Passing Notes.

Otago Witness, Issue 1242, 18 September 1875, Page 13

Passing Notes.

The resignation of County Court Judge Dunn in Victoria puts an end to a very awkward controversy. Mr Dunn was incapable on the Bench. He had mixed his water rather too strong, and then made the mistake of getting found out. They eased him off the Bench by degrees. First he said it was only chloral, and he claimed that a person of the degree of a County Court Judge might get drunk on chloral if he liked ; but this was no answer to the charge of being found out, and the still graver offence of having no friends in the Government, so it was insisted that there was some brandy in the glass. The Commission appointed to enquire into the matter did not make any recommendation, but Mr Dunn thought it best to resign. In future, it is to be hoped that he will take hia ohloial after hours.

The way they propose to "conserve" the forests in Taranaki is by letting people cut them down at Is per acret This is much like my grandmother's mode of saving the lives of sick puppies which we children had Btarved and sat upon, or made jump off the nursery table — the good old lady used to drown them. The fact is that every law of this sort in this Colony is really made by interested parties. They frame it and bring it forward, and the Bill is so inartistically drawn that every attempt to amend it only makes it more favourable to those interested. It is only in this South-. NT end of the Colony that we have a Government strong enough to take the bull by the horns and override laws which, when put to the test, are found not to be hinding. If an American asked, " What land laws have you in your country ?" what could a-^ew Zealander do but blush, and say he did not know. Yet his answer would only be the same that every, judge who had tested them would have to give.

There was a brave affair in' our streets the other night. A party of, youths led by an admired chief who rejoices in the soubriquet of " Gravellotte," owing to his imagining that he commanded the Prussian army at that battle, were strolling along in a fightable mood when they met a similar crowd of smaller or younger boys in the "Cutting." Gravellolte requested their best man to step forward, and next moment he was examining the geology of some paving stones in the bottom of the gutter. The affair then became more general, and ended by the whole party reassembling in No: 4at a wellknown hotel. They then recounted their adventure to each other, when it turned out that each wa.3 certain that the man who had knocked him down was the biggest man he ever saw. One of the party brought away a piece of flesh which his ring tore off his antagonist's face, but unfortunately he lost it before he got to the haven of refuge. My friend Snooks, of the Circumlocution Office, took mental notes of the whole conversation, from which he concluded that only one of the enemy had come out, and the others never struck a blow. This one had knocked down Gravelotte and his friends, and Brown, who was on the other side of the road, told me privately— in strict confidence— that it was a very small war.

I was very much shocked at discovering the news of a compromise to be a hoax ; old Sir George still keeps the door through which the Bill must pass. In spite of the excitement, we really hear very little of the real movements at our distant, capital. Indeed, I am compelled to seek information on the subject in the dark corners of our local Press. I wonder whether this means anything :—": — " An interesting paper on ' The Habits of the Trap-door Spider' will be read before the Otago institute this, evening." Still, I have not lost all hopie of seeing the missing ship, by no means. Ships have come in af cer being considerably longer out, and even when the longest period is passed, the good ship Strathmore may still claim a little indulgence. We know that she was verylate in crossing the Line. What if she got later and later, until she had some bad luck and lost her masts on this side of the Cape. She would not go back, unless she were near the Cape, for though ships may go with the wind with very little sail they do not try and beat up against it, unless they are properly sparred. All this is very speculative, and 150 days, or thereabouts, is a long time ; but ships are hard to sink, and Otago ships wear charmed lives. So I still hope for the Strathmore.

Mr Edward Moss, of Auckland, and Mr Power, cf the same place, are to be congratulated. To pass an examination is a thing very comforting, and most gratifying, and to fail at one is a thing calculated to make one feel how inscrutable are the ways of Providence, and of examiners. These two gentlemen have had the advantage of taking both views of things. They were condemned- as .plucked, and of course could not account ■for it ; men who are plucked never can ; at first ; then, I suppose, they be«an to '"account for it with an " if," after the manner of the plucked, and at last the whole truth burst upon them, and they knew exactly how it was. They were pitied by their friends with that sincerity whichalways characterises pitying friends. They were encouraged by their elders'; they -pretended not to mind, and were sneered at by their neighbours. Suddenly all this was changed ; the thing was a mistake ; the drowned men were pulled out of the pond, held head downwards

and put before the fire to dry, and behold them now, stiff, ironed out 4 wondering how they could ever have believed the news of their defeat Men again .'

The unpleasant impression produced six months ago by an unusually heavy ca/endar— including three or four cases of homicide— may be, to a certain extent, removed by the contemplation of the small list to come before our new judge. Of course it may be materially increased before the sessions commence ; but this is not likely^ as we are approaching the month of October now, and only eight cases— and those not serious — for trial in Dunedin. The conclusion is eminently satisfactory. Whatever may be the result of the immigration in the long run, it has not yet materially changed the character of our population. < 'tago may still claim to be as orderly and respectable a community as exists anywhere. The few cases of serious crime are isolated, lv truth, we oan scarcely be said to have a criminal class in the Province.

« £ irrepressible Councillor Isaac, or "Bob, as he is familiarly called, hns again assumed the rok oi leader of the Opposition. The other night he was in great form, and spoke, upon seme trivial question, from about 30 until half-past 2 next morning, allowing his fellow-council-lors to say a few words now and then to vary the entertainment. One member— a juvenile— was made a mark for Bob's choicest oratory, and wag lectured by the half-hour together on the impropriety of against his older colleagues." The youthful colleague was, however, somewhat stubborn and apparently determined to make a nieht of it, put on a very bjg overcoat, and putting his feet on a second chair, composed himself for a Bnooze. Most of the councillors were smoking in the next room, and as Bob was rather pumped he formally moved— " That the conduct of Councillor Blank, in putting his feet.up on a seoond chair, was irregular and out of order." A councillor was found to second this, and the youthful Blank merely submitted to the ruling of the chairman, who held that he was in order. Bob then cavorted on to a review of the British Empire, with a brief digression on the effect of the Flood on the finances of the Washerwomen of the (primitive iimea, and of the Tower of Babel on the brick-building industry. The entertainment was varied by a song-

For men may come and men may go, But I go on for ever, For ever, for ever, For ever J But there was a limit even to Bob'a powers of endurance ; and when all his disgusted and tired followers had got into open revolt, and all hope of bouncing a dozen men into caving in was gone, poor Bob shut up and went to bed. This is how Dunedin is governed.

Certain favoured industries seem to have it all their own way for a time in this place. Some time back insurance companies were the rage, until it was found that they paid large profits, since which time they have gone out of favour and their shares have steadily declined. Then building societies had it their own way, aud they have got quiet. Now barbere, breweries, and pedestrians are to the fore. The last are becoming rather a nuisance, the former are getting pretty well played out, but the first are in full fettle. No less than three new barbers have started in one street during the last twelve months, and, though a fourth in the same street has failed, still the three seem to be doing a flourishing business. An observant and philosophical friend of name who wears a akull cap and g-ts his head shaved whenever he goes in for a spree, says that the laudable desire of some of the best speculators here to keep their heads cool is the secret of the whole thing. It is apparently the lack of this useful class in Wellington that makes matters ao warm there.