THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1861.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 30, 19 December 1861, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1861.

glasses, and the clashing of billiard balls, the relaxation denied them by the absence Of legitimate amusements. Saturday is generally observed as a iialf holiday, but who cares for it; there are no out-door amusements to occupy it—the hotels reap the benefit. Dunedin, in its compact form, in its proximity to the Bay, to the open ocean, and to delightful woodland scenery, has every facility for both in and out-door amusements. Its lectures, its concerts, its theatrical enter-j tainments might be of nightly occurrence, and no limit be set to its open air amusements. In Victoria, something like £10,000 will be spent this season on cricket: Otago has not one; cricket club. Thousands of pounds are annu- j ally devoted to Scotch games, under the auspices of Caledonian Societies : here, such a society, or such games have no existence. Regattas are unknown; horse races are to be introduced for the first time; public gardens, promenades and music are unsought and uncared for ; even rifle sho»ting, which is being practised all over the British Empire, is not attempted. What wonder that the visitors from other places are dispirited by the dullness of the Province, and as soon as they gather together a little gold, rush away to enjoy it. A large proportion of those who take money from our shores, are simply roaming in search of enjoyment, after a prolonged period of hard work. Is it desirable that people should be encouraged to simply consider the Province a& a place where they can make money, but which they dread to regard as their permanent home ? And yet this will always be the case as long as money making is considered the only legitimate pursuit, and rational amusements are discouraged.

Christmas time, the season almost tjniversally appropriated to the purposes of amusement and enjoyment, is approaching, and Otago alone, of all the New Zealand Provinces or Australasian colonies, shows no sign. If we take up a Victorian exchange paper, we are sure to find two or three columns put apart for descriptions of amusements past or to come. Out-door amusements in the shape of Cricket matches, Scotch games, Kegattas, Horse llaces, Reviews., Promenades, Music, Picnics, and Excursions; in-door relaxations in Concerts, Operas, Theatricals, Parties, Balls, Lectures, Exhibitions of the Fine Arts, and other entertainments, combining amusement with instruction, obtain a favourable reception in places, the inhabitants of which are less highly endowed with the auri sacra fames. It is a miserable circumstance when rnoneymaking pursuits absorb the entire attention of a community to the exclusion of all softening or refining tastes and feelings. Man was never designed to- pass his existence in the cheerless mechanical pursuit of one unvaryinground of monotonous employment. Variety is as necessary to him as the air he breathes.

The shepherd at an out-station feeds on his own thoughts till his mind becomes weakened, and he is obliged to be removed to where he can enjoy the alleviations of companionship. The whole fable of Robinson Crusoe has no more improbable feature than that he could live as he is described, in utter solitude, and yet retain his powers of mind. The tendency of amusements is to convert solitude into society, isolation into companionship. It is only by the interchange of ideas that the standard of intelligence is kept up ; if each man only garnered up his own little experience, the world's progress would be trifling.

We by no means desire to undervalue the! resources of domestic enjoyments, O r to hint that it is necessary to travel without the sphere of one's own home for factitious and extraneous excitement. But intercourse with the world without enhances the sanctity of household ties; a family is never so happy as when, after a brief separation, it experiences the delight of reunion.

It nmst be remembered, also, that many have not domestic resources to have recourse to. In youngly formed communities the bulk of the population is composed of men who have left the places of their birth to carve out for themselves new homes in a new country. Acquaintances supply to them the place of relations, and in bringing them in contact with each other, lies the best hope of ripening acquaintanceship into friendship. There is such a natural tendency in the human mind to relaxation, that men will have it ■ome how or other, and where they cannot iind it in legitimate sources they are seldom !>roof to the temptation of travelling beyond the beaten boundary. One has only to visit the hotels, and other places of entertainment in Bunedm, to see how forcibly this fact is uorne out. They are thronged by persons who, having no homes in which to sun .iiciKSclves, seek, amidst the jingling of

The third of a course of lectures under the auspices of the Yonng Men's Christian Association, will be delivered in Dr. Burns' Church, this evening, by J. Me Glashan, Esq., on the " connection between mechanical and mental pursuits."

We have received a letter from the person referred to in a paragraph, yesterday, relating to a case in the Police Court, in which he denies that the reason he left his situation was because he only got brown sugar in his tea. He says the occasion of his leaving arose from the circumstance that he declined to perform duties he did not consider pertained to his situation.

We are sorry to have to record a serious accident, which occurred yesterday to a carpenter of the name of Potts. While engaged on a new building in Princes-street, he fell from the scaffold on which he was working, his head striking the ground with great force, and although medical attendance was promptly obtained, and he was conveyed to the hospital, he is at present in a very precarious state. We believe he was a sober, steady man, considerably advanced in years, and had only arrived in this province from Victoria about a month ago. Late last night he was progressing favourably.