DUNEDIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2228, 24 February 1886, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l was somewhat amused at Mr Caselberg's account of Dunedin pnlMed m your issuo of yesterday. Having but recently arrived from Dunedin, after a residence there of about nino years, 1 should like to point out one or two mistakes which have been made probablv owing to the hurry of the visit. First, with regard to the tramways, I was not very sure whether or not Mr Oaaelberg meant to Bay that steam is used as a motive power, but bo I read it. Either Bteam motors have been re-established, or Mr Qaaelberg vioited Dunedin two

years ago: for after a long and hare} tight between the Council and- the trajii pro* prietors, steam motors were prohibited about eighteen months ago.! AfiiLty Council is almost entirely compfln of the same men, I think it is extremelyimprobable that they havo bepjT again placed on the rails. The next';';pdint on which I Would ask space for a few remarks is with regard to the harbour, and really, Mr Editor, lam surprised to hear that the efforts of the Harbor Board to make Dunedin a seaport are " a complete failure." But lest MrCaselberg might deem me as rash as himself in uttering a positive assertion I would ask.you to print the following clipping,'and when it is re« membered that thore is a long standing rivalry betweon the two largest cities pf.-/ the South, the report of such a paper as"* the Lyttelton Times is of more value than Mr Caselberg's assertion:--A representative of the Lyttelton Times, who has been inspecting the Otago Harbour works, saysDunedin people do not half appreciate their beautiful harbour. In Sydney they talk of theirs unceasingly; and the Aucklander is ready to skin and eat, without salt, anyone who says a word in dispraise or disparagement of his lovely Waitemata. Here you seldom hear the word harbour mentioned, and yet the lower bay will, comparo with almost any beautiful harbour iu the world." Referring to the ,'wcofks at ths heads, the writer takes on him the mantle of prophet and says.:—" tjst Wedttjtiay when I visited the - works, with a*Bk)cl breeze in from seavjardj" there waa 27ft 9in at high water, and. uo swell to trouble a long vessel, 1 Some of these days,' a fairy time of old age, equivalent in gloiy to the golden ' once upon a time' of youth, the long training-wall will have Bcoured away the bar, the projected short break* 1 water at Taiaroa Head will prevent it ( making up' in its own wicked way; the channel will have been straightened; the corner of Goat Island will have been cut away, so that ship captaiiiß may see ahead of them at the narrow gut, and not ram each other to matchwood turning the corner there; Victoria .Channel will bo broader and deeper still, and at the head of the "Clyde of New Zealand" will stand—we are all certain of it—a city, fairer and pleaaanter to look upon than the Glasgow of Scotland, if not so I can remember Dunedinwhen its whawe% were of very small extend aii-d only vessels of the smalleafc opuld them. To-day % large steamers ew ployed by tho V.S.S. Co M in the Melbourne trade go up to the town. Formerly the wjioh of the English ships were unloaded at Port Chalmers, and the goods forwarded by rail or'lighter, ffnw a numbor of these can go up and didfirgo their cargo at the warehouse those who are in business in Dunedin will tell you that they arc enabled to make a considerable difference in their prices owing to the saving which this effects, and the assertion that the "Dunedin Harbor was as navigable twenty one ago as it is now." It is simply brs fl leads one to imagine that.tV writer haa been made the of some opponent of % sterna, But if anyone ib at all Sceptical as to the fact that steamerß such aa the Mai.apoun now call regularly fit the Dunedin wharf, they have only to look at thoUtago papers and see wkra they aro advertised to.receive cargo, And, further, the only reason why the whole of the Union Company's steamers do not mako Dunedin headquarters is because there is not sufficient wharf accommodation, Neither db I think that ftfo Caselberg is just in his the personal of the Harbur Bpavd. Ijn, my opinion you' viot, men hotter fitted carry, qjic % work than ttJ laiiigooda ip,thp. warehouse at the, lowest cost.' Only by can they expect to, maintain % iftl commercial circles. And id it possible (a find men for any of pw numerous local Boards and Councils who are not directly or indirectly interested in the works carried on; and if the Dunedin Harbor Board effect their purpose at too greats cost, they would sin'iply defeat the cnik they have ill view,'' for tho Harbor duesV necessary to pay interest on the cost must ' not equal the. cost of railage from the port, or they will not effect any saving in tho prime o'ost of goods. It would be an easy matter to show at greater length wherein Mr Caselberg has erred in hit) conclusions, but it would not interest your readers. Therefore I-wiU. close wM the remark tM 'tyeyo is not the sbghjjpai, do# in the ininfe of "&e people ftun.cdin, Port Chalmers) tH tlw works so far. as. they liavo gone, are & success; and if tho taolo at the bar effects the purnoao which one of the most eminent engineers in' Britain asserts it will, then Mr Caselberg will be forced to admit that he has been misinformed as to tho present utility and future prospects of the clyde of Now Zealand, I am cto, "Dunedin,"