The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-10 00:00:00

OPENING OF BAXTER. PARK.

- -
At 1 o'clock the variousbodieswhotook part in the grand
ceremony of the day met in the Barrack Park. When the
line had been formed the procession marched through the
principal streets to the People's Park, which is situated at
the north-eastern extremity of the town. The park occu-
pies a space of 38 acres, and is most tastefully laid out. In
the centre stands a handsome pavilion in the Italian style,
built at a cost of £6,000. At each entrance are handsome
lodges. The cost of the park, its embellishment, and the
sum set apart by the donor for its maintenance cannot be
less than £50,000.
A statue of Sir David Baxter, subsaribed for by upwards
of 16,000 of the people of Dundee as a mark of their
gratitude for his noble gift, and which was executed by
Mr. Steel, sculptor, of Edinburgh, was uncovered on the
occasion.

Among the speakers at the opening of the park were Earl
Dalhousie, the Earl of Camperdown, Sir David Baxter, and
others.

In replying to a vote of thanks for his presence, Earl
RUSSELL, who was received with enthusiastic cheers by the
vast multitude, said—l hope you will allow me, as the
youngest burgess of Dundee, to say a few words with regard
to a matter which I think may tend to the usefulness of this
park, for which the town of Dundee is so much indebted to
Sir D. Baxter. (Applause.) I was speaking to him of a
notion which has occurred to my mind, and I found it had
also occurred to his, and, indeed, from his benevolence and
sagacity it was not likely to have escaped him. I have been
accustomed in the course of my life to pay a great deal of
attention to education; and I have been told of late years
by those who are occupied in education in great towns—such
as Glasgow, Birmingham, and similar large towns—that
there is one great difficulty they have to contend with in
their schools, and that is that in those towns there is no
such thing as a playground. (Hear, hear.) I think a play-
ground is quite as useful as a school—(laughter and ap-
plause)—and it is still more easy to occupy a playground in
these days, when we are told by some clever philosophers
that the boy who is at school three days in the week learns
quite as much, if not more, than the boy who goes six, and
that the boy who is at school half a day learns quite as
much as the boy who is at school the whole day. (Laughter
and cheers.) Whether that be true or not lam not going
to say, but I think it would be a great advantage to the
schools in this town if they were to ask the permission of
Lord Dalhousie and the other trustees, that from time to
time, at certain fixed hours, this park should be made a
playground for certain games during the hours of recrea-
tion which the school allows. There is a very great ten-
dency at the present time—which is a good tendency—of
bringing people together in large towns, but it has a dis-
shouctlall
advantage, and that is that the children are brought up
darohilisismalinphdabtou
without having the least notion of the green fields; or a
game. at cricket, or a game at trap-ball. (Hear, hear.) And
it is quite as essential that the body of a boy should be edu-
cated,
that, being alphabet
ande d
otiop
ht
ehrei e
(Applause.) things, as
aamt he
ine
, the youngest burgess in Dundee, my pre-
sumption
may be excused. (A. laugh.) I think it would
be a great plea
Dundee sure to know that the young generation of
could enjoy the •
advantages of this park as much as
those who are the elders, and able to give themselves to
more manly pursuits.
the name et Lady (Applause.) I beg to thank you in
Russell.
(Cheers.) I have certainly
found by experience that there needs no better place to
come to for a wife than t
recommend the practice to
o Scotland, and I certainly shall
others which I have adopted
myself. (Laughter and
great
applause.)
The weather was fortunately dry
pro-
ceedings passed off with greatdc/at and sunny, and the
display of fireworks in the park,
and. There was a grand
vari-
ous parts. It was intended to set illuminations in
1 the wind was unfavourable. off a large balloon, but

ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE ON A CHILD.--Yesterday
a young man named Abraham Farrant was committed for
trial by the borough magistrates at Guildford, fot a criminal
and most brutal assault upon a child of two years old, the
daughter of the landlord of the Rose and Crown public
house in that town. It is feared that the poor little girl is
not likely to survive the injuries she has sustained.
THE ADVANTAGE OF A "POSTMAN'S KNOCK."
At the Judges' Chambers, on Wednesday, an „pH_
cation was made to discharge a person named Onions out of
custody, on the ground that the arrest had been effected by
the sheriffs' officers breaking open the outer door. The
officers swore they got into the house at night, after watch-
ing. for some time, by the dodge of a " postman's knock."
The door was opened and after a struggle the capture we,s
made. Mr. Justice Mellor refused to order the dischargo,
believing that the arrest was through the "peistsfuan's
knock."