DUNEDIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 350, 25 April 1874, Page 3

DUNEDIN.

(From our own Correspondent.)

On Saturday, Messrs, M'Landress, Hepburn, and Co. are going to submit to auction the submarine boat Platypus, which is now l}ing at Pelichet Bay, together with the patent rights for mining under water which were granted with the invention. Her trials in Duuetliu Harbor were not of such a successful nature as to inspire confidence among the shareholders that she would come up to all that was prouiised of her, and as the funds of the company were at low water after her completion, and a further large expenditure of money was absolutely necessary before she could be taken to pieces, carted up country, and fitted together again for a really practical trial, the shareholders got fainthearted, and it was decided that the company should be wound up. The New Zealand Submarine Gold Mining Company (Limited) is therefore now in liquidation. What will be the result of the sale I cannot say. It is very unlikely that any private person will care about speu.iing a large sum of money in purchasing the Platypus and making a fair trial of her ; for the success of the speculation would be very problematical, and unless there are a sufficient, number of the shareholders who have the necessary confidence in her to club together and enter into the spec, I am afraid the chances of the Platypus being sold are rather remote. It will certainly be a great pity if the whole affair is allowed to die away in this ignominious way, after all the talk that took place when the company was being floated of the certainty of large gains accruing to the promoters of the enterprise when once a boat was built and at work upon the bed of the Molyncux, the Shotover, or some other of our gold-bearing rivers. However, there may perhaps be some persons who intend to come forward at the sale on Saturday and rescue the Platypus from the destruction which threatens her. I trust such may be the case,^oaid shall be only too glad to be in a position to chronicle the fact next week.

The rather perilous work of taking down the spire of the new First Church was commenced this week, in order that an addition to the height may be made, the alteration in the proportions of the spire commencing a considerable distance from the summit, necessitate the removal of all that portion of the spire. When again completed the spire will, I understand, be about 30 feet higher, and this addition to the altitude will very much improve its appearance. The unsymmetrical appearance which the spire of this beautiful church presented was often the subject of remark by those who possessed a methematical eye ; in fact, I have had the remark made to me by a friend that it was quite an eyesore to him whenever he happened to be anywhere near the structure. I believe that the architect is making the alteration for his own satisfaction, and that he bears the expense attached to it. While on writing about churches, I may as well state that a start has at last been made with the new Kuox Church, at the corner of Pitt and George Btreets, in connection with which there has been such a very long delay. The gentlemen who obtained promises of subscriptions for this object, are about to make special efforts to got in all the money promised them, as it will of course be required now that actual work has been commenced Fair progress is now being made with the new Episcopalian Church — St. Thomas's — in Stafford-street. Judging from its present appearance, I do not think it will be a very handsome edifice. But before offering any criticism on this point, I suppose I should wait until the building approaches completion. " The first sitting of the new Licensing Bench has caused much iuterest in Dunedin. It is evident that a new e:a has set in for publicans, and that the Bench as now constituted has determined to exercise considerable discrimination in the granting of licenses — both publicans' and bottle. There have been several of each class refused, and among the former, houses that have been licensed for years. The Bench intimated that they would grant licenses to wLlows only under very 'exceptionable circumstances, and to bachelors not at aIK The application of one of the latter (as it was supposed by the Boiwh) was being heard to-day; when Mr. Bathgate informed the applicant that there was the objection that he was a bachelor, whereupon the latter exclaimed, " But, your Worship, I have got married since the inspection," and the license was accordingly granted. Among those to whom licenses were refused wore Mr. J. Harding, of the Queen's Theatre Vestibule, and Mr. P. P. Allen, of the City Buffet Hotel. The latter place has been licensed for years, and has boasted of a free-and-easy nightly, which doubtless would be

no recommendation in the eyes Of the Bench. With regard to the widows, we have the apparently irreconcileable circumstance of licenses having been granted to Mrs. M'Hroy and Mrs. Diamond, of Dunedin, both widows, while a refusal to grant a license in the case of Eleanor Collins, of Green Island, also a widow, was decided upou. With reference to the latter, it seems to most people that she was equally deserving of a license with the others. The position of the wholesale merchants who put in their applications for wholesale liconses too late was the subject of general talk. There was quite a buzz in commercial circles when the jeopardy in which these gentlemen placed their businesses was discovered. After postponing the question for consideration, on the Court again having the matter brought before them, licenses were of course granted, as everyone anticipated they would be. With the strict surveillance and requirements exacted by the police, publicans are placed very much in the position of suspected persons in some of the continental cities. Their whole proceedings are apparently going to be strictly watched, their houses examined at intervals, and their character regularly reported upon, with other pleasant little encroachments upon their freedom which must be rather unpleasant for many of them to hear. Many of them looked very much disgusted at having to sit in the Court all day, waiting their turn to be called and reported on by the police. Verily, a publican's life is not a bed of roses, in more ways than one.