The Man about Town.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1829, 24 July 1891, Page 2

The Man about Town.

Punedin, July 21. It is so long since we " foregathered " that I find it somewhat difficult to take up the slackened thread. The enthusiasm which greeted Madame Patey'a short season here seemed to have left us poor in sentiment and in pocket, for the unfortunate drain -itic company, who attempted to entertain -us over the dullne>s of the winter have been forced to close their season abruptly. The fact is the moneyed class in Dunedin is but a limited one nowadays, and of those composing it so many are interested in the eternal tableaux vivauts, comediettsa, concerts, etc., which are got up in aid of the various impecunious An.lican Churches that they have not much money to spare for the legitimate drama. We hear a great deal of the unemployed and the destitute but, m mixing amongst the laboring class one is forced to the conclusion that half at least of their straitened circumstance.- are due to drink—nothing else. If the Womeu's Franchise, which we all discuss, ad nauseam, will only effect shutting op hotels, and the doing away with bottle licenses, it is worth trying for. I cannot say the speeches at the the meeting on Woman's Franchise were very brilliant, one was notably silly—reprehensibly so—for the <|notion is such a serious one that it would be well for women, in the meantime, to try and-get a clearer idea of the immense responsibilities they are so anxious to take upon themselves, instead of flooding the newspapers with very second rate attempts at wit. A general feeling of thankfulness and relief is felt at the contiguous and geutle rains, unaccompanied by any wind, which we have experienced for the last week. Many people at Roslyn and Mornington have been buying water for some time past, and the scarcity of water was seriously affecting the graziers, milkmen, etc., as the feed was almost as meagre as in the heat and drought of summer. A morbidly sensational case, which promises to rival even the Hall-Came episode, is reported from Timaru. Mr Beetham, your old and respected warden, is the person appointed, as usual, to conduct the inquiry. Dr Ogston and Professor Black, from here, will attend as experts to conduct the post mortem and analysis of the contents of the stomach of the deceased. It is extraordinary what a number of royal commissions, government enquiries and functions of a like nature Mr Beetham has assisted at or conducted. After the preliminary proceedings as to identification of the body, the inquiry will probably be adjourned for a fortnight for the post mortem examination. The Art Gallery, attached to the Museum, in Great King Street is rapidly paining in interest as its walls become more thickly covered with pictures. Of recent additions the two large water-colors, i>resented with great generosity by Mr Cousins, who spent a long time in your district last autumn, are to my mind, the most valuable. One, "In late autumn," is a very beautiful picture and. in color and treatment, leaves nothing to be desired. The eijjht pictures, presented by the Hon. R. Oliver, are a great, addition, numerically, but several of them will never he popular pictures, or erlu r ate the masses to a higher ideal—which I take it is the object of all Picture Galleries. It is pleasant to rind how much the working classes appreciate the opportunity of enjoying something above and beyond the level margin of their dailv toil. You c*n larely to into the Art G tilery without rinding a little tiroup, or two or three couples of the "toilers for daily bread " admiring, criticising—educating themselves.

The improvements and alterations to the Octagon are beiii£ steadily carried on, and will help to take away the reproach so long levelled at Dunedin for its lack of ornamentation in the '* waste places." If you have not yet seen Bellamy's latest work, " An experiment in maniage," e.et it and read it as one of the most curious productions of a curious century, and for "advancement"*as Americanssay, it "Out Herod's Herod."