EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26917, 1 November 1948, Page 4

EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

FROM THE FILES OF THE Otago Bail? Utirtes DUNEDIN, NOVEMBER 1, 1863 . " The- determination of the Govern - . ’meht to erect toll gates on the main lines of road appears to have already created a feeling of opposition. The inhabitants of Caversham intend holding a meeting next week to take into ' consideration the proposed construction of a toll gate near Cargill's Hill. ; ‘ We are exceedingly glad to be able , to state that in spite of the repeated failures which have attended the ‘efforts to form a Choral Society in Dunedin. There is reason to hope for success at last. An association is in “ .course of formation under the auspices df several influential persons, and from ‘the amount of support already accorded, and the assistance promised, this last attempt to form a musical society is likely to be very successful. We may state that the society is to be under the conductorship of Mr W. Haydn Flood, a" musician of considerable attainments, who has recently arrived in Dunedin, and that the aid df several accomplished amateurs has been enlisted in the cause. A correspondent at Oamaru furnishes lis with : the ■ following in- ‘ t'eresting particulars concerning, the - discovery of the skeleton of a moa in *'that, locality:—“While. some workmen ’veere employed the other day in ex---'’e'avating the foundations of a building ■;-in the town, they suddenly came upon Sjrhat they thought to be a skeleton l 'bf a gigantic man but, upon closer it was found to be that " v bf a moa of more than ordinary size in a very perfect state. The head, i'-’iehich is truly wonderful in its construdtion, is in a remarkable state of preservation. The eye sockets are '.quite perfect,, and one would fancy at ' first sight from the way in which the • bones round where the eyes were are .formed, that the bird actually wore spectacles. The skeleton throughout is “very wonderful. The height, as near “ hs I could measure, is about six feet ‘.'four or six inches when the skeleton ,is standing erect. A gentleman from Dunedin who was in this - town, ’ and saw the skeleton, remarked. that it must be that of the flamingo. We know of the flamingo being found in Africa and South America, but never in Oamaru. I am v therefore not in- . .-dined to agree with, "that-gentleman. -,The foregoing' is perfectly correct.”