Dunedin.

(From our own Correspondent)

The arrangements for the grand carnival are going vigorously forward. What with musical talent of the most varied description — from high-class choruses and solos down to comic songs, moa skeletons and machinery in motion, papyrography and pictures, polarization of light and Punch aud Judy, seutimental selections and the circular organ, a writing roachiue, a printing machine, fossil exhibits, Dr Hocken's lectures (nothing implied in the context), phantasmagoria, and the Artillery Band, there is a collection of the amusing, entertaining, mechanical, and scientific that should excite by the novelty of the jumble if it does not please by harmony. The several Committees are hard at work, and the General Committee meet twice a day. Subscriptions are being collected, donations are coming iv, busy mercantile men are giving their time, ■which to them is money, to help the affair forward to a successful issue ; and, generally, an amount of effort and unanimity is shown ■which is rarely seen in Dunedin.

I am in the position in which an Invercargill paper, the other day, accused its rival of being, and, by implication itself — namely, hard up for items of news. That is to say, ■while there are items sufficient to pad a letter up to the orthodox size, there really is very little after all of a specially interesting nature to write upon. Big blocks are played out ; Macandrew's letters (there were only three budgets of them) come under the category of dry anti-sceptic : the Waste Lands Board is at last being left alone ; the Harbor Board is ceasing to be bored by disinterested projectors and heaven-sent geniuses; the lawyers are lying down like so many lambs together; De Murska has gone ; leader writers are falling hack on stock subjects to eke out the usual column — why should every leader on every subject occupy exactly twenty-four inches of long primer ? — and, in conclusion, to sum up what there is not \>y sayiug ivhat there is, let it only be said that the big gooseberry season has set in. Although it is very early in the season, a few very fine and remarkably well-developed specimens of the fruit suitable for instant consumption, or for being preserved, have been already in view. The ' Guardian ' had a little gooseberry — a very little one, but still a gooseberry — in the shape of a correspondent's letter, which elicited a lecture from Bishop Moran. The ' Times ' had several very fine specimens, notably one which was jointly evoluted by Professors Salmond aud Hutton, Mr Stout, and some one with much of the pride that apes humility, who called himself " Learner," and all of whom, assisted by several small fry. with names aud anonymous, managed to- get a big-sized, green, flavorless (if not slightly sour) specimen out of their inner consciousnesses. The amount of space at the disposal of the newspapers, and the want of somethiug to talk about and write about, produced that mild autumal effect known as the silly season, which sets in ■when there is a lull in politics, and a dearth of news. The 'Guardian' these days shows a want of enterprise in the way of getting news, and what it has may always be best described by saying what it has not —that is to say, those things in which it is systematically and regularly beaten by other newspapers. But one thing it did have, and it was quite characteristic of the 'Guardian. 1 It published correspondence, and got up cditoral steam on the subject of the extortionate charges made by loan offices iv DuMedin : and then, finding it had offended a class of advertisers with whom it could ill afford to quarrel in its present state, it published letters to show that each and evciy one of them charged the most moderate rates of interest —in facf, almost made it appear that the unsophisticated children of Abraham set up their shops to relieve distressed humanity. It did remind one of the way in which it insulted the Working Meu'.s Club about Sir Julius Vogcl, and then, perceiving it had put its foot into it, tried to make it appear that it had been funny. and had been talking chaff. There may not be any analogy in the two things, but it does appear to be just like the ' Guardian.'

On (lit, that a certain newspaper will in all probability soon change hands. It has been hot bricks so far to all who have handled interests in it, and three or four very wealthy men are quietly lying by, biding their time to get it as cheaply as possible. Many, however, consider that they are acting with $ (jueptionable economy iv Jying by, a.s vith

recent events the. loss of prestige means a. loss of patronage. .There used to be two good newspapers in Dunedin when a now woundup company ran the 'Times' a close competition; but now the * Times' has no opposition, and its former compeer, and no longer rival, has become a veritable rag. In politics, it is a renegade ; in news, it is without novelty ; in advertising, it is a second fiddle to the ' Times ' and ' Star ' : and in public respect it is on a par with the ' Evening News.' Which last, take it any v\ ay you like, is saying a great deal. There have been times when the public interest has been awakened at home and iv the colonies by great actors being pitted one against the other, the character assumed by one on one night being taken by the other on the following night. Such a revival in the dramatic art it has been sought to awaken in Dunedin, but 1 am sadly afraid it will not draw. Mr Byers is to play Othello, aud Mr Steele is next to do it ; Mr Steele is to play lago, and Mr Byers is next to do it. Mr Steele is a good actor, whose fault is that he has been too much before the Dunedin public, and Mr Byers is not so good an actor, and his style j does not hit the Dunedin tastes. So, iv so for as the little arrangement I have referred to is concerned, I do not think they will fill the Queen's nightly.

Dr llulme has resigued his connection with the Lunatic Asylum — cause, annoyance at the action of the General Government in bringing Jan Inspector of Lunatic Asylums from home. Let it be understood that Dr Hulme does not want the appointment for himself (being well advancing into the " sere and yellow " he is not ambitious to assume a new office), but he is understood to feel deeply the slight which has been cast upon the medical profession iv the Colony by the action of the Government. The railway pass question for scholars has been settled by discontinuing all such free passes, and giving passes at the nominal rate of £1 each for every six months to all children travelling to or from any school. " Opposition is the soul of trade." The National Insurance Company has erected a pretentious three-storey building next to the New Zealand Insurauce office : aud the latter, not to be outdone, is putting an additioual storey on to its presently two-storey premises.