DUNEDIN.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 363, 12 April 1871, Page 7

DUNEDIN.

(Prom oiir own Correspondent.) (Unavoidably held over from our last issue.) In the account of the visit of Sir George Bowen to Oamaru I find some information as to the purpose for which we **' keep " a Governor, and as this information is derived from His Excellency himself it is of course authentic and reliable. In the official reply made to one of the addresses presented to His Excellency by the loyal subjects of Oarriaru, Sir George said — ** The official tours of a colonial Governor enable him to report iri authoritative form to the Imperial Government the resources and progress of the country over 1 which he presides!, and thus to draw attention at home to the capabilities of the several districts, and to the field which they afford for emigration and for the investment of capital. On the 23rd of this month I addressed the Secretary of State (the Earl of Kimberly) in a public despatch, stating that that day was the 23rd anniversary of the foundation of Otago ; for it was on the 23rd of March, 1848, that fche little band of Scotch emigrants first landed and pitched their teiits on the site of the now flourishing city of Dunedin, then wholly uninhabited, and covered with a dense forest. I added that the official statistics show tliat riow, in 1-871, tlie population of this Province approaches nearly to 1 0,000 j that the annual public revenue, ordinary and territorial, actually raised therein from all sources exceeds L520,00(j ; that the trade, including exports and imports* is more than three milliorig sterling in value ; that the number of acres already fenced is above one million ; that the •lumber of horses exceeds 20,000— 0 f horned, cattle, 110,000— and of sheep four millions'. I further pointed out that the progress achieved iri the other elements of material: prosperity is eqiially remarkable,' while the

Provincial Council has made noble provision for hospitals and benevolent asylums, as also foi* primary, secondary, and industrial schools, and for the iievr University which is to be opened at Ihmodin in next June." It is satisfactory to know that we get some , return for our money paid as salary to the Governor, and to the maintenance bf his suite and other charges, if it should only be his saving us the necessity of another Y inceht Pyke as touting pamphleteer to make known to the ** old folks at home " the manifold advantages of this Province as a place of refuge from the oppressive taxation aud the insupportable burden of debt in the old country. Since my last wo have had several elections for the Provincial Council, which confirm my anticipations of ,-i fortnight ago that the result of tlie election for Dunedin would be symtomatic of those throughout the Provinco and that the ultimate issue would be a large majority opposed to the Superintendent's policy, provincial and colonial. Several of the opposition in the late Council have been defeated, while the old ** nuisances " — to quote the elegant phraseology of our sparkling and brilliant evening luminary — have been sent back again to their old haunts. Reid, Allan, Shand, Hutchenson, and Green have all been again elected, notwithstanding , the determined efforts to defeat each and all of them, * while Cantrell has been returned for Cavorsham, and Bradshaw for one of the ■ up-country districts, tke.namo of which I forget. John Hughes, decent man, and James M'lndoe, the doughty champion of his Honor and the Hundreds Regulation Act, and Fox-cum-Vogel loan lottery scheme exponent and defendei', have been left out in the cold. Howorth, Pram, M'Lean, and Ure have all been beaten, and ignominioualy so, with the exception of Geo. M'Lean, who ran Mr Green very close, the country districts proving true to themselves and confirming the judgment they expressed iii the Siiperintenddntal election by returning, in nearly eveiy case, supporters of Mr Reid. Mr Seaton, a thick and thin Macandrewite, has been re-elected in the Peninsula. This result was brought about by the want of co-operation between the several parts of the district, but is at the same timd another proof of the iinreliability of so-called pledges given lo different candidates. As in the case of Mr Hepburn at Waikari, sO in the Peninsula. Mr Tolmie and Mr Ross were both promised — or, at any rate, said they had been promised - -very many votes more than they polled, Mr Ross being " sure" of fully two-thirds of the votes in tlie district. Yet, after all, Mr Seaton beat them by a very large majority. In this election, as in that for Cavei-sham^ and also the -Port Chalmers General Assembly elec^ tion, Mr W. H. Reynolds made himself very conspicuous. lam informed that this gentleman—calni and placid, uninfluenced by private or party considerations — who carries his head high above the storms of passion and of interest which so disturb and irritate the denizens of these lower spheres— who bears himself with the dignity of one whose recollections' are stored with blissful memories of the chair of State, the gown, the bands, the usher, and the rod, and who is no partisan, oh ! dear no— was in attendance at Anderson's Bay all the day of elections and his conduct is thus commented on by one of our local journals :— -" It must have been pleasing to the electors of the Peninsula to have watched the earnest solicitation bf W. B. Reynolds for their welfare. Mr Reynolds went out to Anderson's Bay in his candidate's cab ;and, when he arrived at the polling booth, acted as Mr Seaton's canvasser, but-to-holing everyone as they went in to vote. It was, of course, dignified action in a Speaker thus to do, and we are sure will not be forgotten when the election of a new Speaker comes off." ■ It is publicly announced to-day that the Ministry have resigned, so that the statement of the - Times ' of two or three days ago was correct, the positive contradiction of oiir most veracious, as well as sparkling and brilliant, evening* luminary notwithstanding. That illustrious" contemporary this evening states that **no steps have yet been taken to form a new Government." From private information I believe that statement is correct. It is believed Mr Reynolds will be " sent for," and I am told that that patriotic gentleman, whd --never says no," will respond to the call, and undertake the task of formino- a Ministry. No doubt that gentleman has cheek— no, that's a vulgar word— I mean courage and ability— enough for anything ; but it will require a bold man to undertake the Government of the Province in the face of the. recent elections on any other policy than that of the Ministry just resigned. • ...,,. If Mr Carleton is to bo believed, election matters are not much better conducted iv the North than in the South. He is reported to have said of an election there—" It was wetting from bad to worse. It was now mainly conducted by unmitigated falsehood, and by extravagant promises which could not be kept." A nice state of things this, truly —but then, this is the age of progress, and we are a progressive people. . The policy to be developed by the new Council will be watched with considerable interest. By all accounts wo are to have attempts made there, as well as in the Assembly, to devise means of extracting a few drops more blood from the ** long-suffering taxpayers of this milk and water— dear me, no !— milk and honey producing country. I hear proposals are to .be made for re,enact ; in* the old method of raising funds for the support of oiir schools by means of an educational rate ; while the progressive Government of this progressive colony is to accelerate our progress by means' of an income tax. Truly we have much need for a General Government immigration scheme to bring people to oiir shores, .for most assuredly if the present state of things ig. permitted to continue, and the progressive blessings* I have indicated are bestowed upon us, no one will come here of their .own free will and pay their money for coming. It is a wonder those alarmists who_ are perpetually crying out for a large expenditure of money for the construction of defensive works in the colony have not raised, a hue and cry over the .announcement made in the late mail news of. a filibustering expedition having been fitted out in the United States with a view to paying their respects to some of opr home ships, or possibly making acquaintance with some of our most important ports.. Ido not believe a word of this story, but if the cojonial office have' received notice that such a danger as this threatened either our commerce or our. shores it. was the duty bf that.Governm'eiit wiiich was to speni their last shilling, and their last man, in our defence, to have. sent the news to lis by one of the fastest aiid best equipped vessels of war. whicb w'oxiid hate been ready to -tfelconie oiir friends when they should conic, and give a good, account of them to their friends at home. If our connection with the old cc-untry is tp be of any use to us. whatever, surely it should show itself in our protection froni such evils - and mischief as that by which it is said we . are now threatened;