The Evening Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2521, 16 March 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1871.

The elections of members to serve in the Provincial Council are rapidly proceeding, and from the results we have g,-eat reason to hope that we shall be rid of that unseemly ignorance that was a standing reproach to the last Council. Some of the old nuisances will be returned, but already the fate of most of

them is sealed, and the verdict of the constituencies has deprived them of the honors that so ill befitted them during the past four years. With an improved representation, we may hope for intelligent consideration of measures necessary for Provincial advancement. That portion of the depression induced by faction will be removed, and although there will of necessity be party differences, the points of divergence will be well marked and something definite discussed, instead of nightly waste of words on general principles only partially comprehended by the speakers, and in many cases totally inapplicable to the subject before the House. There will also be a truer comprehension of means to an end. The Council must be convened within a few weeks after the returns are completed, and it will be wise for the members elect to make up their mincb on the subjects that ought to be immediately attended to. Public works, immigration, and amateur laud legislation have been so mercilessly dinned into the public ear for the last six months, that he must be very dull who has not attained to some idea of their value. It is therefore only necessary to fulfil the difficult task of clearing away the nonsense which has been talked about them, to comprehend pretty well the importance of pushing them on at the le ist possible expense, and to the greatest possible extent. These are the great subject battles at the hustings, but as some of them are already settled practically, they will not take up much time in the House. There are some questions, however, that are not so likely to attract general as individual attention, unless they are prominently brought under notice; and one of these is our quarantine arrangements, Small as has been the attention drawn to them, the result of neglecting them is now forcing itself upon public notice. For years no evil has resulted from disregarding them. The care now taken to maintain health on board of passenger ships, and the rapidity of their passages, have very much reduced the risk of disease breaking out on board, but yet the quarantine ground has been put in requisition some two or three times within the past few years. The public, misled by the name, no doubt imagined that Quarantine Station a place well appointed, fitted with every appliance necessary to conserve or restore health. Knowing what ought to be done, we ourselves took it for granted that proper accommodation was provided, until the case of the Robert Henderson led us to visit the ground. What the place really is, was described in this journal some weeks ago. Referring our readers to that description, we would ask : Is it consistent with public safety that such a system should be unreformed 1 Last evening we published a letter on the subject, well deserving the attention of the Council. It points out that cattle and sheep are considered so valuable, that Inspectors are paid to examine flocks and herds, in order that infection may not spread, and that one man’s neglect may not injure his neighbor’s property. But with regard to human beings, they may do as they will—crowd into small, unventilated dwellings, and gather around them 1 corruption that may travel on the first blast, and carry on its wings disease and death. Let us for one moment i reflect upon the consequences of the want of arrangement at our Quarantine Ground, It has resulted already in the deaths of we believe some halfdozen persons. Now had it been certain that the life of any one of those half-dozen could have been saved by a contribution from each one of us in Dunedin, there would have been a crowding to give. Sooner than an innocent human being should die, some would risk their lives—others would give half their wealth. Every child would come forward and give of its pocket-money. Ladies and gentlemen would have put down their subscriptions of ten or twenty pounds, and not one would like to have seen the list without his name recorded on it. But alter the mode, and let the contribution be reduced to the exact amount needed by placing it on the Estimates, and we shall have members rising in the Provincial Council to oppose it, and agitators outside prating about economy and taxation. No doubt this arises partly from the specialty being lost sight of—but the necessity remains the same; the required arrangements are more cheaply carried into effect, and the incidence of the burden is more equitably apportioned. Could the money cost of incomplete sanitary arrangements be estimated, they would be found to be far more expensive and unequal in their operation than the most lavish outlay upon an efficient plan. Supposing the sufferers to be children, the attention required during their illness is so much withdrawn from reproductive labor by the heads of families, apart from the family distress. Supposing, as in a recent case, the mother of a family is taken, it is impossible to estimate the loss to her family and society—or, if a father dies,

a family may be reduced in an hour from affluence to poverty. To every family there is the cost of precautionary measures, and the vague consciousness of walking in ah atmosphere tainted' with the seeds of death. Viewed in any aspect —economical, physical, social, moral, or religious — this quarantine question must be intelligently dealt with. Not only is it due to ourselves, but to those who may come and need to be confined within the limits of the island. We are now reaping the consequences of the sin of neglect, and, like all other sins, the punishment points to its nature and its remedy.