Our Dunedin Letter.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1819, 18 June 1897, Page 5

Our Dunedin Letter.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious by the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee, and whatever clouds or cares of business that may have lowered upon outrespective houses, will for the time being be buried in the approaching avalanche of demonstrative display. Now are our gasfitters, painters, and carpenters busily engaged in the erection and construction ot Victoria's wreaths, and every otber variety of design and arrangement pertaining to this notable occasion. Our citizens of all classes—commercial and political the liberal and the more liberal (for we are none of us Tories now)—are commingling in committees, and deliberating and devising for effectively carrying out a programme of° display that should tend to satisfy the most loyally enthusiastic patriot. Bonhres are to be lit on nearly every conspicuous eminence, from those in the suburbs to the more distant mountain tops. Processions of school children, volunfeeia and exvolunteers, veterans of the Imperial service, too, are to take part therein ; 1 Orangemen, bands, banners, and in fact all the pomp, panoply, and magnificence that can be evolved from the minds of an enthusiastic sovereign Roving people is to be in evidence on the 22nd inst. Of course, upon the evening of that day the illuminations and fireworks are to be on a scale never before equalled or attempted. Nearly | all the business jpteces in the city are being

adorned with lamps and decorative Resigns, The building of Messrs Bing, Harris and Co., in High Street, will have over 1000 lamps displayed from their front ; while Messrs A. and T. Inglis' arrangements, now proceeding, promise to 1)0 one grand piece of magnificent brilliance. The town hall will he l : t in every window with numerous and varied colored lamps, from which place, too, a pyrotechnic il display will be male from the tower, the Captain of the Fire Brigade having received full carte blanche to render the proceedings as splendid as possible. The U.S.S. Coy. will produce an effective illumination anl profusivo firework display in keeping with fcheiroharactQristic liberality.

Further opportunities of enjoyment are J promised in the opening of the new Agricultural Hall, which bejrius with a «rand concert 0:1 Monday evening, with no Fcss a personage than the Hon> the Minister of Lands and Agriculture : to be followed on Wednesday- by the Winter Show, and continues to the end of the week. The Kindergarten Bazaar, too will be ah attractVi that few visitors will be able to resist. While, again, the drapers and other retailers, with their characteristic spirit of self-denial and eagerness to oblige and serve the p 'ople, are going to ! de-\y themselves the pleasure of participating in the j Vy.s "f the who'e oF the wok by keppm? open shop, with the except ; on of Tuesday, and are Loping that this virtue will have its own reward in the shape of big S;\le<s. But why should it be attempted ! to chronicle anything like the doings tha-V. are to take place on this unique occasion ? It were a task impossible, only it should I not be forgotten t->mention that the commemorative proposal, which at first was , thought to be intavor of a free public library, has, after much discussion and not a li:tie heart-burning on the part of the advocates of that proposal, been ultimote'y 1 ca<t in favor of the erection of a children's ward for the hospital, Dr William Brown and Dr Bitchelor are deserving of credit for the : r finesse and diplomacy in capturing the public sympathy (or whim) for the project just at the opportune time. The people had become a little tired of this vexed question of free public library, and were easily induced to capitulate in favor of the more Dovel one introduced, the con* sequence being that after Mrs Lee Smith's gift of LSO towards the fund numerous other liberal donations followed, and we are once more totting up a goo Ty sum in aid thereof, and the hat is going around again with a merry jingle accompaniment, , despite the growls and grumbles of the few stingy ones who complain of the irritating regularity with which the said ' hat' comes round. „ , , , , , The Hawkes Bay Eebef Fund closed last week with a total of over LI2OO-not at all an illiberal donation for Dunedin, com* pared with cities nearer the scene of distress. The Harbor Board, after struggling along amidst misfortunes and their own faults to keep the harbor clear and deep, are about to adopt the course of letting out the work to a Mr Biggins, C.E., who contends he has an invention that will attain the end and at a figure low enough to please all parties. It must be with a kind of relief that the Board acquiesce in the proposal, as their last attempt to overcome the difficulty by means of a dredge and pump fell far short of their sanguine anticipations and predictions. , The Rignold season, which has just closed, was a most successful one. Mr Rignold gained some kudos and deservedly high encomiums by his portrayal of the character of Henry the Fifth. So much so Indeed that the worthy recto* of the High School—(staid and scholarly gentlemen that he is) felt it to be his duty to publicly recommend both pupil and adult to witness this performance, if only from an educational point of view. So perfect did this critic consider the acting to be, that he classed it as one of the very finest and finished amongst tb* ~' fl o{ mo g Mn Sbak "!u*eare character representations. The Tram transaction has been hung up pro tern. Captain Craddock, representative of the Mysterious Syndicate, has either taken the < huff' or pretended to, and turned his back upon the City Council, declining to continue further overtures re transference of the tram rights to his company. The syndicate had inter aha expressed its willingness to obtain thensupply of gas (the motive power to be introduced) from the corporation gas works, ultimately, however, withdrawing from this stipulation, the Council in its tarn de* clinina to secede to the condition as amended. Throughout the parley the latter bodv has shown a reluctance to comply or "fall in with the advances made by the syndicate, and shown a disposition to be shy of if not suspicions as to the bona fides of the company: No one yet 1 has been able to obtain any information as to the. ' personel ' of the party behind Captain Craddock, . The Dunedin and Kaikowi Tramway Company are at loggerheads with Mi Is. Y Wales, ex-mavor of the citv, an I the City Corporation.* MrH. V. Haddock 111 his r. marks as chairman of the Tramway Company, at the annual meeting threw nut innuendos and insinuations re* ffardir.g the obstructive tactics which he indicated were pursued by Mr Wales, as Mayor, and his Council, over the inception of the proposed line. This, the then Mavor, indignantly declares to _ be 'lies, and" is supported in his premises by the town clerk and Councillor Gore, -chairman of committee. This pretty squabble cannot do good to the new company, as from what can be gleaned as t> the financial condition, their capabilities in that respect are to say the least of it not robust We are promised, however, by the chairman that the inauguration or first sod prelimis naries are to be carried out with a flourish of trumpets during the Record Reign that, is to awaken dismay and discomfiture 111 all the enemies of the undertaking.