Notes and Comments.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 528, 23 March 1908, Page 2

Notes and Comments.

10-day is the diamond jubilee of Otago-s settlement. It was on March 23 sixty years ago that the good ship John Wickliffo dropped her anchor in Kopntai Bay. othenviso Port Chalmers, where tho pioneers of our Edinburgh of the South landed. Dun-edin was then an almost impe-netrablo forest, and to move about its first settlers had to btH'o their Ay-ay through flax ana fern, toto and manuka scrub, and over swampy places. Gold had been found in parts of the province earlier, but it was not till June, 1861, thai tho information was given Avhich led to the breaking out of the famous gold fever, and seekers from all parts of the Avorld flocked to Gabriel's Gully. Then Dunedin went ahead by leaps ancl bounds. Tho Provincial Governmen.t strained every nervo to form ' and metal roads to carry the trafli : that inevitably folio wed on tho discovery. The population, estimated i» 1860 at 12,691, Jiad increased in 1861, after tho discovery of gold, to 30,26!). The cost of living increased alarmingly. Tho prico of tho 41b loaf was Is 2d. and flour sold at from £42 to £52 a ton; meat ranged from lOd to 13d per lb ; butter, 2s 6d. These were the prices in Dunedin, and in tho interior prices Avero very much higher. The rush te the Dunstan speedily folloAved. Then came tho discovery of gold at Wakatipu and various other parts of tho district. Tho inland districts became rapidly opened up. Tho mail coaches plied regularly to tho diggings, and all along tho country roads where no human, habitation had. stood before the inevitable accommodation house sprang up. Tho impetus given to the commerce of Otago by the gold discoveries Jed to a corresponding development of the shipping trade, and Dunedin became the distributing centro of New Zealand. l : suAiiirr, mayoral elections aro almost as ({iiiet as a private marriage, and contests are tho exception -rather than tho rule. Ifiverj'thing is quiet along tho Foilding frontier in tins respect, but Palmerston and Wellington promiso to haA r e likely fights for tho chair. In tho Toavu of the -Dairy School there is a deadlock between the Mayor and his Council, and tho latter have now formed a sort of Cabail against his Worship. W<j haven't heard what f ho Mayor lias formed, but ho seems to have given his enemies a chance of making a martyr of a gardener. There aro plenty of other gardeners and councillors and mayors, but the chances are with the present Mayor, for tho people love a strong man, even ii there's a touch of stubbornness in the strength. In Wellington the position is peculiar, for thero wo havo Mr J. G. W. Aitken, M.P., thrice Mayor of the city, coming out against I. is friend, tho present occupant of the chair, tho Hon. Thos. Hislop, also thrice Mayor of Wellington, and successor of Mr Aitken. Exactly why Mr Aitken has succumbed to tho temptation to contest tho election is hard to say. unless it be that the socialistic tendencies of Mr Hislop havo raised fears in commercial circles that it would not be aviso for him to continue in office. There is also the important factor of a general election in vieAV, and both Messrs 'Aitken and Hislop aro out for national honours. Mr Aitken is a strong man, and popular, and thero will be an easy Avin for 'him if it is a straightout fight for the chaa- ; but there may be complications, such as Mr T. Wilford, av-lio has 3ong yearned for tho honour of ruling Wellington, and the Trades Council may put forward a candi<late. Taken by aaid large, tho position is interesting.

Who knows Avhat to do about anything noAvadays when the experts take a subject up ? Some t-ell us that Avater is bad, and others that it is good to wasli or batho in ; somo that all beer is bad and others .that somb beer may be worse than other beer, but that no beer is bad. Some experts say then? •is infection in osculation, yet the kiss is as popular ever with everybody excepting babies. And hoav avo are told to look out for tho katipo and tho hy. datid ! One is a bitter biter and the other is a giddy germ. One set -of export says we are to banish dogs, becauso it is from them aa t c get hydatids ; and if avo listened to another advisor wo Avould abandon our beaches because there tho katapo lurked. Another chap tells us it is not the dear old dog that brings along the hydatid, but it is tho tender, luscious rabbit. Noav, what ana we to do about it ?

Members of the Kimbolton and Apiti Railway League may derive some satisfaction from tho latest declaration, made in the far north at the end of last Avoek, by the Premier. Referring to the question of railway facilities.. Sir Joseph Ward said it was >t>he intention of the Government after tho completion of the North Island Trunk j railway to consider tho question of the authorisation of uoav lines. Tho Government, he added, AA'as determined to assist by every means in its power tho people in line interior and remote parts of the country. And surely Apiti and Kimbolton are remote enough for such a rich, producing country.