The Globe. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1878.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1225, 6 February 1878, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1878.

The people of Otago are never backward in pushing their claims to the expenditure of a largo share of public funds within their boundaries, under the plea of justice to Otago. With a certain class of people in that district the plea of justice to Otago means the aggrandisement of that province at the expense of the rest of the colony. Our readers may remember the tone adopted by the Daily Times when the laud fund was colonailisod That journal exyl-essod the greatos gratification that Canterbury tob abo'u

to 1)0 plundered of her funds, because she refused, the year before, to join with the people of the South in securing separation. Again the cry is raised that now is the time to push Otago’s interests. While the present Ministry remain in power, no effort must bo spared. First, wo are told that the missing link between Moeraki and Bluoskin must be completed quickly, and Ministers are urged not to hesitate to spend any sum of money that may bo required to push forward the completion of this lino. Then the Strath* taeri line must receive the earnest attention of Ministers, Southland also, we are informed, requires a largo expenditure on railways to open up her “ magnificent and fertile plains.” Our contemporary then refers to the money wasted in constructing unprofitable lines in the north, and says that all that can bo done with these lines is to economise expenditure in the hope of saving something out of the fire. But in order to make the whole railway return as profitable as possible, “ it is essential,” wo are informed, “to go on forming feeders everywhere, in every corner of the south, where there is traffic enough to pay. We are by no means afraid that we shall overdo the matter of lines down here. There is a magnificent opportunity still for extending our communications. If the present Ministry will only be content to push forward surveys everywhere, to commence the work of railway making in each corner of the province, they may rest assured that the returns will justify their conduct ere they are many years older.” The rest of the article from which we quote is all in the same tone. One would imagine that there was no such place as Canterbury in existence at all. It is calmly assumed # that outside of Otago there is no field for railway extension whatever. Not only so, a deliberate false statement is made, in order to place the Otago railways in a favourable light in the eyes of the public. Speaking of the recent railway returns published, our contemporary says “ This is the only province of old days that does not figure in the list of losing lines.” Now, what are the actual facts, as revealed by the return referred to ? From the table published in the Gazette, of the revenue and expenditure during the first half of the financial year, terminating on December 15th last, wc find, that for from the Otago railways a very inconsiderable return was derived. The total revenue for the Dunedin lino, 93 miles in length, was £38,952 3s 3d, and the expenditure £33,420 12s; showing a profit of £5531 11s 3d, The revenue derived from the Invercargill lino, 140 miles in length, was £17,216 19s 7d, and the expenditure £14,475 Is; the profit being £2741 18s 7d. On the Christchurch lines, 381 miles in length, the total revenue was £106,053 9s 9d, and the expenditure £86,226 14s 8d; the profit being £19,826 15s Id. Yet the Da Hi/ Times calmly asserts that “ this [Otago] is the one only province of the old days that does not figure in the list of losing linos.” Instead of this being the case it will no doubt be found at the close of the financial year that Canterbury is the one only province of the old days which has contributed the greater portion of the railway revenue of the present financial year. Up to December 15th, Canterbury’s contribution was £19,826 15s Id, and Otago’s £8,273 9s j.od. During the present half-year the disproportion will no donbe greater. Hitherto Canterbury has exported more grain than Otago, and as all this produce is nearly all carried during the half-year from January to June, our railway returns will show proportionally higher. For example during 1876 the export of flour, grain, Ac., from Canterbury and Otago was as follows: — Canterbury, Otago. Flour, tons 35 60 Bran and sharps, tons ... 1,053 668 Wheat, bushels ... ... 480,072 184,029 Barley „ ... ..> 178,343 36,224 Malt „ 3,520 Oats „ 709,125 549,572 If Otago, therefore, has a right to ask the special consideration of the Ministry, would Canterbury not be justified in putting in a similar claim ? Our railways at present contribute by far the largest amount of railway revenue, and our land will have to supply the requirements of the rest of the colony, and yet the Ministry are urged to further tho interests of Otago at our expense.

In yesterday’s issue we called attention to the charge brought against the House Surgeon at the Hospital, and expressed our opinion that Mr. Collins’s explanation should be made public at an early date. In a letter to the Lyttelton Times ho supplies this. He says — When Annie Robinson was refused admission no reference whatever was made to the lateness of the hour. I merely declined to admit her in consequence of the 87th clause of our hospital regulations, which runs—*That no insane persons or lying-in-females shall bt admitted as in-patients,” and which regulations were drawn up by the late hospital staff, and sanctioned by the Government. But this is not all. We have only two female wards, and had this woman been admitted, into one or other of these two wards she must have gone. In one of them there are three cases of typhoid fever, and besides she must have been attended in the midst of a number of young single girls, an arrangement which is repugnant to all ideas of decency. In the other ward there are two casts of erysipelas, and to place her anywhere near these would have been simply criminal, and would probably have resulted in her death. Lastly, we have no nurses who are qualified to attend eases of this nature. It will thus be seen that the “ monstrosity,” Ac., of my action lay in consulting the woman’s best interests. I may add that there is a proper lying-in ward attached to the Addington Barracks, where medical supervision is provided, and surely this would have been the best place for this unhappy woman. It will bo soon, therefore, flint Mr, Collins bad a regulation to back him, and, iu refusing to admit Mrs Robinson, he was acting up to the letter of the law. But the circumstances were peculiar. The woman was presented at the Hospital gates at a late hour, in a very critical condition, and with a recommendation from a gentleman who must know all about the existence of the regulation, but who, nevertheless, thought that the woman was a fit subject for admission. Surely, had Mr Collins made an effort, ho might have found a place for her during the night at any rate, instead of sending her back to the police cell. Is the Hospital so crowded that no space whatever could have been found for her for twentyfour hours p Had ho made the effort to do so, and succeeded, ho might have broken the regulation in the letter, but certainly not in the spirit.