OTAGO.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 7, Issue 538, 18 October 1864, Page 3

OTAGO.

[feom our own correspondent.] Dunedin, sth October, 1864. I HAVE often heard the Dunedinites— that is since the gold discoveries made Dunedin — rated as possibly just a trifle too fast. And within this fewdays I have really begun to think that there maybe some truth in the allegation ; at all events as far as the ' soft sex ' — as Sam Weller, senr., used to call the'ladies — is concerned, Of course I onlythrow out the suggestion with * bated breath,' and. by no means with an air of Medo-Persian infallibility." But are not the Dunedin ladies more emotional, more gushing than the fair ones of older (I can't very well say colder) countries ? Just a leetle fonder of decqlleties, frocks, and petticoats, a la the old lady cut-shorter in the nursery ballad ? With a very remarkable predi-

lection for eccentric vagaries in dress — that ' tremendous header,' the pork-pie hat, for instance, and the last thing in chromatics, Magenta stockings? I am sure now I have asked these questions I can't answer them ; but as Bufibu said the style •was the man, I suppose he meant the women too, and I will, ask you, reader, how you like this slyle? I may premise, however, for your enlightenment, that the following letter (I have only substituted initials for names in the course of it) was read — I had almost said 'produced' — at the Police Court on Thursday last, and was received with shouts of laughter by an appreciative audience. In fact, instead of being, as they were called, a criminal prosecution for libel, the proceedings partook more of the character of a screaming farce of the Adelphi order. But lam all the time keeping you from this tit-bit of epistolary composition. Here it is :—- ----"Dear.Mr.\E.,—l will not take offence at the ! rather dictatorial tone of your last letter to me, as Icaunot but feel that you have a just right in \ thus protecting your wife from blame. As regards the ultimatum you hint at, you only embody in ■words the line of conduct I find I must for the future adopt towards Mrs. 1., namely, that of an acquaintance, as I feel that no friend should have broken faith with me as she appears to have done, namely, by giving up my name, and at the most urgent entreaties, and at the same time solemnly promising never to divulge it. But Mr. 8., injustice to Mrs. I. and myself, I must tell you Mary did tell me what I repeated to Mrs. I:, that at a picnic Mrs. I. took off her shoes and stockings, and MiV»S. had held her garters up to auction (great laughter.) These were your wife's words to me, and, out of kindness to Mrs. L, I asked her plainly whether the report was true, never intending to say from whence I heard it. Mrs. I.'s promises and entreaties alone extracted it from me. I have ever made my husband my confidant in all I say and do, and I thought you knew me better than to give the unnecessary advice contained in your 'second condition.' I am grieved to have so v.eakly- yielded to Mrs. I.'s importunities. I should not have brought this most painful circumstance about. It is the first woman's quarrel I have been mixed up with. Rest assured it will be the last. I am quite willing, indeed prefer, that you should act as you say, as regards sending & copy of my letter to Mrs. I. to her husband. " Believe me, &c." — Ex urn disce onme?. The above is the letter of a married lady to a clergyman, and the Mr. S. referred to in the course of it is one of our most responsible civic functionaries. Ovid asserts that the Homau women of his time could not refrain from chattering even while offering up a sacrifice to the Goddess of Silence. It is probable that the sex is very much the same in all ages and all countries ; but one could hardly have expected , that letters from ladies .' of position ' such as the oae quoted would have been read out for the gratification of a vulgar crowd in a Police Court in our time and city. However it seems likely that ■we shall before long have a surfeit of such famous productions.: Mr. A. G. M'Corabe. the writer;of the scurrilous article, the ' School for Scandal,' in the Saturday Me&ieiv of the 24th ult., referred to by me in my last letter, was arrested on the 30th ult., at Port Chalmers, on a warrant, just as he was leaving for the Norlh by the ' Queen.' He has since twice been examined on a charge of having maliciously published a certain false, scandalous, and defamatory libel of and concerning the Rev. Edward George Edwards, incumbent of St. Paul's Church. At the second examination he was'committed for trial, but admitted to bail. The painful affair has not yet terminated, as it has been determined by the solicitor for defendant, in pursuance of hia assumed duty to his client, to compel the attendance at the trial in the Supreme Court of all the ladies of St. Pauls congregation, who are in a position to give evidence in the matter. This line of defence is adopted on the grounds that bucU disclosures will be made as will justify the ! alleged libel. It cannot but be a source of pain to all the well-wishers of society that things have assumed such an aspect in regard to this case. It is greatly to be regretted that a Dunedin citizen should have written so slauderous an article. It would be a still further subject for regret if it could be believed that any other Dunedin citizen would look upon it with aught but abhorrence. But it cautiot certainly meud matters to hold a grand congress of fair scandal-mongers. This can only prove injurious to the interests alike of decency and morality ; and it is much to be regretted that the whole of the disgraceful affair has not been allowed to remain shrouded in its original darkness. Meantime, the issue of the Saturday Review has stopped — the publishers having annulled their contract with Mr. Grant. The special jury case, the New Zealand Banking Corporation v Cutten and Yogel, proprietors of the Daily Times, for alleged libel on that institution, came on for trial before His Honor Mr. Justice Chapman on Tuesday, and was concluded oa Wednesday " afternoon. The damages were laid at £5000. For the plaintiff the following counsel, were retained — Mr. Prendergast, Mr. . Barton, and Mr. Smith ; and for the defendants, Mr. Sewell and Mr. Garrick, both of the Christchurch bar. Counsel on both sides'fought hard for their respective clients, and after a very able and impartial summing up by the Judge, the jury retired, and brought in the following answer to ' *he issues : — Ist, Have the words in the declaration mentioned the defamatory sense set forth and averred by the plaintiff, or any other defamatory sense ? .^-Yes. 2nd. Were the said words fair and bonafide comments and criticisms on the nature and character of the business of the plaintiffs carried on in Dunedin aforesaid, and of the nature and character of their Bank in the said place as a public institution, and of the conduct of the plaintiffs in their capacity of public bankers, as in the defendants' third plea is alleged ?— No. 3rd. Were the plaintiffs at the time of the publication of the said words engaged in carrying on business in Dunedin, as a Bank with Limited Liability, without being recognised as a corporation by the law in force in New Zealand and without being clothed with the powers necessary to give ordinary remedies to creditors, and withr out being empowered by law to carry, on business as a Bank with limited liability, or without being

able to exercise the usual f unctions of Bankers in New Zealand, and without making the periodical returns required by law ? — Yes. 4th. Are the allegations in the defendant's fifth plea substantially true?— No. sth. What damages, if any, are the plaintiffs entitled to recover from the defendants ? — £soo. The Judge : It will be a verdict for the plaintiffs, for the amouut found. The costs are said to amount to over £1000. i The Times proprietaiy are said to have been quite confident of success. When the hearing came on, however, they found that they had prematurely counted their chickens. On the application of Mr. Sewell, on Friday morning, their Honours granted to the proprietors of the Daily Times a rule nisi for a new trial of the recent libel case. The Times is threatened with another action for libel in connection with the same case by Mr. S. Hutchison, late manager and at present lessee of the Gas Works. Damages laid at £3000.

Sib George Grey. — In alluding to the escape of the Maori prisoners, and the attempts of his Excellency to make them return, the Lytbelton Times remarks : — " This is a wonderful contrast ; the meanness of Sir George Grey's attitude, the loftiness of theirs. Does he then know the Native character so well, this great Governor of aborigines, that he can neither conquer nor bribe a handful of Maories, and dares not leave them alone ? They defy his force, despise his bribes, and terrify him with the prospect of a spreading of rebellion in the farther north. The men are unarmed and unfed and among staugers, and all Sir George Grey can do is to supplicate and be rejected. Surely the Imperial Government will not bear long with so imbecile a representative. And this is not the first offence, though it is, perhaps, the most conspicuous. Were every man to answer for his own deeds, on Sir George Grey would be the responsibility for all that makes the English Parliament and people so indignant with the - colony. To him we owe the inaction tha t preceded Tataraimaka— the rashness that followed it — the stirring up of Waikato to revolt — the vacillation which has ever half neutralized the General's plans — and the obstinacy which has intruded his own sickly sentimentality to render of no effect the stern practical work which he himself proposed and commenced. If the affair of the Kawau prisoners be the means of ridding New Zealand of Sir George Grey, we may be thankful for it ; but whether or no, we trust that the course of events, which now seems to compel a meeting of the Assembly, will be read by that body in their true sense, as meaning that no representation of Imperial interests in the colony can exist, with satisfaction to both sides, in the person of a Governor who is utterly careless of the interests of either. The Superintend ency op Wellington. — The correspondent of the Southern Cross says : — The " coming man," then, is William Baldock Durant Mantell, a gentleman who has acquitted himself .with the greatest credit in all the high official positions which he has occupied in this colony. Mr. Mantell is extremely popular in this province, and I have no hesitation in saying that if he can be prevailed upon to contest the superintendency he will be returned by an overwhelming majority against Dr. Featherston or " any other man" who may come forward, It is generally understood thai Mr. Hickson will retire in favour of Mr. Mantell, and I have no doubt that in my next letter I shall be in a position to inform your readers that the Dext Superintendent of the capital of the colony will be a gentleman who has thrice been a member of the Cabinet of New Zealand, and whose independent character in political matters especially fits him to hold a high legislative position such as the one he is now called upon to fill. Colonial Defence Force Regulations — The following regulations appeared in a Gazette published on the 7th instant : — The pay of the Force will be as follows: Troop Sergeant-Major, 18s 6d per diem ; Sergeant, 12s 6d ditto ; Corporal, 10s ditto ; Troopers and Trumpeters, 7s 6d ditto. The men will be expected to bear the whole expense of subsistence for themselves and their horses, of providing and maintaining their uniform, equipments (except arms and ammunition), and horses ; and will be liable to the Mutiny Act and Articles of War, and such regulations as may from time to time be authorised by the Govern-' ment. When forage and provisions cannot otherwise be obtained, the Government will supply regulated Mititary ration of each, and the man will be placed under a stoppage, to be fixed from time to time by a Board of Officers appointed by the Government for that purpose, but until the Ist January next to be three shillings per diem. Should the men desire to purchase their horses from the Government, or to obtain advances for the purchase of horses, or saddlery, uniform, &c, they will be permitted to do so, refunding the amount by monthly instalments — which may' vary at their own option, from £2 10s. to £5 per month. When convenient, working passes and furioughs will be granted to men of good character, on their" private affairs. While so absent, if for more than three days in any one month, they will receive half-pay only. Men will not be discharged with less than three months' notice, except as an indulgence at their own request, or unless physically unfit for service or of a bad character. They will be enlisted for any period for which they may be required, not exceeding three years, and will be liable to serve, if required, in any part of New Zealand. Military Operations.— The Wanganui Chronicle says : — The Taranaki Campaign is, if at all possible, to be a bloodless one. One vessel has arrived this week with a cargo of commissariat stores, and the Alexandra, transport ship, came in yesterday with 50 horses for the Land Transport Corps, drays, and other warlike stores, under the' charge of Major Turner of the 65th. D. C. G. Strickland was a passenger by the same vessel, haying come to take charge of the Commissariat department here. Lieut.-General Sir D. A. Cameron is expected daily, It is understood that he will command in the advance from this end, and that to Colonel Warre will be entrusted the conduct of the operations from Taranaki southwards. The troops at present here (about 700 of the 57th Regiment) are to be reinforced by the 50th Regtmeht under Colonel Waddy, and it is supposed also by the 43rd, A road is to be made, but the troops are not to fight, unless attacked.