THE COCKATOO ABROAD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 400, 17 October 1874, Page 5

THE COCKATOO ABROAD.

{From the " Wahatip Mail") " The metropolis of New Zealand," as Dunedin people delight to call their city, certainly presents a very busy appearance, while it has been very considerably improved and added to duringthepastuvoorsixyears. Still, after all, it is but a small place, and bears no comparison to important Australian cities. The Dunedin folks are, however, a bustling speculative people, and appear to have made the most of their opportunity. What with tho enormous public expenditure going on in the Province* and tho advantages they posess in participating in the same — together with the plenitude of momentary accomodation — they could scarcely help doing well. I saw plonty of people doing a large and flourishing business that, six years ago, were as '* poor as a church mouse," while they did not, moreover, possess any considerable abundance of brains to recommend them. Some of the merchants that supply us Wakatip people with stores have fine premises and magnificent stocks ; but, taking the system of business into consideration, a smart man only wants four walls and moderate good credit to start as a city merchant. It is the country people that keep them all up ; as, indeed by a manifold manipulation on the part of the banks, merchants in town manage to convert the indebtedness of country customers into floating capital. Mr.^ So and So, desirous of starting as a merchant, and having few friends willing to trust him, hires an empty building. He buys his goods upon bills, and places them in his store. He then starts a traveller upcountry, who mates Bales ; when Mr. So and. So — according to tho usages of Dunodin trade — no sooner sends the goods to the carriers than he draws upon his customers and discounts their bills ; by this means doing as it were a ready money business, and actually lias cash in hand without possessing any legitimate capital more than his debts. To make things all secure, and knowing that tho country people, as a rule, possess in real estate more than equivalent to their indebtedness the banks are the rovcrse of being liberal towards them ; very little accomodation or assistance in trade do they get — the honeymaking bees of the country being used, as far as possible, to store their honey so that the drones in the town, should they ever run short of food may have these hives to fall back upon. When one day looking up at tho blue-stone and briok built stores, I could not, as it was hinted to me, attribute their eristenco as much to the^lbnterpriso of their owners as to tho plodding hard work and tangible good security which the up-country people havo accumulated as the results of their labor. There can be no mistake about it, it is tho soundness of tho country trade, and tho toiling Cockatoos and gold diggers, that have made Dunedin. What puzzled me most for the first day or two was the great briskness of trade, when compared with its extreme dullness up country — especially iv the more remote mining I districts } but a. little careful consideration showed me that the chief of the hurry and bustle was due to the Public Works Scheme. Who could not help appearing prosperous while they were expending borrowed money? Take away this, and what long faces the majority would be pulling ! All the way from Queenstown to Tokornairiro I do not think I met half a dozen waggons loaded with stores for settlers and miners. From Tokoniairiro downwards— although it was Sunday — a large number of teams were travelling, five-sixths of which were laden with railway material. The same formed at least one-half of the goods traffic on the Port Chalmers Railway, while the ships discharging at the pier seemed to be similarly laden ; the large pasenger traffic inwards into the Province being also due to the Public Works Aeb. However, things in Dunedin are going on as '.'merry as a marriage bell," and so long as more money can be borrowed, and the same lavish -expenditure perpetuated, they will continue to do so. With pay-day comes the re-action. Then- perhaps, up-country districts will be loooked to to fill up the void, and adjust the balance. The Cockatoos about Dunedin are creatures to be envied, and compared with their brethren at the Wakatip, they are as a full blown butterfly to a chrysalis. Produce of every description is readily saleable at almost fabulous prices— even a moderate sized bundle of dirty straw will fetch half a crown I for bedding 5 oats, 4s 4d to 4s 6d ; wheat, 4s 6d to 5s ; barley, 4s 6d to 5s ; potatoes, £6 per ton, and every other vegetable at equally good prices — no difficulty in obtaining a market for anything ; no taking it out in tea and sugar, but "hard cash down on the nail." If ever Cockatoos were blessed, it is those convenient to Dunedin. They have a first-rate plan for carrying chaff and hay down here. Instead of using frames, the j drays are built out over the wheelsjon a level •with the outside of the nave. Then, again, they are about two feet longer, both before and behind, than ordinary made dra^s, and it is nothing to see a three-horse team coming into town laden with from 120 to 150 bags of chaff, and no apparent trouble in the tying I on. A load of hay or straw ia built equally as handy, and it is next to impossible for it to shift, besides, these drays may be used for almost any other purposes. Land fetches very high prices, I saw some sale 3 made of small blocks, from three to five miles from town, that realised from £30 to £40 per acre. I had several inquiries about Wakatip "flour ; the opinion prevailing that it was a first-rate article, and, with railway communication, that it would find a ready sale. A baker whom I met, and who had lately shifted from the Dunstan district, assured me that the flour he was using in Dunedin was not worth by £2 per ton, that from the Wakatip. Several of the large breweries I paid a visit to, where I found that demand for good malting barley could scarcely be satisfied, i also that thevo -was no probability of such being the ease. The samples I saw in process of malting were not up th the standards grown at the Lakes, and from what I could learn, ourß would be worth 9d per bushel more than tho majority of Dunedin samples. A very intelligent maltster informed me — and he appeared, apparently to have a thorough knowledge of his business — that, to obtain the highest price for barley, it must be handdressed ; it must also be evenly and well ripened, and carefully preserved from wet when in tha sheaf ; the grain must by no means be chipped— that ia, cut or damaged— as although possibly it migh even germinate on tho "growing-floor," it would bo sure to mildew before^the drying process was complete, andit would be impossible to make good toeer from IT<; in fact, it? only Coa-_ taminated. good mato by its baa qualities. In tho newspaper world, liko the Church, there is not much to boast about. The two morning papers— the "Times" and " Q-uar-dian," tog&ther with the " Evening Star" — I should imagine rather more than sufEco for tho wants of Dunedin. * Still, a free expression of public opinion is impossible, unles3 there exists something in the shape of journalistic rivalry. Whatever occurs about town — from a chimney on fire to tho accumulation of a mud heap in any particular gutter — is duly recorded and commented upon 5 while, should it be wired from Wellington that the Premier had only blown his nose, or sneezed, it would be found sufficient for a leading article. The " paste-pot " is the really hard-worlced editor in Dunedin. Between the rival morning papers, the respect entertained, for each other must be measured by the Eatonsville and Pittsville standard. The little " Evening Star" steers wisely clear of the fray, and buzzing about in the gloom, mosquito like — for it finds you, or you find it, wherever you go — I should say it has the best of the field. One morning paper entitles its contemporary the " Foghorn." and weekly " Old Identity ;" the other, in return, dubs its rival the' "American Extract" and

" Southern Muckheap." Some cantankerous, ' growling old fellow " that lives in a tub," and who delights in the name of " Timon " fancying himself witty— contributes largely to the columns of the " Muckheap." But, allowing that tho latter gentleman's contributions onco possessed a small spice of humor, since his old whisky barrel — for such it is said was hia tvb — went to Wellington, it roturned so impregnated with salt water, that tho smell of the sea hu3 infused a disagreeable mildewy odour over the collection of jokes contained within. To assist him, "Timon" is continually imploring some " dear boy " to como into the tub ; but, somehow, or another, the " dear boy" nover does, probably concluding that were he to enter, he could only escape with a Bevere cold in the head from such a dark, damp place. " Timon " has, in consequence, decided to dispose of his tub and Bond Lis remaining" jokes to the Marine Store and Piggery Company, and import an enfciro newfit out from America.