DUNEDIN.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 72, 24 August 1865, Page 4

DUNEDIN.

( From our own Correspondent. J Monday, 21st August, 1865. I mentioned in my last that the fine steamer Lady Darling sailed on Monday, with diggers for Hokitika. In consequence of the severe stress of -weather, however, she only left on Thursday morning last. The . confirmed wreck of the steamer New Zealand on the Hokitika Bar adds another to the many proofs >ye have had recently, of its terrible nature as a place to be got over .. in safety.' Unless, therefore, surf boats ; are procured by whioh to land passengers, there seems every probability that, diggers "and others will turn their attention to the overland route, which I have heard an intelligent party say is not nearly so bad ks it is called, = The coast route is the much quicker one, it is true, but it has so frequently indeed, nearly always proved unsafe, that unless, some secure system of landing be speedily; adopted,' parties ;will prefer the land route with np danger, to. the short route with it. , I ; ,The Provincial Government have at [length '.(.the subject -yvas brpiached two years ago) resolved to send an "exploring party, under the leadership of Mr Yincent Pyke, the Secretary of the Grbldfi elds IT epaf tment, for the purpose of discovering a practicable route to our own West Coast. .Mr Pyke, whb starts to-day, is admirably fitted to the task, and ho doubt his selection of companions will be agooi one. He proceeds in the first instance to the Dunstah, and thence by the Wanaka ■ Lake, from which great 7 accounts of gdld have just been received.' It is specially to be hopedthat his mineralp'gical and geological assistants will <be

thoroughly adapted to their task.' It is clear td any one having the slightest knowledge of the province, that its West Coast, which has never been awfully inaccessible, ought to have L been opened up long ere this, notwithstanding L the opinion of. Dr. Hector, that gold would L not be found westward of a line drawn from L the Mataura through Lake Wakatip. When ; our Lake District became the scene of the ! most extensive gold mining operations in the , province, the unexplored region assumed an 1 interest. which it had never previously borne, . and it was then th.at the Government should have set to work and opened a way for the prospecting miner. Not only gold, but copper, coal, sandstone and granite, and a fine pastoral country have been discovered. Had the Provincial Government only done its duty at the proper time, and made a way to the West Coast for miners, provincial financial bankruptcy, and general stagnation in trade and commerce, would have been things unknown in Otago. But it is 'never too late to mend/ The English mail arrived on Saturday forenoon, bringing us public news from America and England of no great importance. Who shall say of what vast importance the private news from dear ones at home is to us here, so far away ? Whether they are all well ? Will my particular envelope bear the thick black edge denoting death ? Look at the hundreds of, anxious faces as they stand in live at the Post-office, and mark how eager and determined they are, male and female, to keep their stand-still and patient move-on position, till they receive their dear old home letters ! It is a sight and a studj' worth going ten miles to see. It is very annoj'ing to find the English mail at the Bluff while we are posting our home letters to be taken away, and it would be a great boon if this could be remedied. Four seamen belonging to the ship Caribou, from Glasgow, were brought before the Magis - trate.the other day for leaving the ship. They declared that they had been half starved on the passage, and that the victuals served out to them were no better than horse feed. The Magistrate told them that they might have obtained redress otherwise than by violating the articles which they had signed in Glasgow, and absconding from the ship ; and as a caution, sent them to gaol for twelve weeks ! The sailors declared they would get plenty to eat in gaol, and would rather be there than in theship! I. note this case, and it is by no means a solitary one, for the purpose of condemning a very false system, which has become too common, of passengers pres anting captains of ships from home with addresses full of the most fulsome praise. I have also made a sort of special enquiry into the case of the poor sailors of the Caribou, and find that during the entire passage they had only partaken of their world-known ' duff' once or twice ; that they never had a bit of spare 'junk' in their kit ; and that instead of 'duff/ they got thickly boiled coarse barley— the ' horse feed ' so appropriately named. And I also find that the captain, a few days before sighting the Heads, ordered two pigs to be killed, and gave bis steerage passengers and crew ' a treat !' This treat is usual preparatory to landing ; it is the ' Good-bye ; the God bless you and the miss you ' dinner of captains ; and any one with half an eye knows that it means ' Please remember an address •to me, for the newspapers. I believe the seamen intend proceeding further with the case, and in the meantime, they are being better fed in Her Majesty's Gaol, Dunedin. Numbers of diggers from the up-country districts are astir in town, the attraction, of course, being Hokitika, the news from which is still gcod. Our ' Dunedin Punch ' seems, as yet, to be fairly conducted, but the illustrations are wretchedly poor, and it won't do to repeat here,a conundrum which appeared in England for the first time nearly twenty years ago ! GENERAL ASSEMBLY. The following is a list of the bills introduced this session up to this date : — 1. An Act to improve the Audit Act of 1858. 2. To amend the Law between Master and Servant. • 3. A Deed Registration Amendment. 4. To continue the Arms Act. 5. To amend the New Zealand Settlements Act. 6. Resident Magistrates' Jurisdiction Amendment (by Mr Wilson.) - 7. Indemnity ior acts done by Officers during the Rebellion. 8. The New Provinces Act Limitation. 9. To constitute a Commission of Enquiry as to giving Natives a Franchise and Representation. 10. To give Representation in the Canterbury Provincial Council to Miners at the West Coast (by Mr FitzGerald.) 11. To confirm the arrangements made for Panama Service. . , . 12. To render the Liability of Shareholders in 'limited' Banks, unlimited as to their note issue. • • ■ ••• : 13. Diseased Cattle Act Amendment. 14. Goldfields Act Amendment. 15. Marine Boards Act Amendment. 16. The Representation Bill. 17. The Militia Amendment. . 18; Provincial Loans Regulation. 19. To Declare certain. Rights of Aboriginal Natives. "' ; ; ; *..••...;.■ ..■ -. ... ■ > 20;; Loan Actj 1863, Amendment