Flotsam and letsam.

Otago Witness, Issue 1355, 17 November 1877, Page 14

Flotsam and letsam.

What between the opsva and the Anglican Synod, the political situation and the dust, Dunedhi has been almost unbearable during the past week. I wandered into .the Synod the other evening, and anything like the row that was going on I never heard in any deliberative .Assembly^ A. X Ef.B. remarks " that he goes r into a meeting u'f the Presbytery a humble Christian man, and comes out of it a raging deil." I should say that several of the members- of the Synod go in, and stay in the same state as A.K.H.B. came out, which is a mild and enigmatical way' of putting it; Peihaps the most notable thing about the Synod is the fact that the Chairman thinks it his duty to express his opinion on every subject at least three times. The odds are long that at any given moment," if you go into the Synod, you will hear- the strident voice of its President. I always used to think that the chief use of a chairman was to hold, his tongue and keep order. The Bishop does neither the one nor the ether.

I was not far wrong last week in auguring ill of the civic ride to the sources of the water supply of the city and suburbs. The fathers cursed their engineer, they cursed Mm rising and waking, sleeping and walking, in riding, and especially in sitting. Why, oh, why did that man invite the members of the Council to take the ride they did. It was not part of the bond when they were chosen by the citizens that they should wear out their trousers, to say nothing of that which is' nearer and dearer than their trousers, in riding over the Flagstaff swamp. I knowone councillor who declares that it was not the whisky or the pork pies, though the conjunction is ominous, that gave him his headache, it was the gabble of his guide.

I beg to express my opinion that the political meeting of Monday last comes ' as near to the ideal, of what should take place among the citizens of a free country as anything I' ever saw in Dunedin. A more orderly, a better led,- a more unani--mous and decided, gathering I never, saw in iriy life,, and, I daresay, I never will again. With the one exception,, of a notorious stump orator, there was hardly an interruption .that the most, fastidious cpuld/objecWto. ' There, will be men to^ hiss anywhere, 'of course, ! but these 1 geese^ soon, shut up. . Bar,' this l trouble, the meeting was one -which any man might beprohd of haying called, and the speaking was/fa'r'abbyo the average in Dunedin.

' L seer that the Eddystone (lighthouse: is to be.-taken down and rebuilt. There are "not many modenrengineering work 3 about whichrso.niuch romance clusters as around this. The sea has played the' mischief 1 .miijh it,- however, nnd it has to go. During 1 the process of alteration the light will-be-imsßHcl, but it is to be hoped that some' siieps;will be tak»ri to prevont injury 'and 1 "loss to commerce during the move: 1 JBy.jhe'.'way.the Anglicans are going in for a 'new' buildings for sacred purposes to, 'be duSbed cathedral. Rumour hath i<T .that this said cathedral is to be at Roslyn. Why not make it a lighthouse as well as a cathedral. Think of the admirable lessons that might be drawn from the fact that' *the cathedral of Dunedin wa9 a pillar of wisdom by day, and of fire and learning by night.

: Fancy the University Council fighting "overjthe town clock, and such' a clock. If fpeople only knew when they were well rid df a nuisance ; if the Council "only .understood that a - clock means a tower, rai^d that if, they are going to put up accommodation' in the shape of a clock in the new buildings, they' will ( d4sexre.arid,.will.receive the execration of 'all well ordered citizens. . Why not spend the, cash in introducing 'more professors, increasing the real teaching power, and consequent .usefulness of the institution. v :I am strongly of opinion that the majority, if it be a majority, that at, regular intervals } has no confidence in Major Atkinson' or anyone else, is suffering from an attack of. the Colorado beetle. lam convinced that what is the matter 'with' the few members who go over like sheep afthe ,call of self-interest is, that I the Colorado beetle has found a lodgment jri their- brain. Isn't this more likely, than that they should have taken to, the .conduct of what Mr Sligp calls the veriest beast of the field! The Ministry is tolerably safe — and they deserve to be safe. I take it that a more knowing set of ohiels never sat in the seat of the mighty than the members of the present Ministry. With Stout at his elbow Sir .George Grey, the pawkiest of the pawky, is bad to beat. With Johnny Sheehan to rule the roost, and Larnach to influence the votes, I don't think Atkinson has the ghost of a chance. They have -neither the wits, the debating power, nor the lobbying power that the Ministry have. Crustacean.

A really curious printing order is reported by the Petite Press?, under the heading 11 Turkish Cuirasses" : — " One of the largest manufacturers of Paris has juab received an extraordinary order. It consists of men's shirts, ou which nre printed extracts fioin the Korau in blue letters, and white woollea veat3, on which are re?>re3ented the face of the great Mahomet, with a really divine grace» This order is dettiiied for Turkey, whose superstitious soldiers will Hot venture under fireunlessclothed with these articles, to which they attribute the virtues of a. talisman,"