DUNEDIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 247, 24 October 1872, Page 8

DUNEDIN.

(From our own Correspo>ident.)

The case of Aitken v. Pritchard. an action to recover from defendant the sum of £500 for malicious prosecution, was brought to a conclusion in the Supreme Court on Friday, the jury bringing in a verdict for the plaintiff, damages £50. The case has excited more interest than any trial that has taken place for a long time, and the Court has been thronged every day since the hearing of the case commenced, The melancholy suicide of the unfortunate man John Roddam on board the Rangitoto while the steamer was lying at the Bluff, and who was the person from whom the defendant in the case just concluded purchased the property, the proceedings in connection with which gave rise to the action, has given the whole affair additional public interest. The costs of the trial are very heavy, it is said £400 or thereabouts, and as they fall upon the defendant, the great bargain which he no doubt imagined he had secured in the purchase of Roddam's teams will have proved, as events have turned but, rather a disastrous speculation. Tour readers {ire no doubt aware of the full" particulars of the case, so that I need noj enter into them here. Suffice it that the verdict has* given very general satisfaction, and that public feeling is decidedly against Pritchard in the matter. In connection with the proceedings just cencluded, there is another case being heard in the Supreme Court, an action brought by the Curator of - Intestate Estates, at Invercft-gill, to sot aside the salo to Pritchard of the teams", .owing to Roddam's alleged unsound state of mind, •it the time-pf the transaction. There ire a large number of witnesses to be examined, and the case, will probably extend over, several days. .;3.;,Th,0 Citizen* CrictatCluj) held fieir 'mnual etlteTtainment.in the new Volunteer DriirShed on Friday evening, [n a pecuniary sense, the affair was a groat success, the large room being crowded, but the concert cannot be put. down as anything else but a wretchedly tame emd uninteresting affair, except the singing of Miss Webb, and the relief afforded by the reading of the conundrums on political subjects

and cricket, for which, prizes had been offered, The number of amateur entertainments which take place in Dunedin, is truly astonishing. Never a weekj)asses but the public are called upon to take tickets for something of the sort, brass bands, cricket clubs, volanteers, charitable institutions, amateurs who consider themseives entitled to benefits, &c. &c., ad infinitum, assert their claims to public, support in never-ending succession j and generally the appeals are responded to to an extent which belies the dissatisfaction bo very frequently expressed at the performances. Rather an anomalous state of affairs, people giving expression in no measured language to their opinion as to the " wretched performance," &c. on one ocaasion, and turning up like lambs to the very next ore that takes place.^ So it is, however, and particularly "so in Dunedin ; for sable opera troupes, stage struck young gentlemen, amateur vocalists, amateurs of any description, in fact, rarely make their appearance before the public without having a large audience, to greet their too often insipid and sickly aping of histrionic and vocal talent. Perhaps it is hardly fair, .however, to discourage them by adverse criticism, for tjbey must have practice before they can arrive at anything like perfection, so I will drop the subject. The rails on the Dnnedin and Port Chalmers line have been laid up to within a very short distance of the Stuart-street jetty, and last night the Josephine came up to the spot with some trucks containing a further supply, so that before this has been published, trips will have been made from Port Chalmers into the heart of .the city by the engines. The large goods shed at the Dunedin terminus is rapidly approaching completion, and operations generally in connection with the finishing of the line are being vigorously pushed forward by the contractors.

Dunedin seems to have pretty well monopolised any extensive iron work required in the colony, and noticeably in the matter of the alteration and refttting of the coastal steamers of the colony. The iron steamer Waipara, of West' Coast ownership, was yesterday launched from the reclaimed land near the Supreme Courthouse, after having twelve feet added to the length by Messrs. Kincaid, M'Qneen, and Co., who curry on a most extensive business in this description of work ; and the steamers Beautiful Star and. Samson are at die Stuart-street jetty, receiving new boilers, and being subjected to extensive alterations and improvements. These works involve the outlay, of many thousands of pounds, and are proofs of Otago's recognised position as the most enterprising and im portant of New Zealand provinces.

Our cricketers are fairly at work again, now that the fine weather has set in, and if the spirit which has characterised the start of the season is only maintained to its finish, it should result in a very tnarked improvement on last season's .play. The antipathy to steady practice, however, which characterised too many of the members of the different clubs last year will take a lot of remedying, and unless this is overcome, it will be hopeless to look for any brilliant play as a rule. Let us hope that the energy which is at present displayed will be kept up, and that at the end of the season the knights of the . willow will in Dunedin will be able to" congratulate themselves on their victories over outside clubs — unless, by the way, the Lawrence cricketers happen to send a challenge down, when, of course, I must hope that the city team, whoever they may be,- will come off second best.