of the statements which the ordinary Dunedinite may make to you on 'Change, on the wharf, or on the market-place, you might be pardoned if you again used the caution of the Caledonian, and whispered quietly to yourself, "Ou aye! if a' stories be true, that ane's no' a lee."
Of course I was prepared to find the atmosphere intensely Scotch. It was delightful to hear the dear auld Scottish tongue, to note the Scottish names of streets, and mark the prevailing Scottish nomenclature on the sign-boards. But I was scarcely prepared to find the very wine-cards in the hotels transmogrified from French, to Scotch; and yet on perusing the wine-carte at the Grand Hotel we found the French "St. Julien Medoc" figuring as St. Julien McDoe. This was transposition with a vengeance surely.
I do not know whether Dunedin human nature be abnormally litigious or not, but this I will aver—that if all the solicitors and legal practitioners of sorts who exercise their calling in the city, make a good living out of their clients, it would argue that litigation is pretty lively. As with commerce, so I should imagine with law—it is surely overdone. The city swarms with solicitors. One well-known legal firm of high standing, and in the enjoyment of a splendid practice, have a suite of offices that are probably unequalled for sumptuousness in any town anywhere. The offices are worthy of a visit. The granite pillars at the doors were specially imported. The rooms and
