OTAGO

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1165, 28 June 1870, Page 3

OTAGO

nPBO2_ A CORRESPONDENT.] Duhedin, June 18. Singe my last, the weather here has been wretched. Until yesterday, we had no fine weather, but. a continual downpour of rain, sleet, and snow, with strong winds. As a natural consequence, mud predominates over everything else in the streets of Dunedin, except loafers and unemployed, much to the disgust of those who have to plod through them. I think that such mud cannot =be ' found elsewhere, for ifc sticks to you like glue. Some of our back streets are in a condition that may be termed boggy. The general public seem to think that the prisoners here might find plenty of employment: in keeping our streets clean and passable, instead of doing work, which 'ought fco be done by contract. Certainly they ought nofc to be doing skilled labor at the ( present time, when so many are oufc of employment. Business here is still in the same depressed state ;' work is getting rare and wages are getting low. There is one thing to be said, provisions are cheap ; you may buy half a sheep for eighteenpence afc the meat market- on - Wednesdays and Saturdays; beef can ; also be : bought; at alow rate. We expect, at an. early date, an increase to oiir population, for the ship E. P. Bouverie was to leave Glasgow the first week in May, with 200 emigrants from this porfc. What they wiil get to do on arrival it is hard to say, for things get worse here day by day. '■' I believe the same number are expected to arrive monthly for some time. Mr. W. H. Reynolds and Mr. John Grifiin are candidates for the mayoralty. Mr. Reynolds' addressed a number of the ratepayers iii the Princess's Theatre the other day. '• Mri Griffin will meet the ratepayers at an early date. The members of the City Council are not a little aggrieved at Mr. Reynolds having come forward. We were agreeably surprised on Monday, the 13th, to find that the p.s. Claud Hamilton had arrived with the Suez mail, it being a week in advance of its anticipated arrival. We appear to be unfortunate with our portion of the English mail via San Francisco, for last month we did riot get it till the 23rd. This time we should have had it on "the 16th, had'not the s.s. Lord Ashley broke down ten miles outside Lyttelton Heads. We are not yet in possession of it. The mail has been transferred to the s.s. Maori, but she has td call at Akaroa and Timaru, and is not expected to arrive in -Dunedin until to-night, consequently we -shall not get our letters till Monday morning. With all its faults I think people in this province expect too much from' the new mail service, for they expect the boats to arrive at their due date, and do not make any allowance for the J service being , a new one, and not yet properly organized. The service has cropped up again in .the Provincial Council, and a resolution has been carried to the effect thafc the service as at present constituted confers no benefit to the Province of Otago. His Honor the Superintendent ia to bring ;. the same under the notice of the General < Government. A fasting girl is reported to be living in this province. The West Taieri correspondent of the Bruce Standard states that in the Maungatau district a young woman, the daughter of a Mr. Ross, a farmer, has been bedridden for eighteen weeks. For the last three weeks she has been, and is still in a trance. She has nofc taken one pound of solid meat since the new year, and has not spoken for weeks. The Provincial Council was prorogued on Monday last, the 13th. June 21. Another gentleman, in the person of Mr. T. M. Wilkinson, has come forward as a . candidate for the mayoralty. This mail, Mr. Auld, the home agent for this province, has forwarded the names of 55 applicants for Professorships of classics, and 49 for mathematics, in the Otago University • their testimonials are to be forwarded by .the next; mail. In addition to these, there are also six candidates for each chair from the Australian colonies and !New Zealand provinces. The guarantee of a million loan by the Imperial Government has given general satisfaction here, and the action of the Home Government in the matter is favorably criticised by the papers. The Evening Star concludes its leader on the affair with the following words : — " We do not know whether the loan is to be of geueral or particular application. It may be specially designed for the Northern Island, to be employed in opening up the country, and in giving so decided a majority to the European population, as to set the question of superiority at rest for ever. If so, care must be taken to compel the north to bear full charge of' interest. If, on the other hand, it is for general distribution among the provinces, Otago, as the largest contributor to the revenue, is entitled to the largest share. Let our members see to it." Spiritualism is exciting a great deal of the public curiosity in Dunedin. Soon after the arrival of the English mail, one spiritualistic enthusiast sent a letter to the Evening Sta?', stating that he had received a spirit communication, stating that the Matoaka was wrecked, and that the survivors were at the Auckland Islands. It is a strange thing that none of the spirits thought of the matter until the Admiralty bad ordered Commodore Lambert to proceed and search the Auckland Islands. With respect to the fires reported to have been seen by the Ann Duthie on these islands, on- the .th January, they seem to be accounted for by the following fact : — The schooner Oneti arrived at Port Chalmers on the 3rd March, from the Auckland Islands, having been there on a whaling and scaling cruise for three months. Sh. left tbe group on the 23rd February. During the time that Capt. Beatson was visiting tbe various. places where stores had been left for the' castaways — this he did in consequence of having . discovered certain human and other remains — the captain stated that he felt certain that there was not a living person on the islands at the time he left. Tha 'fires which the captain of the Ann Duthie .reports to have seen were likely to have been caused by the crew of the Oneti. It will be remembered that the Matoaka sailed from Lyttelton in May, ']. y 1869. :-. T'lie ship -Duhfillan arrived from Glasgow on the 13th inst.; She. is a fine vessel, and ; belongs to> P. Henderson and Co.'s 77 ■; line. ; She -brought 31; passengers for this h vVport." --../";•...'"'