Page:Picturesque Dunedin.djvu/57

Rh residents all over the Province towards the enterprise, and the resolution shown to support it, together with the more assuring, because tangible fact that the Provincial Government, after considerable delay and evasion, at length agreed to subsidise the service, induced the owner of the "Queen" to add to his fleet another larger and more powerful vessel, the "Pirate," of 285 tons, which had originally been built for the Glasgow and Liverpool trade, but afterwards sent out to Melbourne, was purchased and placed in the trade between that port and New Zealand.

A further addition was made to the steam fleet by Mr John Jones, who purchased the P.S. "Geelong," 108 tons, in Melbourne, and placed her on the trade between Dunedin and the coast to the north; and the Government in this case also supported the trade by a subsidy for a period of two years.

And it was not long ere the remaining gap was filled, as early in May the little screw steamer "New Era," formerly "Pride of the Yarra," came up to Dunedin Jetty, and by special invitation quite a small crowd took advantage of the favourable day to visit Port Chalmers and inaugurate the trade. Favours often come double, so within a few days another small screw steamer, the "Victoria," also arrived from Melbourne, the question arising was whether there was sufficient trade for both.

The census returns for 1858 give the population of the town on 31st December as: males, 863; females, 849; total 1712. The imports for the year valued £96,620; the exports, £47,029; custom revenue, £11,173.

The aspect of the town continued steadily to improve. Many existing buildings were added to, renovated, and raised to the altered levels of the streets, and new ones of more attractive and superior character were being proceeded with. "One municipal section which, in the very centre of the town, had formerly been an unsightly nuisance, was now covered on both frontages with stylish shops." This was rather a high-flying character to give the buildings at the corner of High and Princes-streets, recently pulled down to make way for the Insurance building. As a verity, the only private building which had up till the end of 1861 been erected with any pretensions to stability or design, is that now owned by the New Zealand Government Insurance, at