WELLINGTON.
[By Telegraph.]
{From .our own Correspondent. )
A ugust 8. The Polynesian Company’s Guarantee Bill proposes to guarantee five per cent, for fifty years Interest on one quarter of a million only to he guaranteed for the first two years; during the next two ©n half a million, and’ for the remaining period on one million. Power is to he reserved to suspend the company’s functions, if in the opinion of the Governor in Council the affairs of the company are not conducted with vigor and prudence, or if at any time after three years from the date of the agreement there is due by the company to the Government, LIOO,OOO. The Loan Bill asks power to raise L 4,000 000 for different purposes; L 3.000,000 for railway construction ; L 50.000 for works on the goldfields ; L 60.000 for roads in the North Island ; LSO 000 for immigration ; L 390.000 for public works, buildings, telegraphs, and other purposes. The Public Be venues Act providts for the appointment ®f two Commissioners of Audit, with salaries of L9OO per annum ; the present Comptroller and Auditor-General to be the first Commissioners, with an increase to their salaries of LIOO each.
Eleven Victorian c icketers will make the tour of the ; Colony about the end of this year, and play the opening match at Auckland against twenty-two. They propose to meet a similar number in each* of the Provinces. In reporting on the Asylum, complaints are made of the bad drainage, which oiudit immediately to be attended to. There is°no outlet for the sewage of the town, and the Council do not appear to think it necessary to make any provision for draining this part of the town. The Committee do not hesitate to say that but for the painstaking and ingenious method in which Mr Hume utilizes the sewage, great mischuf by this time would probably have resulted. He calls the serious consideration of the authorities to the necessity for providing better food for the institution, because the inspector says the bread supplied was unfit for consump‘ion. He says: —‘ ’ Considering this matter, and observing the quality of the food supplied generally, I have come to the conclusion it is idle to expect anything but evil results from the present system of getting everything by contract. I would suggest that the proposed plan of having a farm in connection with the asylum be entered on, and that all bread and beer required be manufactured within the asylum, as is done
elsewhere, and I am persuaded by this means not merely would the insane be saved much misery, but the Province much expense.” A large proportion of the cases admitted come from the goldfields, and after making allowance for their peculiar circumstances and the mode of living of the miners in Otago, it can be shown their needlessly unvaried diet is to blame for the large number of lunatics of this class. The chief cause of this state of things is the enormous quantity ©f strong tea daily consumed by the miners, and the entire absence of milk from their diet. Could nothing be done to remedy this by encouraging miners to settle on the land, and to adopt a more rational mode of life ? The great evil in this and in similar institutions is the accumulation of chronic, harmless lunatics. In this country this evil is greatly exaggerated by the impossibility of getting families to take charge of such cases, as has extensively been done in Great Britain, and therefore it is all the more incumbent on the authorities to provide suitable accommodation and employment for this class of patients.
Another highly suggestive report is one by Inspector Braham, commanding the Armed Constabulary. He complains of the immense amount of drunkenness arising from the sale of adulterated liquors, and says it is well known that most of the spirits sold in Auckland and elsewhere in the Colony are highly adulterated, and if taken in large quantities are dangerous poison. The Adulterations Act, with a few amendments, could be made effective in the prevention of the sale of such spirits, but in its present form it is useless, as it compels the purchase of f od or drink as a means of conviction. If the Act were left to the police to enforce, a vast improvement would soon be effected in the quality of the liquor sold. He expressed a strong belief that most of the Auckland fires were the work of incendiarism, for which the close competition of insurance companies was greatly responsible, and he cites a recent instance where a person insured his stock for L6O, and some time afterwards increased the insurance to 1.100, without inquiry being mafic by the office. Shortly afterwards the place was discovered to be on fire early in the evening, when no one was on the premises, and in a place where it could not well have been the result of an accident. When the fire was extinguished, which it was almost immediately after it was discovered, the police got a competent person to value the stock, and he stated that at the outside it was not worth more than JL3S.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18740810.2.16
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Evening Star, Issue 3577, 10 August 1874, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
864WELLINGTON. Evening Star, Issue 3577, 10 August 1874, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.