Dunedin Notes.

Bruce Herald, Volume x, Issue 956, 9 November 1877, Page 6

Dunedin Notes.

WHAT THB PEOPLE SAT. It is generally noticed that no mention of the most important criminal trial which has lately taken place iv Dunedin was made in the last monthly summary of the morning journal. The omission may possibly have arisen from accident, but a few are now look' ing out to see if any mention of the matter will be made*in the next summary. In view of a not-improbable general election, the names of various gentlemen are mentioned as likely candidates for certain districts. The idea of opposing Mr Donald Reid and Mr George M'Lean is very seriously,entertained. I have heard two successors mentioned for Mr Manders, and down the Southland way it is not expected that "the member for Blank" will stand again. The suggestion has been made that Mr John Armstrong should stand for a mining constituency. " Honest John Armstrong," as. be has long beeu called, is not a- wealthy man, but be has honour and independence, and will not bring discredit o.n any constituency which scuds him to Wellington. No del iy has occurred in commencing the Strathtaieri survey. The survey parties, or all of them, were not in this Province, and no time was wasted in pushing matters forward. A statement regarding the Hon. G. M'Lean and the commission on floating certain advances, made by the Hon Mr DeLautor during the want of confidence debate, has not passed unnoticed, and the charge is one which deserves contradiction or explanation. The mayoral crisis in the City Council harks back to the old question whether the Mayor should be elected by Council or citizens — whether the Mayor should only preside at Council meetings and otherwise be ; a mere ornamental figure head, or whether he should have control of the departments and be responsible for the same Just now the city is governed by the officers, and tha system is one of a kind tending to lead to the establishment and perpetuation of rings Dunedin has suffered enough from such institutions in all conscience, one ring " let in" the City Council to a job which cost £30,000, and the citizens should thank Mr Leary for the stand he has taken. Had Mr Leary consulted routine, and not troubled h.mself about the way things go, he could have had a comfortable twelve months. However, he had sufficient backbone to do otherwise, and he has by the course taken given promiuence to a very important subject. HOW NOT TO DO IT. New illustrations of " poor Bowen's " folly j are coming to light frequently The last is au admirable illustration of his circuitous j way of doing things. Two recruits for the Police Force were lately forwarded to Wellington from Dunedin at their own expense to join the Police Force. They have re- j turned this week from Wellington, having, j for their' trip, paid some pounds out of their j own pockets, and £7 each out of the pockets j of the community. This may be very good for the Union Company, but such absurd Centralism does not say much for the genius ] who improvised our military police force, j Formerly, all constables were selected in Dunedin, and there is no reason now why tbe same plan should not continue, saving more uot only to applicant?, who can ill afford to part with it, but also to the country. PATENT PIPE UGHTEBS. An ingenious little invention for lighting pipes is now put to practical use at Mr Scotts' the tobacconist, Princes-street. A portable India-rubber gas-pipe bangs from the roof, aud at the lower end of it is a bit of metal resembling a pipe-cover, containing a jet of gas — a light so small as to be scarcely visible. A.s loug as tbe pipe hangs perpendicularly downwards the flame is of the tiniest, but wheu turned sideways or upwards to light a pipe, or for any other purpose, a valve is moved, which causes the flame to become of a large size. The invention is one which could be well adapted, apart from lighting pipes, to rooms in which a large jjet is not constantly required, MINING. Messrs Kiucaid, M 'Queen, and Co. are making a ten-head qnartz battery for the Macetown Quartz Crushing Company, also, a turb{n,e wheel, fqr driving the battery, From a reliable source I learn that the Macetown reefs are looking very well. The Homeward Bound and All Nations are pro- j vided with machinery. Other reefs are I being prospected, and will give profitable employment tQ labour and capital if they continue to show as they do at present. At Skipper's, the Phoenix and Southbergs are in, regular and full work.. S.ou.thbergs is crushing same excellent stone just now. The Phoenix Company has a fine block of stone, and tbe reef is well prospected— they have proved some thousands of tons of good stone by tunnelling-- The Nugget aud Cornish Company has about 200.Q tons of stone ready for crushing. This claim has been worked iv a most expensive way hitherto, but it is now wrought in a different style, and the new compauy, which consists largely of old ffhaitchqlder-s,, have the prospect o,f returns steady if nqt brilliant They are now fitting up new machinery, and will start in a fortnight or so, the gaox,. In my notes which appea r ed in your issue of Tuesday week last, I find I did not do justice to Dunedin Gaol, in the comparison between its staff and the staff of other Colonial gaols. I then poiuted out that while the present staff were arduously worked, and were as lew as could be maintained consistently with getting a full amount of labour out of the prisoners 00 wor^s, tjjat tfce Colony generally

— taking the amounts voted for gaols in other provinces — could not be expected to pay the whole of the cost of keeping up the gaol, and that por ions should be borne by the munici palities and road boards for whose benefit prison labour was done But, wi;hout allow ing for the extra cost involved in having prisoners' labour expended in public works at some distance from the gaol, it seema that a fair contrast cannot be made, between the Duuediu gaol vote and the present votes for Auckland aud Christchurch. In the Auckland gaol, which was placed in contrast in the Assembly with the Dunedin gaol, the mere fact of the grand jury visiting the Auckland gaol and reporting on its deficiencies, give a contradiction to Mr Boweti and bis statement in regard to Dunedin gaol ; and at the time^he gaols were contrasted Mr Howen had in hi.possession a round robin signed by the wboltof the staff of the Lyttelton gaol asking for au increase of men and an increase of pay. SUBURBAN IMPROVEMENT*. The picturesque but hitherto narrow and rough road from Logan's Point to Ravensbourne is now being almost re-made by a gang of prisoners. -■•The improvement will be greatly appreciated by those 'residents of Dunedin who like to take a walk for recreation''along the water side. .-,,■. South Dunedin is going to expend £1500 in the construction of footpaths. This municipality has made great: progress ill street improvements, and the present excellent con ration of its thoroughfares is no doubt owing to the enterprise and good management of its Mayor, Mr Motoney While otbers were squabbling, South Dunedin discussed the best way of expending its money, aud the consequeuce is that property in that locality is approached by good roads and is very valuable. A neat little church for the Presbyterian congregation has beta fiuished there, and the foundations of a Catholic Church are about to be laid. *llt J. G- S. GRANT. " But you shall shiue more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmear'd with slut tish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars's sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gain»t death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth ; your praise shall still find room, Even in the eye of all posterity, That wear this world out of the ending doom." The above may ba described as an advance quotation, and is commended to the particular attention of Mr Grant when he commences to extract the Hyblean honey of the Sonnets. Greatness, ever conscious of its immortality, has inspired the gift of prophecy in Mr Grant, who in his last book says : — '' Solemn Information. — Like Luther, I feel my deficiency In moderation. I am carried away headlong by the roaring torrent of inspiration ; therefore I ought not be measured by the ordinary standards of humanity. A year igo, one of the members of Dunedin, before a mass meeting of -2000 pe<sons, said that 'Mr J G S Grant ought to be very grateful to Dnnedi-i, for no other city in the universe would have tolerated him so long.' No other city had ever the chance. lam a m;iu that comes once in a thousand years Dean Swift saH that men of genius came only at intervals of 100 years. Often enough, surely, considering the reception they get. I hare cast a halo of imperishable glory around Dunedin. I have sacrificed my own worldly interests for the sake of conscience. I feel, now, that [ am literally lost in these small colonies. I bave fire enough in me t> set London in a flame The old land is awaiting with impatience my arrival, so that it may undergo a baptism of firo " I am anxious to absorb all my MSS into books in Dunedin. In this wealthy city surely there can be no difficulty in raising sufficient monej' to cover the expenses of speedy publication. There are buudreds of silly books of quotations from Shakespeare, and scores of editions of his works. One editor alters a point, or makes a verbal alteration in the text. Another adds a postscript, or prefixes a preface. I ro.ean to extract all the" golden ore from, this vast matrix, and to present it for perpetual edification. Ifc will be the richest, rarest, and most precious Koran ever published. Were I in England, wealth, power, beauty, and culture would shower their golden, treasures at my feet. Great schola.rsb.ip requires great leisure. . While \am reposing here iv trauquility, I wish to finish this arduous undertaking. I make no apology for soliciting, at the hands of thq§e rjoh in, this world's goods, donations towards this glorious work. Ijet my appeal not be made in vain. Besides, Providence hath rolled over my head a terrible cloud of woe, and I am striving bravely to divert my attention from such a tragic speotaole, by turning my energies in the direoxjou of publication. Tbe whirlwind has passed over my house, and dissipated its inmates to the four winds : but I stand alone, steadfast and immovable, like the granite rock against the billows of old and angry N.ep,tune. I expect — let me uot be disappointed — donations to enable me to put the finishing stroke upon, my labours in Dunedin— a city th.at I' lave, and a city that I have m,ade celehrated ; a city, moreover, that will yet rank in the roll of fame next to Athens, Jerusalem, and Mecca." THE FROUDFOQT BUSINESS. Mr Dennislon, in his address, said: — " The charge, if true, involved a gross violation of a most sacred trust — an. outrage of the vilest character. The relation between the head of a household ac.d his servant; was almost that of a parent and child, and ' this girl was entitled to as much respect and protection as a daughter of the prisoner,.;

Unfortunately there were men with whom such consideration had no force. There were iiien before whose brutality ami lust the bai> riurs of religion, of honour, o( decency, which usually 1 protected . female virtue went down without' -resistance, and yet the accidents of I'ortu i»e might lead to parents requiring to entrust to such men the honour of those neaest and dearest to them In such cases, tlie only security was the confidence in the impartial administration of the law. It was tlie knowledge that here at least there wasno distinction of rauk— that iv this realm at least justice has an arm long enough to reach, and strong enough to strike the wealthiest and most powerful that made order itself possible. And if auy blow were given, as he was sure it would not be given, which would strike the belief in such impartial justice, it would have an effect for evil far beyond the immediate consequences of the act." MURPHT. Mr Denniston had no wish to refer further to Dr Murphy, only he waa compelled W do so, seeing that the doctor had been spoken of us having acted iv a blundering fashion— one, ill fact, "who did good by stealth, and blushed to fiud it fame" He would waste as little time as possible on him. His offering a bribe after coming to the conclusion that no rape had been committed, might have been to act unprofessionally, but they went beyond this, and said that his certainty that no offence had been committed dated from his interview with Proud foot. From that moment his conduct was tainted, disgraceful, and treacherous, and the offering of a bribe was only part of the dirty work he. had been hired to do. The iury were actually called upon to believe his medical evidence, and that it was not even biassed. But riot only was it biassed, but considering the deliberate, shameful treachery of which Dr Murphy had been guilty, be was surprised that the defence loaded the case with bis name, but that they did not treat it with contempt. He hardly knew how to charactise it, but it was as disgraceful an action as ever disgraced the profession to which the doctor was. a dishonour. " EXTREMELY EXCEPTIONAL." The judge let Murphy down more lightly. His Honour said : — The conduct of l)r Murphy has been commented upon, and I think very properly so, by the learned counsel for the Crown, and, as the learned counsel for the Crcwn stated, bis conduct seems to be something more than a breach of professional etiquette. Happily the members of the medical profession do not adopt the line of conduct taken by Dr Murphy. We all of us very properly have thorough confidence in the skill and integrity of the members of so honourable a profession, and if such conduct as that of Dr Murphy were common it would indeed tend to sink completely any confidence we have in medical men in their professional capacity. Happily, such couduct is extremely exceptional.