ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 104, 14 May 1853, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor ofth-t Otaso Witness. North-East Valley, 10th May, 1853. Sir, — In your publication of 30th April last you have a statement of cash subscribed and labour given in the erection of a Bridge across the Water of Leith. In giung such a statement to the public, it ought to be an accurate one, which your informant has failed to do. Messrs. J. Macandrew & Co. are down for £1 : in addition to that, that firm gave all the nnils that were required, which would amount to a goodly sum. Hans Strain is down for two days, whereas he was three ; Sinclair Harrold's name is omitted altogether ; James Hunter is down for six hours ; my name is down for six days, whereas three of them were for James Hunter and three for myself. I stated that fact to them at the time. Over all that, half a dozen or more different parties gave several bottles of brandy, Hollands, and whisky, to the workmen, which I can assure you was gratefully received. Did the person who drew up the document referred to neither see, hear, or taste of it ? The amount of cash subscribed for is stated, to be £17 12s. 6d. Now the way we used to do with all public monies in Scotland was, after giving the amount recehed, to shew how it had been expended — something like the following form . — Disbursements.

Balance in Treasurer's hands not 1 £jj q yet received J That; I think, would have been satisfactory to the subscribers. To Mr. Calder all praise is due for his untiring attendance while the bridge was being erected ; but who the other individual is that co-operated with him I and many others are at a loss to know. Pray, Mr. Editor, could you give us the debircd for information ? The £G0 expended on the North-East Valley road Inst year is taken notice of in no measured terms. Now the case stands thus : had there been no improvement made on the road on both sides of the Water of Leith, there would have been no need for such a bridge ; because the old road, as it was,

hy this time would have been impassable for horses, drays, carts, &c. Again, at the upper end of the Valley, all passage between Dunedin and the Port would have been at an end, but for money laid out on that part of the road.

For the truth of what I have now stated, I refer you to Mr. Smith, who contracted for the upper end. of the Valley, and Mr. Strain, who did that part on both sides of the Water of Leith.— l am, &c, John Ghaham.

Mr. MacPunchie,— lt is the privilege of your race to notice remarkable characters, and bring their performances into the light of day. Your great prototype in London, for instance, has thrown a flood of light upon the feats of the one man and boy at Hungerford Bridge ; upon the eccentricities of a Brougham or a Sir Peter Lawrie, and others, which would otherwise have been lost to thp world; to say nothing of his graphic history of the Caudle family, and the racy humours of his correspondents. Now, Sir, I somewhat wonder at your habitual silence. Is it because there is nothing of the kind to be noted in our Antipodean community ? or that growing corn and tending live stock has deprived us of the faculty of laughing, and so benumbed our minds that there is no one either to address you or enjoy your lucubrations ? I cannot believe it so. Our elder brother, Jonathan, has not lost the humours and laughing propensities of our common ancestry, and why should we ? Jonathan has held up his Sam Slicks, for instance, and his drawers of long bows, in all their varied faculties oiface and cant, from the man of slaves with sheer brass, and no mistake, to the man of no slaves with a mask on his face and redolent of cant. And all this, no doubt, to the good of the parties and the public.

I have heard, by the bye, that Yankee cant has a peculiar drawl about it,— a sort of nasal performance, of great value to a Yankee Punch. Of this however I have merely heard, and must therefore leave its yea or nay to the decision of your better learning in such matters. But, dear MacPunchie, what would you say to a new form of speech (irrespective of the nasal accompaniment), — a form which combines and concentrates the two Yankee elements into one focus, and leaves Brother Jonathan in the wake, as a stage coach to a railroad.

Take the following instance for your Otago crucible—the parties being a man-milliner and the buyer of his gown pieces.

Ist Buyer (looking at a gown piece). —ln this pattern fashionable ?

Vendor.— Fashionable ? It came by the last mail. Only three were struck off— one went to the Queen, one to the Duchess of Buccleugh, and that is the third. You may have it all in my hand-.vriting. Looker-on. — Bosh ! Ist Buyer.— Humph ! [and exit. 2nd Buyer (looking at tko same pice).— •Will these colours stand ?

Vendor. — Stand ? Three summers' suns has it hung in that window, ami look at it. Not a vestige of change : a m.>n of my profession never deceives. Looker-on. — Bosh !

John Black, days, at per day A-lexr. Smith, do. do David Taylor, do. do Hans Strain, do. do Tames Gebbie, do. do John Graham, 5 days, at 4s. per day. . £ s. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 0