Ways of Living.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 402, 21 January 1904, Page 2

Ways of Living.

OYSTERS AND TYPHOID. Tv fflflWpjCH consideration was caused in 'jl<Fll Porfcßmoafcn las ' month through the prevalence of typhoid fever, which attacked several families of good position. The medical officer of health stated that the whole of the esses were to be traced to the eating of oysters which came from a small town on the south coast, where the oyster beds were covered- with sewage matter. Dr. Fraser stated that at least H cases in Portsmouth wera undoubtedly due to eating oysters from Emsworth, and he feared more cases would be notified shortly. In Emsworth-also, there were 13 cases, and the sewers of the town discharged directly in the neighbourhood of the oyster beds'. fle suggested that public notices should at 6s.ee be issued warning people not to eat oysters from Emsworth until they had been cooked. j Emsworth is about ten or twelve miles from Portsmouth, For many years the little town has been the home of the oyster industry ih this part of the South of;E.aglaad.;/:;There;aro.e«tea ; sive beds.Jn the creek, but some of "the oysters are "removed to smaller beds near the shore for the sake of convenience. If there is any danger from impurities it would exist in pTfffclpal growers at Emsworth emphatically deny that the outbreak of typhoid is attributable to oysters; The disease always exists about this time of the year at Southampton and Winchester. At Emsworth all the houses are!provided with cesspits, and an overflow from these gets into the harbor. But, say the growers, the amount of sewage is infinitely small in comparison with the intense volume of water that moves up and down the creek with the tides. Dr. William England, one of the best known residents of Winchester, died from typhoid fever. He and many others were supposed to have become infected through eating oysters at a complimentary banquet to the ex-mayor. A young man named Small, who was a waiter at the banquet, also died. The illness in each case, and in that' of the Dean of Winchester, has been generally' attributed to the eating of oysters supplied for the banquet. At- Southampton the outbreak of typhoid has claimed for its victims several well known public men and sorparation officials, and soine of the patients are in a critical condition. Singularly enough, as at Winchester and Portsmonth, those who are suffering from the disease were present at the mayor's banquet, and the source of infection is credited to oysters- .._■; At Emsworth orders for oysters involving hundreds of pounds were countermanded daily. One of the largest oyster merchants at Bilhngsgate Market says that J&IQOfiOQ will not oover the lobb sustained by the big dealers, and thousands of fishermen will be thrown out of work as a result of the bad oyster scare.

THIEVES* KITCHENS. Ji An extensive organisation which syßtematised robbery, stored the plunder, and effected its sale at the proper time to the proper people, was broken tip in London last month, Severaljex-convicts were connected with the gang, bnt the recognised head was a middle aged man named John Lyons, who has for a longtime been regarded by the police at one of the largest receivers of, stolen goods in London. ' "' So wary and clever was Lyons, however --he Is believed to be an old convict and to have had other names—that he has continually eluded arrest. Some eighteen months ago he was. wanted for being implioated in the sensational robbery of a traveller's brougham with £IOOO worth of jewellery in it; but he was not to be found.

He had°depOts for the storage of stolen property in various parts of London—one m LambV, Conduit-strest, Blooasbury and another in Poland-street. Another ! member of the gang would rent the Warehouse, giving Lyons as a reference. Both, of oourse, used false names. To these' warehouses were taken all kinds of stolen property. Tana were regularly hired for the conveyance of goods stolen during roving expeditions in the metropolis in search of plunder. Oae day a barrow full of cloaks di£ appeared in Flnsbury Tie same afternoon detectives watched Eyons'shouße in Charles-street, Hatton Garden. ,A van drove up shortly, to the street corner. Three men alight a?, and after a short colloquy with Lyons drove off to the Lamb's Conduit-street depot. These six detectives allowed them tc take a large case of clocks into the warehouse, and then arrested the trio, The tix waited in vain for Lyons. '■* -; That wide-awake person promptly vanished from his usual, haunts. Some time later a policeman found him at a house in Kennington-road, and, mentioning his business, saidj«Ton are Mr Lyons. ' Oh, he's jusfr gone ©unremarked the receiver. 'He and his wife live in the other room. My name is Fitzgerald;' s But the officer was not to be taken in. In one; case ,a full of butter was stolen bodily, the horse and van afterwards turned adrift, and the butter said to have been sold to coffee shopkeepers. A man named Traer (since released), when arrested, observed,« Old Lyons has had all the stuff for years. He has made a lot of money.' Three hundred and sixty hand mirrors, 116 clocks, fBO pairW of gloves and 2288 lb of butter were concerned in the present charge: '