OTAGO.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1140, 1 April 1870, Page 3

OTAGO.

-Uti^'f : "?YfH '*':: Dunedin, March 25. Business here is very dull at present, and insolvency, .is in the ascendant ; several large flrma have gone lately, and others are reported shaky. ., , "The" railway to Port Chalmers has not yet been commenced, although the contract was signed early in January and operations were to have been began in six weeks from the date of the contract being signed. The general opinion is that the Government have been too hasty in the matter, and that the agreement is an exceedingly unsatisfactory, one, except to the contractors* There have been great complaints here lately, with respect to the conduct of the Home emigration agent, who is accused of acting unfairly towards the. province. It is reported that instructions have been forwarded Home ordering 200 emigrants per month to be. despatched to: this province till farther, orders (providing that none are | to arrive here during the winter months of May, June, and July). Germans, Swedes, &c, if a suitable class, are to be encouraged to emigrate here. . , , . The Daily Times strongly and unfavourably criticises ; the -■ actions of the Fox Ministry; in relation to native affairs, in a leader on the 22nd, and again in another of the •2R|sd«i-v. ; -Tbe :^eneral opinionin Otago is that the war is kept up in the North Island for the sake of the expenditure it creates.;-;- •-•: ;o,- -».* ■■■■-' : '- . Mr. W. Y. Henningham, journalist, (lately, bankrupt) has had the issue of his certificate suspended for two years. His Honor Mr. Justice Ward, at the sitting of the Court in bankruptcy, regretted to say that, by his conduct^ Mr. Henningham had rendered himself liable to a criminal prosecution, and he would have to consider whether one should be made against him. There are a great many improvements going on at this time in and about Dunedin. The Post Office has at last been removed from the: crazy shedifice that it has occupied for, several years, and is now at the Provincial Government buildings. The large and costly building, built purposely for a Post Office, is. to be. converted into a University Hall. The Council of the University, of Otago, are advertising for Professors to ' the two following mentioned chairs: 1. Classics, to include Greek, Latin, the English language, and Literature : 2. Mathematics and National Philosophy. The salary of each professor to be £600 per annum, with class, fees. The - manufacture of flax is receiving great attention here, and flax mills are springing up in all parts of the province. Machinery, cannot be made fast enough here to supply the demand. The Volunteers have fired, down here, and the men to represent this province at the Colonial Prize Firing have been chosen. The province is divided into three districts, and each district sends three competitors. Volunteering here is merging into nothing more than a Shooting Club. Plenty of the volunteers almost live at the butts. Volunteering here is a very different affair to what it is ; in Hawke's Bay ; here they are armed, with a superior class of rifle, and the volunteers will ■ hot wear the cumbersome belts of thenorthern volunteers and militia, but instead. of the ugly cross-belt, wear one hanging Joose. over the shoulder ; they are made of light leather polished, and are paid for by the volunteers themselves. I would strongly advise the Hawke's Bay Militia and Volunteers to get up class firing, that is, if they wish to be good shots, for the Otago Volunteers practice as much at the shorter ranges, with smaller targets, as they do at; the larger, ranges. They must also practice well. Doubtless if they had more advantages, and less obstruction put in their way, they would make better shooting than they do. The- new mail line, via San Francisco, is not considered in a favourable light, and doubts, are expressed as to whether the United States authorities will give our mails that attention which is expected of them. The Napier correspondent of the Daily Times is evidently wrong in many of his statements relating to native affairs.