DUNEDIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 264, 20 February 1873, Page 5

DUNEDIN.

(From our own Correspondent.) The very humiliating defeat sustained by the Otago team of cricketers in the late inter-provincial match with Canterbury, has already had tho effect of rousing some of the more ardent lovers of the game to a sense of inferiority when brought -into competition with really good players. Few persons in Dunedin had the slightest hope of Otago making a creditable show in the match, yet even the most sceptical as to the ability of our players, were very far from imagining the ignominious defeat which awaited them. It is, however, Bprobably the beßt thing that_ could have happened, for it has given Dunedin cricketers very lively illustration of the fact that the wretchedly apathetic style of practice into which they have drifted, and the deplorable want of unanimity in the relations of the different clubs to each other, must be at once remedied, and an effort made to establish the game on a firmer basis. To this end, a meeting called by two or three of our best cricketers was held on Friday evening, and was largely ana influentially attended. It was very generally agreed that unless a lease of the portion of the South ! Dunedin Recreation ground, used by the Dunedin and Citizens' clubs could be obtained, it was almost useless to hope for any great improvement in the play of the members. The tracks made by persons crossing, and other injuries to the ground, could not be prevented or remedied unless the clubs had a more secure tenure, and unless a lease were obtained it could not be expected that they would expend large sums of money in improvingand thoroughly forming the ground. After considerable ventilation of the subject, a deputation was appointed to wait on his Honor the Superintendent and his Worship the Mayor, tor the purpose of obtaining a lease of a portion of the Recreation Ground for the practice of crickef^aud other outdoor exercises. The question of ob- ' taiuing the services of a professional : player, for the purpose of instruction, was also discussed, and if other arrangements are satisfactorily concluded, no doubt a professional player will soon be engaged to aid in the revival of the interest of the game which will follow. Messrs. Peebles and Dunn still favor us with their presence, notwithstanding that they have received rather rough handling from newspaper correspondents and others. The attacks t>f some of the writers who have entered into the subject have been strong and persistent, and language almost as strong as that used in the Melbourne j papers, on the advent of Messrs. Peebles and Dunu in that city, baa j been freely used. There is really no information to be derived from Mr. Peebles' addresses, and although much of what he advances is really excellent advice, and worthy of acceptation by all men, yet he mars the effect of his sensible remarks by the wild vagaries which he indulges in. His audiences have decreased in numbers very considerably, and no very great amount of interest is now taken in his lucubrations, except by the small coterie of spiritualists and quasi-spiritualists which Dunedin boasts of, and the members of which grace the platform of the Queen's Theatre on Sunday evenings, where Mr. Peebles holds forth. A great deal of ignorance seems to prevail with regard to the mode of procedure adopted by Mr. Dun a in treating patients. There seems to be an impression abroad among the unenlightened that all he has to do is to go into a trance, converse with some of the " spirits," come out of the trance, and lay his hands on the patients, and cure them. The modus operandi, I am informed by a gentleman who is under his treatment, is slightly different from the preconceived notions of the uninitiated. Dr. Dunn, after having ascertained his visitor's pleasure, and without having received any information whatever as to the complaint or disease, after sundry convulsive jerks and shudderings, goes off into a clairvoyant state, which gives him the- power ot perceiving the nature of the coin plaint, which he minutely describes, diagnosis, also presenting the patient with a detailed statement of the relative degrees ofh*altfe>of 1 the various organs of the body. Thus the diagnosis.." The remedy, as may be ' supposed, does not savour of the miraculous ; but consists of iuteraal remedies or external applications, as becomes the nature of the disease ; the ordinary allopathic medicines, however, not being used,, but special preparations and extracts, (all vegetable) I presume of the • clairvoyant's own manufacture. He has bad, I believe,. a goodly number of visitors, upon whom to test his powers, and the usual conflicting statements are to be obtained from them, ; some declaring U all humbug, and others protesting that they have been. " diagnosed" in a wonderfully correct manner,, and as a consequence, anticipating equally wonderful results to follow from the use of Ms remedies. I give y.oua 1 readers the statements as I have received them, not placing much faith in. the clairvoyant diagnosis business myself. Messrs. Peebles and Dunn take their departure for China in a few weeks. If the latter gets into a good " Celestial " practice, he will no doubt appreciate the land of the " Celestials " much more than he and his colleague are likely to do in New Zealand, fqr the reception

has not been altogether flattering. The last idea has been to associate Mr. Peebles with an extraordinary pamphlet, copies of which have been distributed in Dunedin, and ad vocabing Socialistic doctrines. |The ♦• Daily Times " in a leading article devoted to the subject, accused Mr. Peebles of using Spiritualism as a cloak to cover what it alleged to be his real object in lecturing, namely, the propagation of Socialist or Harmonialist views, but this was afterwards denied by Mr. Redmayne, who wrote to the paper explaining that Mr. Peebles had nothing whatever to do with the distribution of these pamphlets, but that they were issued by a Mr. Cunninghatne, of Auckland. Ihis is probably one of the mare's nests which it occasionally falls to the lot of our leading journal to discover. There seems to be a probability of a further continuance of the battle royal which a short time back raged on the education question. The Rev. Father Coleman and the Inspector of Schools (Mr. John Hislop) have had a rather lengthy correspoudehce on the subject of an" alleged beating received by a Roman Catholic scholar at theTokomai- ; riro school, because the boy arrived too late for the bible lesson in the morning, and from attendance at- which Roman Catholic scholars are exempted by the conscience clause in the last Education Act. A commission is to be appointed to inquire into the subject, and into auy other grievances which Bishop Moran or any of the Roman Catholic clergy have to complain of. The hon. Secretary of the Masonic Hall Co. (His Worship tho Mayor) and Mr. Reeves have been lotting off staein at each other, in remembrance of old election grievances. Mr. Reeves was a short time since summoned for some two or three pounds charged for the use of the hall during the Municipal elections, and payment was enforced. Mr. Fish having also had the use of the hall on several occasions during elections, Mr. Reeves conceived that Mr. Fish should be compelled to pay ; aud as no entry appeared iv the annual balance sheet, and Mr. Fish refused to i allow Mr. Reeves, a shareholder in the Company, to see the cash book, he broached the subject at the annual meeting of shareholders, and the usual complimentary expressions when gentlemen get into a hot controversy followed. It turned ont, however, that the hon. Secretary had received permission to use the hall whenever he required it; and Mr. Reeves' suspicions were clearly refuted. Apropos of the subject, the Masonic Hall Company's prospects don't seem to be particularly bright. With a slight balance on the wrong side from last year's transactions, and the prospect of even a less revenue during the year just commenced, in consequence of the addition of the Queens Theatre to the places ot amusement of the city, the shareholders will have but a poor chance, I imagine, of receiving anything in the shape of dividends.