SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 157, 17 May 1862, Page 4

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC.

Since the publication of our last Summary for | England on the Bth April, we have to note a very considerable advance in the development of a settled society in,Otago. Every weak, almost, shows a perceptible improvement in all that goes to constitute the progress and well-being of a new country. The formation of .roads, ths erection of buildings, the provision of public accommodation for the "wants of a regular society, the improvement in public amusements, the formation of private associations for entertainment and in- j struction, are all cheering indications as showing that the new arrivals arc really settling clown, and making the Province their home. As might be expectcM; it is in the City of Dunedin and its environs that these indications are more particularly observable, and there they are truly remarkable. iTo those who are familiar with the vise and progressof cities under the stimulus of a large and , suddenly created trade, such as follows on the discovery of gold, and the consequent influx '. of a large population .; —to those who have ■ watched the growth of sucli cities as ' San ; Francisco or Melbourne, —the rapid ' growth of Dunedin will doubtless appear nothing ( remarkable or surprising, but to those who have had uo opportunities of drawing comparisons it must appear little short of marvellous. Dunedin, a-few short months ago, was a quiet : little I town, witli hardly a building of any degree of . pretence to architectural beauty; with streets up '. and down, following the natural contour of a , most irreeularly broken country, and with the ' wild flax growing over them; with mere huts of ' fern; or wattle and plaster, in its' very '- centre; without any public amusements/; j with hardly an hotel worthy of the name ; without everything except what was absolutely ' necessary for its small and orderly population ; j i with a little wooden building for a gaol, and with- > out any properly organised police. Such was : Dunedin in the "old days" of a few.months ■ back. But now, on every side we see life and ; bustle ; buildings going up everywhere, many of ■ them of considerable size, and in every material —wood, brick, and stone; streets being '- formed and metalled ; cavities being filled, ' and hills cut dpwn ; new jetties being run out into the Bay; capitul hotels being ope led ' one after another, and . all doing a good trade ; ' spacious stores well filled with valuable gools; • theatrical entertainments, concerts, and we may i add casinos, all in full swing, a new theatre just ■ being commenced, commodious private houses covering the' hills around^all these .are the evif dencos of progress which strike the casual observer. So much -work going on in every di--1 rection, has of course the effect of making a certain ' degreeof contusion, aud of keeping the streets in ! a dirty anil chaotic state, but gradually order is bping evoked put of this chaos, and as building " after building becomes completed, tte rubbish is ' cleared away and the street properly marie in » front of it. As with the material affairs of the • town, so it is with the social; the amenities of : society are gradually but. surely making their . way, and there is good reason to expect that ere long Dunedin will be as pleasant a city to live in, as any of the colonial capitals. The principal events of the' past month have ' been the session of the Provincial Council and of the Supreme Court. The first has .already been ! alluded to, but the second may demand a few lines in this place. There were fortj-one e.ises 1 for trial atthis session, and the calendar exhibited an Unusual number of heavy crimes, such as s burglaries,- forgeries, &0., but, as was well pointed i out by tlic Judge in his charge, the proportion of . crime was small to what might have been expected. Aud here we may be allowed to remark, that, the orderly character of the mining population as a body is one of the most noticeable features in connection with the. gold fields rushes. Among the. prisoners for trial were the notorious Garrett, and Brutton, the bank clerk, who absconded and was arrested in England in November last. Garrett was arraigned on three several charges, and having beeu convicted on one, pleaded guilty to the second. The third was not pressed. He was sentenced to eight years hard labor. Brutton was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment with hard labor, to date from the day of his arrest at -Southampton. The other cases present no features of special interest. . We reproduce elsewhere the estimates. of revenue and appropriation of expenditure for the current half year, by which it will be seen -that, the Provincial Legislature is fnlly alive to. the necessity of making the public works keep pace with'the progress of the Proviuce in other respects. ■ ■ '. There have been several rather important sales of land during the month, and the prices realized have,: oil the whole, b^en riot unsatisfactory.— Among other parcels; we may especially mention a block of. land in the ; Hillend district, sit no great distance from: the gold fields, which was pitt. up for sale with the view of- enabling miners to acquire homesteads. The sale took place,'but, oiving to a misunderstanding of the laud regulations at present in forcp, which require intending purchasers to make application before-

haad, the number of miners_ who were able to bid whs ve;-y liiuitecO I ".' ■ ~" / .... •.-..': Among the•- positive*' mntcvial i'nprbvoir.ents whiclvjmrbevng made;oae. of-tho mo*timportant is* the erection of ;t liiu: of electric telegraph'-f-inn Duiiedin to . Port Clialm-re.' This has lung been a sorions want The next, thing will be t>> net a railway froiii the city to :he port. This ha.- lor some time been in i-'ontL-mplation, but as yet,the schemes have riot'assumed a definite shapo. We> have already alluded, in a cursory manner, to tho new jottie's.* •.-These . are being run out into Hio bay in icoutimmtion of streets, the object being to connect them, and eventually to reclaim tho portion of-the bay thus enclosed. . Among the fresh public buildings decided on, maybe mentioned-new Provincial Council buildings and Government .offices, a new hospital, gaol, lunatic asylum, and high-school, besides the lieodful buildings ioi-" the several offices on the gold fields and in the country, and for the police throughout the Province.- -,- In addition to these, which are Government buildings, must be mentioned the new churches either in progress, or about to be commenced for the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Wesleyau bodies, the first two of "which will be very handsome stone buildings. A Benevolent Asylum has also been projected and is likely to be shortly commenced. ; The subject of the navigation of the various rivers of the Proviuco has lately been engaging " attention, and it is reported that more than one party meditates putting flat-bottomed steamers upon them for the conveyance of goods aud passengers. A matter of considerable Provincial importance has been, tlia meeting of the arbitrators for the apportionment of the public debt of Otago between the present Province of Otago and its lately separated offshoot, Southland, A large amount of evidenoe has been taken, but no decision will be given until Some excitement was occasioned on the 7th April, by the discovery, at Blueskin Bay, near Port Chalmers, of the body of a man in such a state as to lead to the suspicion that lie had been murdered. An . inquest was held, and a man who had beeu in th» company of the deceased on the night of his death was arrested; but, after a lengthened investigation, ha -was discharged. The case is a remarkable one. Tho deceased and his two mates, who were Irishmen, ■ were drinking with the suspected man ou the night .in question, and the whole party started to cross the bay in a boat. In the darkness the boat-grounded, and the deceased aud the prisoner sot out to wade to shore, the other two reniaiuiug in the boat. Theds-~ ceased was heard to cry for help, and the other man returned to the boat, but again went off to assist him, and neither returned again. In the • morning the body of one of them was' found on the bank. . The name of tha deceased was John Cross, and he had lately ciime from Victoria. A 'fatal accident occurred oil the 9th at the East Taieri, a man named Moore being killed by falling fiom his drayj" This'mau is also understood to have beeu a Victorian. > , ' We have-made frequent allusion, to the Clutha coal field. A quantity of coal from this locality was lately forwardoii to Dunedin, and tested on board the steamtng Samson. The trial was in every wny satisfactory, •and we .understand that the lessees have received several applications from parties willing to contract to purchase coals regularly for the supply of the steamers in this port. We may mention, also, while oh the subject" of fuel, that the liunite on the gold fields is now gettiug into very general use. The annual licensing meeting was held at the Court House, Dunedin, on the 16th April, when a large number of new licenses, for the many recently 'erected hotels,- were granted. In only two or three instances were objections raised by the Inspector, a fact which speaks well for the general character of the applicants,, and the style of their houses. Most of these new houses, indeed almost all, are built.of wood, but many of them possess excellent accommodation. A singular case of attempted homicide by a lunatic occurred on the 16th" April, at I'orbury, near Dimediu. A very old man, a gardener, named George Knotf, lately arrived in the Province, shot twice at one man and tln-enteiied another with a knife. ■ He was secured and brought into town as a lunatic An event whicheast a a degree of gloom over the old society of Dunediu, occurred on the 16th April, in the decease of Mrs.' Stuart, the wife of the Minister ! of Knox Church. Oil the morning of the 19th April, about three o'clock, a fire broke out oil the premises ot Messrs, Fisher and Green, in Princes-street; but, for.tunately, by the prompt and intelligent exertions of the police, it was extinguished before any extensive damage had besn done. The Taieri lUyer has been established as a port of entry. -" . Onthe2lsfApril, Easter Monday, a demonstrationin favor of the eight hour movement, was cot up and celebrated by a dinner at the Provincial Hotel, to which 150 persons sat down. .-.--■ ■ The sudden death of an old and well-known Victorian, occurred lately at Tuapeka. We allude to Dr. L. M. Quinlan, some time coroner at Dunolly, who died suddenly of disease of the heart. An Inquest was held on the body by Major Croker. The Dunedin Garrick Club gave a highly successful entertainment at the theatre on the 25th April. It^was their first appearance in public ; nevertheless they had the courage to attempt Bulwcr's play of "Money," and they succeeded admirably. The play was for the benefit "of the funds of the projected Benovelent Asylum. The gross receipts were about £100, nudtlie surplus; after paying all expenses, was nearly £70. . At an early hour on Friday morning, April 25th, the Alilinga arrived at Port Chalmers, bringing the newsi)y the English February mail, "although hot the mail itself, that having been despatched from Melbourne by the Omeo, which vessel did not arrive until April 27.' '-,-■. It had been arranged that on the arrival of the AUlinga, a testimonial and a purse of 150 sovereigns should bs presented to Captain M'Lean as a recognition of the services rendered by him to the province by Ihe extraordinary series of rapid passages he has made, and by the manner-in which he has endeavored to accommodate tho postal department. The entertainment took place on Saturday evening, April 26th, and everything passed off in the most satisfactory manner. '.'.■' ''■' The Dunedin Musical Association, a new but p-.-omising society, is announced to give its first public entertainment on the Queen's Birtli-day. The want of a proper light-hou-e at Otago Heads has long l>een felt as a serious evil, but t .is want is now at length likely to be supplied, the Provincial Council having on the sth instant, voted the sum of £6000.f0r the purpose. On ths Oth instant, a most important public movement was instituted, by the hofding of a mon--. . ster meeting, to take into consideration the advisability of the separation of the Middle Island of New Zealand, and its erection into a separate colony. Thii subject' will be found noticed more at ipngth elsewhere. The possibility o! this Province being shortly visited by the 'Governor, Sir George Grey, has excited considerable interest, and it is.likely that he will: be met with a most enthusiastic welcome. He is expected to arrive very soon, as ho will have to be back to Wellington to open the General Assembly in June, An attempt is being made to put. down the sale of "sly grog" on the gold fields. One day last week there were no less than forty informations lodged at Tuapeka, and in twenty of these cases suinmo^es were issued. : The Volunteer movement has not prospered so well ai might have been desired, owing to the absorbing nature of busiuess pursuits in such a society as that of Dunedin; nevertheless, the corps is slowly, but surely improving, and we are pleased to note that Major Richardson, the Superintendent of the Province, has been appointed Commanding Officer, and has received his commission as Major of Volunteers. It is to be expected that this appointment will tend' greatly to promote the efficiency of the corps. A shocking suicide occurred on the 44th instant, at the Caversham road, near Duiiedin. A storekeeper, named Win. Robt. Cheeseraau, was found suspended from the rafters of his own store,- and in such a position ns left no room to doubt that he had hung himself. It '.appears that he had been lately suffering from the effects of intemperance. On the night of the Oth instant, the town wm alarmed by the sound.of the fire bell, but it was discovered that the fire was at a private house about three miles away. Hitherto Dunedin has enjoyed a singular immunity from the ravages of fire, but it is" to be feared, from the construction of many of the buildings, that there must one day be a great and destructive fire. Meanwhile, all the efforts of those ;who see and know the danger to organize an efficient fire brigade, have proved abortive.