Dunedin of To-day.

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 61

Dunedin of To-day.

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/JS^. ND now, having traced the current of events from the v/rt«N foundation of the province, let us view the Dunedin J>Mi ° f to " day ' and ascer t a in what the first half -century of ilulustr y has brought about. The prospect will serve nOt ° nly tO contrast fche blls y cifcv of to-day with the $%\V^ lonely solitude that greeted the early settlers as they Mopped ashore, but mayhap serve as a landmark and guide to the uture historian. Other eyes will view the scene in 1948, when the

province will have attained its century, and other pens will write the history of the next fifty years, but the duty will be lightened and the process of contrast be made easier if we now s\un up what has been done and place if on record. The ta.sk is one calculated to evoke sentiments of pride. The wilderness has given place to the busy city. The hillsides, once clothed with bush, are now crowded with handsome dwellings, and the city has encroached upon the waters of the bay, so that where was once the landing place is now the centre of traffic. The mother city of Dunedin has surrounding it a cluster of thriving boroughs, these being Caversham, Maori Hill. Mornington, North-East "Valley, Roslyn, St. Kilda, Soiith Dunedin, and West Harbour, or, as it is popularly called, Ravensbourne. The population of these is 24,465 persons, comprising 11,686 males and 12,779 females. The population of the city proper is 22,815 persons, consisting of 10,586 males and 12,229 females, so that the total population of the city and suburbs within a three-mile radius is 47,280 persons, consisting of 22,272 males and 25,008 females. There are, however, other populous suburbs, which, if included, would very materially enhance this total. To house this population there are 9,651 dwellings, constructed either of brick, stone, or concrete, or of wood and iron. These figures are from the census of April, 1896, and as building has since proceeded briskly, it may be assumed that at

present there are"at least 10,000 dwellings. The spiritual wants of the people have been assiduously provided for, there being in the city and suburbs forty-eight places of worship or halls used as such. The sects are numerously represented, the settlement having long since lost its exclusively Presbyterian character. The magnificent piles of First and Knox churches, the elevation of St. Paul's Anglican church into a cathedral, the noble Roman Catholic cathedral of St. Joseph's, and the classic Basilica at South Dunedin, testify to the breadth of religious zeal. Nor are educational facilities lacking. The University of Otago is fully provided with an able teaching staff and each year sends forth men and women fully eqiiipped for professional life. It has a faculty of arts, one of medicine, a school of political economy, a school of law, a school of mines, and it has endowed chairs of mental science and theology. An Anglican Theological College is also in operation. There are Boys' and Girls' High Schools, a School of Art, a Normal, or training, practising, or model school, and fourteen large and well equipped public schools are found in the city and suburbs. If educational and religious life are active, no less so is social life. There are almost innumerable societies

and associations for amusement and improvement. Bowling, cycling, rowing and cricket are the chief summer amusements, while in winter football holds almost universal sway and Otago's colours have boon carried to victory in many a hard-fought battle. Friendly societies abound and under the head General may be found societies covering almost every branch of social activity. Dunedin was constituted a Town District in 1855, and a Borough in 1877. Tts valuation in 1857 was £4,400 ; last year it was £233,3(53. This year's mayor is Mr. Edward Bowes Cargill, son of the leader of the party of settlement, and it is considered appropriate that Mi\ Cargiil should be mayor at the present time. The City Council consists of the following gentlemen: —Messrs Gore, Denniston, Hardy, Miller, Dawson, Chisholm, Park, Solomon, Carroll, Haynes, Mouat, and Swan. Mr. W. B. Taylor is town clerk and Mr. Mirams engineer. The revenue of the city for last year was £104,961, of which £32,470 was raised by taxation, the balance arising from rents, revenue for special accounts or from non-recurring sources. The bank overdraft at the beginning of the year was £19,965. The city has a good water supply from reservoirs at Woodhaugh and at Silvcrstream.and the Silverstream Works arc capable of large extension. The city also owns the

gas works, 'and' from -the saie of pah ana water to the citizens derives a large annual profit. The total an miarral cable value of the boroughs surrounding Dunedin is €148.454. The total annual rateable value of the city and suburbs is therefore £381,817, and this capitalised at 5 per cent, represents a present value of £7,636,340. From its position as the capital of the province and the leading seaport, Dunedin commands a large trade. To facilitate the shipping trade the Harbour Board has expended large sums in deepening the channel, and with such success that vessels drawing nineteen feet of water can now discharge at Dunedin wharves with favourable tides. In 1896 there were berthed at Dunedin wharves 46(5 vessel-, of a tonnage of 311,168 tons, and at Port Chalmers wharves 344 vessels of a tonnage of 382,751 tons. The present annual income of the Board is from harbour dues, £45,000 ; from endowments, £7,500 ; and from other sources, £2,800. The totnl value of the goods imported to Dunedin during the year 1896 was £1.456,120, and of those exported the value was £1.052,285. Of this total goods to the value of £760,819 went to the United Kingdom, and nearly the whole of the remainder to the Australian Colonies, excepting £35,459 which went to the! United States of America. The statistics do 'not record the number and extent of the industries of each boroiigh, nor is it necessary, becau&e most of them are more than local in their character. We may say, however, that in Otago in 1896 these were 516 industries or works. These employed 27,389 hands, of whom 4,403 were females, and the wages paid during the year amounted to £1,907,592, of which £131,516 was paid to females. The number of horse power employed in machinery was 28,096. The value of the material was £3,285,247, and the value of the eroods produced was £9,549,360, while the approximate value of the land, buildings, machinery and plant employed was £5,796,017. Such progress in fifty years may well cause astonishment and pride. Such an extent of manufacturing naturally implies a complicated system of distribution and trade. Converging upon the city is the railway system of the province. This consists of the main Huru-nui-Bluff line, which enters the provincial district at Waitaki, passes through the chief centres of population along the coast, • and extends to Orepuki, a total distance of 274 miles. (There are also branches to Hakataramea, Ngapara, Tokarahi, Shag Point, Dunback. Walton Park, Outram. Lawrence, Kaitangata, Owaka, Heriot. Waimea, Glenham. Kingston, Mossburn, Gorge Road, Bluff, .and Nightcaps. Besides these, the Otago Central, now in course of construction, has been opened as far as Kokonga, and will eventually pass through the extensive Maniototo plain, tap the valley of the Chitha, and finally reach Lake Hawea. All these lines converge upon Dunedin, where the local work of administration is carried on. The District Traffic Manager is Mr. Thos. Arthur, and Mr. F. W. Maclean is Resident Engineer. The extensive workshops at Hillside also employ a large number of hands in making and repairing railway plant. The means of easy and rapid locomotion are abundant in Dunedin, as becomes a prosperous city. The city and suburban tramway line runs from the head of North-East "Valley to St. Clair, Ocean Beach and Caversham. Mornington is reached by means of a cable tramway, and Roslyn by another, while a third cable line is now in course of construction between the Octagon and Roslyn and Kaikorai by wnv of Stuart Street and the Town Belt. Car-

riages, cabs, omnibuses and drays also abound in great numbers. The places of business are numerous, and many of them handsome. The banks and insurance offices vie with each other in magnificence. Of the former, there are the Bank of New Zealand. Bank of New South Wales, Bank of Australasia, National Bank of New Zealand, Union Bank of Australia. The insurance offices are of yet statelier proportions. The Government Insurance Office, recently completed, adorns what was formerly "Wise's Corner," and the Australian Mutual Provident has its ornate building at the corner of Dowling and Princes Streets. These arcvery noteworthy specimens of architecture, but all the other Companies are suitably and in some cases superbly housed. The Grand Hotel, Wain's, the Bank of New Zealand, the insurance offices already named, the warehouses of Messrs. Brown Ewing and Co., Butterworth Bros, and Co., Sargood, Son and Ewen, the New Zealand Clothing Factory, the Mutual Agency Co., the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile offices, the Colonial Mutual office, the Union S.S. Co.'s offices, the New Zealand Insurance Company's offices, and many others which space forbids us to name, are places of business of which any city in the world might be proud. Nor do public buildings oflvnd the aesthetic eye. The University is a

noble pile of buildings flanked by its Elizabethan professorial residences. The Museum facade adorns King Street. The Boys' High School stands proudly on the eminence. The Cathedral of St. Joseph, with its lordly pile of Con veil txial buildings, sits securely on the hillside, where its beauties can be seen afar. The delicate .spire of First Church points skyward and marks the spot consecrated to divine worship. Less conspicuously placed, but splendidly proportioned in its beaiity, Knox Church stands guard in George Street, its charms already enhanced by clinging masses of ivy. The building originally designed fora Post Office, afterwards used as a University and Museum, and finally occupied by the Colonial Bank of unhappy memory, stands nearly on the .site of the original landing place. The Town Hall in the Octagon shows its impressive front, while from its tower the clock gives forth the quarter's chimes from a merry carillon. The new Police Station and the Gaol, now on the eve of completion, are also of a highly ornate character quite opposed to the sombreness of their functions. The Hospital, also, is rapidly becoming an imposing institution. The newly-erected Agricultural Buildings in Crawford Street, and, adjacent to them, the new Education offices, are worthy specimens of architectural skill. In wealth of picturesque beauty, Dunedin is not to be excelled by any cityli i the hemisphere. The founders also reserved an area or belt all

round the'town, and onJthis preserved the native shrubbery. This belt has been tenaciously held sacred against all attempts to use it for other purposes. At this period, fifty years after the settlement, there are within five minutes' walk of the hum of the city, leafy dells and murmuring rills, where the native bird still pipes his melodioiis if restricted song, and where the tired feftt can feel the sward and the weary eye rest upon the beautiful landscape. Such a heritage is almost priceless. In abundance of pleasure resorts, Dunedin is wealthy indeed. If the traveller wishes to view the city aright, let him approach it by way of the harbour. If he wishes to view it from above, let him stand on the height near Itoslyn, and in the words of " Marsyas," Study the details, rove where you will, Analyse everything line by line ; Each part with its beauty the soul can thrill, And the whole is a harmony divine. A visitor with an eye for scenic beauty could spend and fill to the brim with enjoyment a fortnight in Dunedin almost at any time of the year.