DUNEDIN NOTES.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2643, 21 January 1908, Page 4

DUNEDIN NOTES.

FROM CUB OWE" CORRESPOND*** The long spell of dry weather broke last Thursday and with the rain came cold. We have had an exceptionally fine summer and few if any need complain of the holiday season for 190703. The city tramways did a large business but large as it was it is by no means is sufficient to put the service on a paying basis. Dunedin is unfortunately situated from the point of view of a civic tramway service. The great majority, probably, of the citizens live in the hills and therefore do not require to use the city cars ; they are served by private companies of which there are three. The result is that the electric iystem barely pays its way—in fact will not when all the charges that ought to be made are made against it. Undeterred, or, possibly, not knowing this fact one of the Councillors moved last week that the fares from the Post Office to St. Clair and vice vevsa be 2d instead of 3d. His motion was referred to the manager to report, but I am afraid it is doomed. And yet the case of the resident in this delightful seaside suburb is hard. Prior to the coming of the electric cars thiy could for £5 a year, i.e., two shillings a week, get a season ticket that was good for any hour of the day, as many times as the owner liked. Filled with the promised wonders of the new service under municipal ownership the residents voted for amalgamation with the city. Alas ! some of them to-day say, with a melancholy shake of the head, " voted ourselves into a hole." They have now to pay 3d a ride each way. To the family whose members are earning a pound or thirty shilling a week, or less, in town, 6d each a day for one return ride is a big tax besides the fact of having to carry lunch. Spite of this I am under the impression the St. Clair people will not get what they want. There is said to be a dearth of boy and girl labor in Dunedin. Boys for offices, stores and factories are not to be got; girls for domestic service, as every one knows, are not to be had for love or money. Where, then, do they get to ? You can see plenty at a circus or football match, but when you get them in an office they are too often more bother than they are worth. One would like to think that this is a sign of good times and plenty of work at good pay, but I am afraid this is a fanciful Bide of the story. The real one we don't hear so much about. The Primitive Methodists have* been holding their annual conference here.

I am afraid that beyond those immediately concerned there was very little interest taken therein. The Press was liberal in its allotment of space, but whether the general public reciprocated their liberality I would not care to affirm. There was an attempt to liven the proceedings over the question of Union. One of the delegates a layman had offended his brethern in the remarks he had made and the chairman, or president, had offended them still more by fl PP'y' n g ie " closure." The brethern therefore rose in their indignation and pleaded to be allowed to have their say. That was their chief concern; not that they had much fault to find with the unkind layman though, naturally, they were grieved, but that they were "closured"! This was the unkindest cut. However, the president gave way, permitted the brethern to relieve themselves and then everybody smiled and all ended happily. There is nothing like free speech and plenty of it.

The Mayor of Dunedin was quite within his rights in declining officially" to receive Mr Keir Hardie only where he made a mistake was in declining to receive him because Mr Hardie had been reported to have said something that he, the Mayor, did not approve. This was wrong. A former mayor may as well have refused to welcome a certain famous singer because there had been whispers of scandal around her name. Mr Louden in declining to welcome Mr Hardie endorsed the misrepresentations of which Mr Hardie was the victim and which the 'Otago Daily Times' with characteristic persistency kept on repeating, and in addition he offended the Trades and Labor people. As he is not running for office this year he may be independent of the latter, but he would have done a wiser thing had he followed the lead of Mr Hislop of Wellington. Personally Mr Hardie does not care two straws for these receptions and as far as I am concerned I regard them as unmitigated humbug. But if they must be done its a wise plan not to distinguish. Mr P. B. Fraser is having a tilt with the ' Otago Daily Times' over Mr Isac's report on the Art School and, like others, he has given it best. When an editor won't lei your btter go in without a leading article along with it the-correspondent knows—even though he doesn't like it—that he has scored. And Mr Fraser scored to that extent. Still it grew monotonous and he, wisely, dropped it. The 1 Otago Daily Times' followed a similar course when Councillor Small was exposing its fallacies over the Noyes Bros, settlement—article for latter popped up with delightful regularity. In that case, however, it didn't make much difference. We all know that Cr Small knew the facts and that the 'Otago Daily Times' didn't, and it was not without amusement that we watched the opening roar tone off into a gentle purr. But though Cr Small was much heavier metal than Mr Fraser, the Education Board oracle did very well. Only I don't agree with him. There is no use going for Mr Isaac or worrying over whether he is a Congregationalist or a Presbyterian. The point is: has he told the truth about the school of art 1 I think—well, I wont say what I think. The accidental shooting by herself of a young girl at St. Clair causes one " furiously to think." I was not satisfied with the evidence brought out at the inquest. Only the obvious distress of the parents prevented criticism. Why do people, even military people, keep loaded revolvers or any fire arms at all in their houses?—this is not America—why are they kept where girls of 15 can get at them ? Why do girls of 15 get at them ? Why should girls of 15— or any age—want to play with them 1 The facts of this case show surprising carelessness on the part of some one, either that or there was some evidence heard that was not reported.