Dunedin.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 890, 20 March 1877, Page 5

Dunedin.

«. (From oxxr own Correspondent.) The Mosgiel race meeting arrangements were nicely bungled on Saturday through a little undue haste on the part of some of the stewards The bungle came about fchus : Five or six of the stewards met; in the morning, and agreed to a postponement of the races for the day (Saturday) on account of the bad weather. This conclusion was made public at a few mxnxxtes past ton, and the secretary, Mr Doyle, immediately went to the telegraph office at Mosgiel to send word to Dnnedin of the postponement, and thexx left for Dunedin himself. By eleven o'clock j the day was fine, the course in, good order, j and throughout the afternoon it wtxa sunny. , Nearly 1500 people came to the course, and [of course they were greatly disgusted at hearing that tlxe xxxeeiing had been spoiled through the haste with which the stewards had acted. The races were first adjourned till Monday week, and then till to-day (Monday), but how they got on to-day, if they were not postponed a second time, I have not heard. Certainly those who went out to-day for a, day's sporting must have had a most uncoxxxfortable time of it. Very little is now talked about but racing, and as my tip for .the Cup would be just about as reliable as those of n*jO§fe of the prophets .['.shall nofc trouble yoxxr readers with it. There is an alteration this year in the system of charging for admission. The price of admission this year fa the grand stand enclosure, which includes the graxxd staix,d, lawn, saddling paddock, and admission to the grounds, is half a guinea each day. Formerly there was a separate charge at each gate — now the one ticket will admit the holder to every part of the grouncL i'he reserving of a portion, p,f tha grand stand specially for ladii-s, and the exclusion of the book-making fraternity — some of whom use language not of the choicest — from the grand stand 3&d lawn, are two moves in fche right direction. The action of the ciub this year \n excluding book-makers fvpm membership, and in keeping the same fraternity off the grand stand, together with the expensive and substantial improvements it has economically carried out at the Forbury, has greatly tended to raise it in the p-ablia estimation, and the result has already been a large, and still increasing addition to the membership of the Club. With fine weather this year, the face for the cup should bo witnessed by a greater concourse than ever assembled at the yorb^ry before, A good sign at present in Dunedin, though dullness of trade is complained of by many, is that shares in public companies are maintaining a fair price. The disposition to dispose of them at a sacrifice thaj has ere now

been at i.i<:i«s3 ~;ii*.;*.uife*t i>.-. Uxin-sn., is not now seen, and if many sales are not now. being m:xde. holders, at least-, keep their interests till they get a fair prica for them. Ifc is with regret that the very large number of .people who have been broxxghfc into contact with Mr Sperrey of the Treasury, either in the course of the performance of his public duties or privately, heard of a serious accident which befel him ori Friday night. Hi 3 daughters were at a party at a friend's house at Maori Hill, and on going to fetch them home afc about twelve o'clock, he walked over a high bank, about fifteen ft. on the outskirts of the town. The resxxlt was that he fractured one of his legs near the ankle. Being of heavy build, in delicate health, and also beginning to get into the seer and yellow lea*, tho shock and accident have affected him severely, and I am sorry to hear that he is in a most precarious state. Mr Sperrey has long occupied a position in which many others, were they in hia place, would amuse themselves by writing offensive memos, and, generally, by making themselves disagreeable to clerks axxd heads of departmexxts. While tlxe accident to Mr Sperrey is greatly regretted by ths public generally, there is none who sympathise with him more than the clerks and heads of departments who met him iv a business capacity. Mr Sperrey had oixly in the afternoon of the accident finished the compilation of the crop retxirns for the year ; and, with his knowledge of the working of the old Provincial machinery, this accident cannot but deprive the Government of valuable assistance which they otherwise would have had in the changes that are taking place. Whatever ma}*- occasionally be said against the liberality ot the generality of Dxinedxn people, th« noble way in which they invariably respond to genuine appeals to their charitable instincts ia she beat reply. As an example may be quoted the collections made at Knox Church on Sunday, the annual offering of that congregation in aid of the Benevolent Institution, and which aggregated the handsome sum of £73 5s Bd. It should be remembered, too, of th : s congregation that many receive visits at their places of business from the collector, and others of them, employees, sxibscribe to those collections for the same object mide in places where lai'ge numbers of hands are employed. Attention has been called to the fact that the Government, has lately instituted a new office in connection with Otago railways, and which is dignified with the title of " truck hunter !" I do not know what the official designation is, but that is what it is called by practical men, who see no necessity for instituting such an office and department. The gentleman in question, I am told, has only to travel up and down the line (firstclass), and see that the trucks are disposed of to the best advantage— a duty which could be done by the stationnxastera themselvja many of whom are not severely burdened with official cares. A very extensive work to be carried out by prison labour, has been resolved upon, namely, the gradual construction of a comparatively straight line of railway from Dunedin to Port Chalmers. This work shall be accomplished by filling in across the several bays alongside, the inside of which at present the railway follows, in a series of curves. It is also intended gradually to reclaim the shallow places lying inside the embankments, to form sites which will have a special value from their contiguity to beach and railway, and into xvhich sidings can be led. The efforts of the prisoners will be concentrated on the work, which is one that can only be # regarded as a great improvement. What the prisoners have done on 801 l Hill, at Port Chal- ; uxers, afc Porfcobello, and are now doin-> [in Maitland Street, should constitute a protest of the moat practical and palpable kind against the folly of cooping up large numbers q£ prisoners in out uf the way places, sxxch as Taranaki, where their labor ia expended to no useful purpose. Another public improvement, which is about to be entered upon, ia the carrying out of tha Clutha railway line further into the bay, thereby giving Crawford street a width of ninety-nine fee-t, and giving the trains a straight run from Kensington to the- -central railway terminus. By this improvement a fine broad roadway of far more use than tha much talked of Princes street widening, will be available at tlxe south end of the town, and an awkward turn on the railway line (at & place where it is crossed by extensile* traffic^ will be avoided" Ifc gives me pleasure, co state Mxafc tLere is a good demand Sot Mr Bracken'a latest work, " Flowers of the Freeland," ao good that if he will not have a large profit out of it, he will at least not he mulcted in the xxsual penalty upon poets, to wit a printer's bill. Mr Bracken's " Flowera" have bean favourably noticed by nearly all the New Zealand papers, and some of the criticisms must have. been to him of a most encouraging description. For, while they wero really critical, and pointed out faults in the way of hasty composition and want of care (though doing so in no unkindly Bpirit) they also were not alow io appreciate and point out tbe poetife gexns, or, as he terms them, flowers, with which hia poems abound. Afte* reading nearly all of these notices one caimot but have a feeling of gratification not only that the Britain of the south numbers a genial poet among its adopted children ; but that the much abused New Zealand press has, even in its most unpretentious sheets, even fitted to cope with the ordinary, drudging work o their lives, and who can also cull the brighten, and best thoughts and sentiments from, poetical work, and criticise the work itsel pure, well selected, vigorous English;. ;