Sanitary State of Dunedin.

Evening Post, Issue 110, 16 June 1865, Page 2

Sanitary State of Dunedin.

—Mr. Nimon. Inspector of Nuisances, has reported on the pnsent state of Dunedin. In his report occurs the following :— " There is almost an utter disregard to cleanliness exhibited by hundreds throughout the city, either inside or outside their dwellings. The smell in the more populous neighbourhoods is most off nsive, owing to the kitchen refuse, night soil, and other filth being cast about indiscriminately, where it will remain for montlig unless the Inspector happens to visit the locality, and, on receiving a summons, many of the inhabitants seem loath to part with the nuisance, preferring rather to retain it than pay for its removal." The unwillingness to submit to the laws for enforcing public decency in this respect may be inferred from the fact, that from the 30th of Novem bsr, 1861, to the 6th of September, 1864, the number of notices served to abate nuisances was 870, and the number of persons summoned during thf> period was 962. The amount of fines inflicted, leaving out of consideration those remitted on account of the poverty of the parlies summoned reached £595 ss. Dr. Livingstone, the African traveller, is at present in considerable anxiety respecting his eldest so/), who was kidnapped in an American port on board the vessel in which he was serving by some of those unprincipled agents for procuring substitutes of whom we have heard. He enlisted in, the 3rd New Hampshire volunteers. He is known to have been present at the skirmish before Richmond on October 7th, 1864 • but from that time all trace of liim is lost, and every in jde of sending letters to him has been tried in vain. He is believed to have been made prisoner by the Confederates. It is hoped that if the American papers would give circulation to the above facts, the son may be able to send notice through the southern journals of his present condition and place of abode to his father, before he sets out once more for the interior of Africa. A Duel at the Grecian.— ln'' 1710-1 1, Addison starting the Spectator, tells us his own grave face was well known at the Grecian ; and in No. 49 (April 1711) this great observer describes the spleen and inward laughter with which he views at the Grecian the young Templars come in, about eight a. m., either dressed for Westmiuster, and with the JtfefcOeUpfed air of aiisUmed business, or in gay cap, slippers, and particoloured dressing-gowns, rising early to publish their laziness, and being displaced by busier men towards noon. Dr. King relates a story of two hot-blooded young gentlemen quarrelling one evening at this coffee-house about the accent o£ a Greek word. Stepping out iuto Devereux-court, they fought, and one of them being run throug the body died on the spot. — Thornbury 's Haunted London, An Arctic Dinner Party,— -I was now living on Innuit food, to which I had become so accustomed as to eat it without difficulty. Were I to mention in detail what took place, and what was eaten at our meals, it would

doubtless appear disgusting to most o| vilfc* readers ; but there is no alternative in the>; matter of eating with Innuits. One has tarmake up his mind, if he would live among * that people, to submit to their customs, and to be entirely one of them. When a white man for the first time enters one of their tuples or igloos, he is nauseated with everything he sees and smells — even disgusted with the locks of the innocent natives, who extend, to him the best hospitality their means afford. Take, for instance, the igloo in which I had an excellent dinner. Anyone from the States, if entering this igloo with me, would see a • company of what he would call a dirty set of human beings, mixed up among masses of nasty, uneatable flesh, skins, blood and bones, scattered all about the igloo. He would se r , hanging over a long, low flame, the 00-koo-sin (stone kettle), black with soot and oil of great age, and filled to iti utmost capacity with black meat, swimming in a thick, dark, smoky fluid, as if made by boiling down the dirty scrapings of a butcher's stall. He 1 would see men, women, atid children — my humble self included— engaged in devouring the consents of that kettle, and he would pity the huma.i being who could be reduced to such necessity as to eat the horrid stuff. The dishes out of which the soup is taken would turn his stomach, especially when he should see degs wash them out with their long pliant tongues previous to our using tliem. But I will not multiply particulars. — Life with the Esquimaux, by Captain C. F. Hall. Frank Collecting. — In latter days frank collecting, as a branch of autograph hunting, became, as we have said, extremly popular, and almost every young lady you met had a quantity of franks in her scrap-book. The " Great Duke" would never frank if he could help it, from conscientious motives, and accordingly the fair daughters of England had recourse to all kinds of ruses in order to obtain a frank from his grace. Letters of inquiry as to the characters of imaginary servants who had (never) lived at Strathfial - saye, and of imaginary privates of fictitious regiments, among which it was impossible to distinguish the feigned from the bona fide applicant, were the means usually resorted to by the bolder of the fair sex in order to elicit a reply from " F.M. the duke," with the word "Wellington" in the corner '-of- the envelope. The frank ot the •* duke" ha* been known to sell at auctions for a gained,and that of Lord Byron at two or three pounds. That of Lord Nelson would fetch a similar price, and so would one of the duka as " Arthur Weitasley." The franks of many " peers " and commoners who had held t ieir titles or seats for only a few weeks before franks were abolished became greatly in request among collectors, and fabulous prices were asked and paid for those of the late Mr. A. Raphael, M. T. B. Macaulay, the late Lord Seaton. and the late Duke of Bedford, to say nothing of a dozen or two others" whose names are duly recorded in the London Gazette as " members returned to parliament," but have long since been forgotten. — Once a Week. j A Strange Recognition. — A womm of the village recognised among our Seedees her brother, whom she had not seen nor heard of since they were children at their home in Uhiae, 1,500 miles distant to the south-east. Both had been captured, as slaves in infancy. On seeing her brother the poor woman burst into tears, but did not, through timidity, make herself known the first day, merely leaving a message that he should be asked whbther his name was so-and-so when he was young. The following day her owner came for the brother (called by us Barootee or Powder,) and led him away. Several Seedeea went to witness the scene, and I felt much inclined to be equally intrusive. They reported that the girl, who was very like her brother, fell at his feet, got into hysterics, but could not communicate with him, as she had forgotten her native language, and Barootoe did not kno-w that o£ Uuyoro. This waft the Only interview they had. She would willingly have followed him, and she sent him all she cou'd to show her affection, namely, an immense dish of porridge and three fowls boiled into soup ! — A Walk across Africa, by Capt J. A. Grant. Am African Smoking Match— l had given them the other morning a stick of European weed, and for the first time saw a' regular systematic smoking match One of them, took out a sufficient quantity and filled the bowl, which is inserted by a strait stem fl*e4 or six inches long into the side of a koodoo* or other curved horn ; the larger end is theft taken into the mouth, and a most suffocating volume of smoke inhaled or rather swallowed

ihtfi^tpluo «scaping in a cloud more like that of ft imoking dhitnney than anything we are accustomed to. It. comes out, in fact, like a dense cloud, filling the whole opening of the mouth. The pips is then passsed on, and a draught of water taken from an ostrich's eggshell, those who are better able to withstand the intoxicating influence spirting it from their mouths upon the shoulders of their more helpless comrades, who lie hysterically laughing and rolling upward their eyes till the pupil entiiely disappears beneath the lid, or dragging out of the circle such as are acted on in a manner disagreable to the rest of the company. One fellow, an old seasoned vessel, pointed out to me with great glee the successive symptoms, and to display his own prowess stood up and danced wiih the pipe still in his mouth. — Explorations in South-west Africa. Mr. Banting in a Fix.— Did jou hear the story of Mr. Banting and thfe Princess Mary of Cambridge ? I think I told you some time ago that the Princess had called in the great fat reducer. Well, it appears that the Prinoess, when she »aw Mr. Dauting, was very much surprised and disappointed to find him still a very fat man. " Your system," said the Princess, " does not appear to hive been very efficacious In your case, Mr. Banting ? " •' I beg your Royal High ness's pardon," said the fat reducer, " but if you will allow me I trill soon convince your Royal Highness thai it has been most efficacious." And with that, to the great amazement of the Princess, Mr. Banting took off his coat ; and then, to the increased amazement of the .Vrincess, his waistcoat. What was he going to do ? Perhaps he was about to give an exhibition of his agility. The Princess began to show symtoms of impatience. " One moment more, your Royal Highness, and you will be convinced." Mr, Banting began to take off his trousers. The Princess screamed ran to the bell, and rang it violently. A footman immediately appeared, find by the Princess's command, hurried Mr. Banting from the room and from the house, scarcely giving him time to put on his clothes. Mr. Banting wrote to apologise —to explain. He had visited the Princess with two suits of clothes on. The upper one, which he was taking off when expelled from the house, was distended with air, and represented his original 6ize. If the Princess had not been alarmed, and only waited, she woulil have seen Mr. Banting, not in puris naturalibus, but in an undersuit, ilim, and genteel, as he now appears, thanks to the system. This is a very good story, and it has, 1 am assured, the further merit of being true. — Metropolitan Correspondent of the Liverpool A Ibion. Oxygen a Cuiutive Agent.— At a scientific meeting in Paris, recently, a singular paper, which was r.>ad by Dr. Foley, remarks that mountaineers breathe more quickly than men inhabiting the plains, because the air is more rarhled and therefore affords less oxygen at a breath than the denser air. Conversely, therefore, if a patient be in want of more oxygen than he can get under the ordinary pressure, let him be exposed to an atmosphere rendered artificially denser. This can be done by constructing a email chamber communicating with a forcing pump, and provided with an air gauge and safety-valve. By this treatment catarrh, asthma, and complaints of the respiratory organs may be removed ; and in disorders arising from weakness, compressed air will artilize the blood, and increase the vital power of the patient. An enormous shark, supposed to be at least 27 feet in length, has lately haunted the Brighton coast. This monster has taken up his residence just outside the reef, at a disof about two miles from the beach. Several attempts have been made to capture and harpoon him, but none proved successful. He has also been treated to bait well seasoned with strychnine and arsenic, but poison does not seem to have the slightest effect upon him.— Melbourne paper. According to the latest statistics the population of New York amounts to one million souls. Of these 22,000 live a subterranean life. As a safe guard against political opinions, the police in Prussia are, it is said, to be taught shorthand, and take down the proceedings of public meetings. Punishment by death has been abolished in Wurtemburg and in the Grand Duchy of a axe-Weimar. A negro has been admitted as a practitioner before the Supreme Court of the United SMftes. « Wtiere there Is enough for six, there is enougff tot tight," said a gentleman. " Yes repliet. Alexandra Dumas, ¦• if you are speaking of flftmUM," '