceased * was a married man with a family. The Committee of the Caledonian Society has arranged the programme for the forthcoming sports. Prizes to the amount of one hundied and sixty pounds will be awarded. Mr Holt, tlie lessee and leading actor at the Princess' Theatre, has been exhibiting very undignified behavior towards some of the members of tho newspaper press here, which, I must say, they almost deserve, as having iv great pbrt, brought it upon themselves. The case is something as follows : — Mr Holt is a most indefatigable and able caterer £or the public amusement in matters theatrical. He is a good and versatile actor — a performer I imagine, who would rank second or third on the list at the Pavilion and other of the minor theatres in London and the provinces. "A tWO-pounder, Sir, that's what he is," said a member of the lorps dramatiquet in speaking to me of the lessee. "A twopounder, Sir ; you know what I mean ; in England he would get his forty shillings a week, and not a rap more." Now, this "twopounder" has, for some months past, been bespattered with the most fulsome praise, so that the public at last got disgusted with long continued sterotyped laudations appearing from day to day in the newspapers. Last week, however, the Dailg Telegraph and the Evening Star thought it necessary, probably by way of a slight change, to make a few mild deprecatory remarks, not upon the performers or performances, but upon the pieces selected by the lessee, recommending that light, laughable, amusing pieces should be substituted for the heavy drama. The advice was politely given and kindly meant. It was mixed up with the usual amount of flattery and compliments to all and sundry who had taken part in the evening's performances, and the critique was undoubtedly meant to be "void of offence." However, Mr Holt thought otherwise, and when the editor of the Evening Star and the sub-editor of the Dailg Telegraph presented themselves at the next night's performances, they were insultingly refused admission upon the terms usually conceded to the theatrical representatives of the press, and were all but turned from the doors Both papers have taken up the -matter very legitimately ; have failed to make use of the power they possessed (beyond simple explanations) to show the lessee in his true light, and the consequence is, that the sympathies of the public are with the insulted editors, and -decidedly against the lessee, who, I think, will ere long find out whether the papers can better do without him, or he without the papers. J\ The Hero, from Melbourne arrived at 1 | o'clock to-day.