DUNEDIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 348, 18 April 1874, Page 3

DUNEDIN.

{Front our own Correspondent)

The coming election ef a member to represent the city in the House of Representatives, in the room of the Hon. John Bathgate, resigned, is, after all, to result in a contest. Mr. Barton and his friends had not the slightest idea, even five minutes prior to the nomination that there was to be another Richmond in the field, and the nomination of Mr. Wales was consequently a complete sm-prise. The othercandidate — Mr. J. Gr. S. Grant — is of coures not looked upon as an opponent worthy of any consideration. The majority which that individual received when the show of hands took place at the nominations, was, of course. only of the usual insane exhibitions of the electors, " fun." Mr. Wales received some questioning at the hands of two or three, of the electors with reference to a suspicion that he was a nominee of the Waterworks Company, and gave rather hesitating and undecid answers to the questions. This impression became very general throughout the •city, and as any increase of the monopoly and already too large powers of the Waterworks Company is looked upon by most people with very great disfavour, the candidates chances of making any show at the poll was considered as amounting to about nil. Mr. Wales has, '/however, since the nomination,' publicly announced that .he is decidedly opposed to any further extension of the Water Co.'s monopoly,. and that .if, elected, he will not support the ►Bill which it is proposed to introduce at the next session asking power to borrow £50,000 to .extend. ,the Company's Works.- If the electors can "therefore get rid of the suspicion which took root concerning Mr. Wales, that gentleman and Mr. Barton will fight the election on their respective merits. The probabilities are, I think, greatly in favor "of Mr. Barton being elected by a large majority. A large number of miners have left in the late Melbourne steamers en route for the Palmer diggings. Many well-known residents from the Kawarau district are among the number, several of them having sold their interests in good chums in order to swell the list of the thousands who are already at and on their way to the latest Australian rush. And this, too, in the face of the knowledge that it is a most difficult matter to obtain provisions on the, ground even at the most exorbitant prices, and that even at the best it is merely an ordinarily payable goldfield, so far as can be judged from the accounts of it which are to hand, with a few exceptions of rather rich finds. It is to be hoped that, as is unfortunately too often the case, the Otago miners who have dropped the substance to grasp at the shadow, will not have reason to repent of their proceeding in this instance. The haunts of iniquity in Cumberland street hare again been adding to the list of cases in the.Resident Magistrate's Court this. week. Yesterday a man named Tuppin, the occupier of one of these houses, appeared in answer to a charge preferred against him of . harbouring prostitutes and persons of ill-fame on his premises. " Lady " Monson, of R.M. Court notoriety, in this instance appeared as a witness against defendant, who is a tenant of hers, and said that the " lowest of the low " •were in the habit of assembling together at defendant's house, while the unearthly sounds and indescribable language which were indulged in were beyond description. There is an old adage about the kettle calling the pot black ; and this I should think is "a very fair illustration of the proceeding. As a part of the defence it was urged that the women who were found on defendant's premises in a drunken state had been turned out by " Billy the Mormon," and had, I suppose, thereupon •ought refuge in the apparently congenial atmosphere breathed by Mr. Tuppin. Fur- - ther particulars concerning Billy the Mormon did not transpire, but his name evidently implies that he is blessed with more than the usual allowance of domestic felicity in the j shape of woman. His harem must present a curious spectacle when the fair occupants are •in the middle of one of the orgies for which , the Monson neighbourhood has become so notorious. The Press Amateur Dramatic Club are announced to give a performance on Friday evening in aid of the Scott Scholarship Fund. The piece* are trifles — and perhaps it is better that they should be so, for it js as a rule rather dreary work listening to amateurs when they attempt anything in the shape of a decent play. When a farce is performed, one can indulge in a laugh at a pinch , ,but no matter •how strongly the inclination is to do so when some unfortunate wight is making ducks and ■ drakes of a good part in a comedy, the inclination has to.be repressed. If the performance js tbe means of adding a few much-needed pounds to the fund in aid of which it is given, however, no one I suppose should deal harshly . with the amateurs even if they do not quite - come up to the standard of that terrible VHistnomastix," who flagelletcs unlucky itctors so unmercifully.