Dunedin.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 484, 29 April 1873, Page 5

Dunedin.

(From our own correspondent.)

City property is advancing in price at a rate which astonishes most people^ and leads many to suppose that there must be lots of our citizens' who are afflicted with " land on the brain." It is no matter whether the land offered be freehold or leasehold; if put up. to auction it fetches a price which, foi*r or five years ago, would have been . regarded: as absurdly extravagant. There was a sale of land last Saturday week, all of wiiich brought what many regard as niost unreasonable prices, It is. said the lucky vendors made 1 about seven thousand pounds on the sale, yet now, the sections then bought can be sold at a large, advance. : I have been told of one section' which was bought at L6l an 4; sold two days after for LIOO, . Advances ofi'LlO,. JAS, or L_K). at-e- freely offered. And this land b.e it remembered is not in Dunedin, but outside in what is not- in a very inviting-posi-tion. Ifc is seated right $t "the head of the: bay on the Anderson's _3ay road, and -ten years ago r was a; Swamp. Properly in the city, is advancing 71 price, at a like ratio. There is a- small business; site *^hich recently changed hands at ya profit of .somewhere about LI2QO; A co^po^tion. lease in? jGreorgestreefc was sold ,-a week -ago 'at7B_{s:_t fobtj with'ljl4o to pay for Value of present building's. By this ' you Will see'ywei^ anticipate : a;. considerable : of^ people^ and a "yet in. creased 1 demand for^lionse accomn.oda.tion. We look foy ihore^l^f^

more people to do -it— for , a large development of our resources,- for the _na__mgof our own paper, the blowing of our. own bottles, the .sphming. of our own hemp* and the weaving of our own sacking. We are by and bye to build our own steamers, 1 and-sail Our own ships j we are to stnelt ouiviotmi iron, and coin our own gold' ; wer are to compete in the marketa "-of the /world with the produce of ohr coal pits, and bur copper mines, w ith oiir timber,' \>ur • antmidn^ our marble, qur ; granite, pur 'q^ know not what besides ; we "are to be a great "people,; inhabiting a great^ country;" ]to be the-possessors; pi great/wealth, stnid, to exercise a great ihfluerice on the, civilisation •of the next century. Ere _evenfyeara,are -over _ our heads*- Dunedin arid suburbs is to number a, population of fifty: thousand, arid in ihis great country, y amongst .: ; this;, great . people; Dunedin is to be the greatest city, and -^abitariW thereof : r the greatest, moist^wealt%V £ n 4 s * ti^^ . '' AU thisfo^^a'piea^t^il^re to look:, upon, these . ia^i^li»atio? b y «»;' ■j^^^7??* ,^.V^*^* aO--tory and .reassimng. thsra. thps*e wl^ llook for embarrasmerit , : ;and d^^u-ties, f or Heavy taxes, and straightened circumstances,^ for little work and many workers, for reteogressidnjrdecadencejyand^.spcial and national bankruptdy, if «ot ruin and jdeath. 7 Well, • let us earnektiy hope that ;tfe expectations of the f ormeri and aiofr ?df the; latter wjjl be realised, and'ihat the future r of "this country willmbre. than justify the roseate hues in which some of our prophets delight to paint it. . There caniibt be a 'doubt but tliat agre^ future does lie, before us .arid .our children if its greatness is not marrbd by our folljvour improvidence, or orarecldestaessj • by the; unsoundness of • our judgment, or the incapacity of our rulers.* r, Ays -.- .= y 7 ; Improvements are steadily^ going on in the city j we are levelling down one place; snd filling up another,'^UteraHy saying,- to the hills, if not the mouritsdns, •# Be yerexnoved, arid be ye cast . into the sea;" andit is dene, a lengthened tramway' is laid' froni therfoot of Pitt-street and along Castle-street to f what was once tlie "beach, biit is i&W a stteet line. The high bank at the jtdp of Pitt-street and the line of Queen-street^isbemjg amoved, filled into dobbins, which take it Vto the foot ot .he hill, where it is tipped/into trucks, and then conveyed along the .tramway,, and emptied into the lo wlying ground .betweeri tbe line of Oastle-street, already partially formed j and the back of Wilson's foundry, the soap works, and the distillery^ so that what has heretofore been a most offensive

nuisance will soon be a very ..valuable property. I believe the expense of this work is .being borne jointly by the Provincial Government, the jCorporation,. and the owners of the land. Once this work is completed, a very desirable and long-called for improvement will have been effected, while the complete formation of Castle-street will add another to the thoroughfares of the city, by which the traffic ih Great King-street will be considerably relieved. j The Government is catling for tenders for j the erection of the railway station in. brick and stone. Permission has been given by the I Corporation for a temporary line along the ! edge of Bond-street, in order" tO^ connect the I Clutha railway with that to the Port, and it is expected that trains will be running to Green Island in a very short time j tKe permanent way is laid a considerable portion of the distance, and the work is being- pushed rapidly on. When the line is opened .vsufficient distance for the Kaitangaita coalpits to be reached overland that coal will come into very general consumption -^ f or household purposes. There is a large consumption of it now, but the priced is too 7 high ior it to compete, as it will yet do, with the" Green Island coal. ; The consumption; of the latter coal is now very considerable, riot oiily in. town, but all over the Taieri Plain. j * Donald Heid 'ha*, addressed his constituents in the. Taieri, and his speech ha> called forth tbe expression of , very varied, opinions. Some say it was. a 'good "personal and .party defence, others that it was very damaging to the othei* side, while the other: side . s*y it was the weakest speech they ever 'knew Donald Heid to deliver. Our ex-Provincial Secretary is not a 'rhetorician j -hip addresses are adorned by few flowers of, oratoiy or figure, of speech, but he has a keen appreciation of.the sternlbgic of fact, and he always inlays his speeches with a goodly .array of .acts which gives tbem a.ri ungetoverablenesa very ditiiduV ?nd troublesome; to £_a opponent. JVIo.t of our leading irienhave now spoken, and the situation is tolerably well undei\.tobd^ ".' ! '