COMPLETION OF THE DEMOLITION OF BELL HILL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 1898, 29 November 1877, Page 4

COMPLETION OF THE DEMOLITION OF BELL HILL.

(Otago Daily Times.) Bell Hill, twenty years ago the chief landmark of Dunedin, a household word m every hut and hamlet m Otago, we might almost say m New Zealand, and renowned m the history of the prison world — the fear of drunken worthless husbands, the nightmare of thieves and desperadoes, as well-known m the Southern Hemisphere as Millbank and Peritonville ; Bell Hill the notorious, where crime was punished and infamy expiated with honest sweat, is now a thing of the pa3t. On Saturday the gang of prisoners employed there gave the finishing touch to a work that may be designated the largest public undertaking yet attempted m New Zealand. The proud bluff, wild, rugged, romantic ; where less than a quarter of a century ago the waves of the bay sang their dismal dirges as they dashed incontinently into caves and hollows ; where children climbed and romped among trees and thickets, and shady velvety lawns ; where the hours were daily rung for the benefit of the early settlers ; where the old carronade proclaimed the loyalty of the pioneers of settlement as it belched a joyful salute on the anniversary of Her Majesty's Birthday ; the lofty headland that rrosae — a bold basalticcolumn crowned with rata and manuka, a vantage ground as high as the steeple of St Paul's, whence tho infant township that was to grow to be a city, and the grand scenery of the Peninsula, the Sandhills, and the West Harbour could be looked down upon ; this grand old monument of Father Time has disappeared, to be revived perhaps m tho records of a still unwritten history. The labour of the slaves of .the ancient Egyptians was devoted to building of mammoth tombs and pyramidsartificial mountains ; the labour of Mr Caldwell's prison gangs has been devoted to the building of a city by the levelling of a hill. Bell Hill with its strange historic associations is destined to live m the annals of the streets, the public buildings, and the institutions of the city. In years to come its story will be told, a tale of wonder to the young Dunedinite — an improvement on Robinson Crusoe or Cinderella and the Glass Slipper. The facts connected with its removal constitute one of the best commentaries on what can be achieved by the judicious application of prison-labour, on record. The effect that the destruction of Bell Hill has had on the settlement, commercial progress, and architectural grandeur of Dunedin is best knows to the old settlers. First Church, the Queen's Theatre, the Masonic Hall, Princes street, Cumberland street, Castle street, the Hospital Grounds, Anderson's Bay Road, and the Main South Road extending towards Caversham, all owe their formation and erection to a very large extent to the levelling of this useful hill. The sea shore, reclaimed, is studded with stores and warehouses, the iron horse travels daily and finds a central resting place where boats once sailed, swamps have been converted into gardens and ornamented with stately buildings, all through the ruins of Bell Hill and, the application of prison labour. The demolition of Bell Hill, or rather its conversion into public streets and public buildings was commenced iti 1802. The work owes its origin to one of the great exigencies of the gold-fields period, It was. to find work for the surplus nomadic population, which the discovery of gold attracted from the Australian Colonies, that the reduction of the hill was determined upon. For the first year the work was carried on by free labor, the men employed receiving ss' per day. Subsequently, m 1873, when labor began to/grow scarce, gangs of prisoners wero. engaged to continue what the disappointed diggers had commenced. From that time BeHHillhas been daily tumbling, till how nothing' but the freehold, or rather leasehold, fringes, remain. One of these fringes belongs to the Free Church. This.has been gently sloped away, and is to be sown with grass, and ornamented at the base .with a stone wall and palisade. A new street has been opened up between Morley Place and the junction of Dow-ling-street with High-street; This is termed Macandrevy-street, and; although somewhat narrow — after the style of a South Dunedin highway— and only permitting of one" footpath j it will be found exceedingly valuable m relieving the pas.Beiiger traffic between Princess-street and theVai I way. statioti' and wharves. Columns, if not pages, might , be written m telling all that Bell Hill bas done for Dunedin. It has 'reclaimed scores of acres of land, now of. immense: value to the Corporation and the Harbor Board. In ,1862 the tide ebbed and flowed daily, and . small boats Bailed where! the Custom House, University buildings, and General Post-office, now stand. These owe their foundations t6 Bell Hill and prison labor, as do all the principal buildings that overlook the beach, from Pelichet Bay on the north to Anderson's Bay .on the southr The site where;' the i 1 Southern Hotel now stands, right lip. to the Southern Market House, was suitable for, a! regatta m those. days. To the i 'north, ,'wliere the' .Hospital is,., and. ail; round that vicinity, were a series of dismal /swamps—the source of much anxiety , and threatened malaria.' Not many years ago deputations waited on tbe -Mayor, and urged his attention to those formidable hotbeds of pestilence, and Bell flill was. sent to their relief. Bell Hill filled up the dangerous ditches ;th*t lined tlie Caversham-road and made it, from Hillside 'to; the Cargill Monument m tlie centre 1 of the city, : one of the finest roads, : both .as regards width arid gradient/ thatvihe colony can Wast. The hill derived its name from the fact thikDr Burn's, one of the pioneers of i'tb!e city.'bad.a Bell erected, >n it, which. ' was ruug daily at; 8, 12, and 5 o'clock. ; 1 Jii those days watches were scarcely.

known, and the indomitable Sam Slick, with his wooden clocks, had not found his way to New Zealand. It was then a headland, invaluable for the guidance of mariners as they travelled round the Ocean Beach. If Dunedin has advanced more rapidly than any other city m the colony — 'f it can claim to be the banner city of the South— the credit is largely due to Bell Hill. And this has all been accomplished without the loss of life and limb. Blasting operations have been carried on m the very centre of the city, m Princess-street, and what would appear to be hazardous work ha 3 been performed ; but such have been the admirable precautions that nothing worse than a sprained ankle and a slight breakage of crockery have resulted. Such m brief is the story of this 14 years' undertaking, and it is a tale, we submit, that | will long live to reflect credit on Mr Caldwell, the Governor of our Gaol, and the efficient staff under which this memorable task has been brought at length to a satisfactory conclusion.