THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 1682. THE QUARANTINING OF THE MIRZAPORE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2437, 27 January 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 1682. THE QUARANTINING OF THE MIRZAPORE.

Without wishing in any way to act the part of alarmist, it cannot be out of place to draw serious attention to the fact that, if we wish to escape an inroad of smallpox, the most stringent regulations will have to be adopted at our ports. It will be seen that this disease has now advanced on the Australias by all the three mail routes. The Zealandia has brought it from San Francisco, the Garonne by the Orient line, and now the complement has been filled by the Mirzapore, a P. and O. steamer, being quarantined for having smallpox on board. Thus, the danger approaching from three different quarters, the complexity of the situation is immensely increased. But one thing is verycertain, that, hard as it may be to prevent the disease gaining a foothold, if it once does so, the problem to be solved by the sanitary authorities will be rendered infinitely more difficult. In Sydney everything, apparently, has been done which could be ; indeed many have complained that the regulations have been too stringent, but, nevertheless, the authorities have been able to do little more than to keep the disease down. The main duty of our officials, therefore, should lie in a strenuous effort to keep smallpox altogether out of the country. The utmost they can do will not be one iota too much. They are like guardians attending to a rift in a dam. If they can keep the rift closed until the floods abate, their exertions will save an enormous amount of loss and labor. It is the stitch in time which eaves nine.

But the people of New Zealand, too, have their duty clearly prescribed to them by the danger which approaches. If smallpox does gain a foothold on these shores, it should find the inhabitants prepared to meet it. "Vaccination lessens the danger a hundredfold, and every individual should take care that he has done his utmost to meet the evil by seeing that he has taken those steps which science recommends. Cleanliness, too, is a great enemy to variola. The crowded and filthy state of many of the tenements in Sydney has proved one of the greatest obstacles to success which the sanitary authorities there have met with. But there are parts of the suburbs of Christchurch where sanitary laws are not strictly attended to. The inhabitants of these parts have apparently been I eld back from placing themselves under soma borough, or forming themselves into a separate borough, by a fear of rates. The district, for instance, to the souther «t of the east belt is not a district which commends itself to the passer-by by reason of its perfect sanitary arrangements. The danger from smallpox when a population is vaccinated, when the streets are wide and clean, and when the sanitary provisions are moderately per-

feet, is not so great. side channels, and many of the conditions that prevail in some of our suburbs, are friends to the disease.

SAFETY IN COAL MINES,

The increasing importance of New Zealand as a coal mining country lends an importance to all that may bo done in other countries towards rendering the occupation of a miner as safe a one as possible. Much has been effected here of late in the direction of that coal masters realize the responsibilities of their position, but still, aa the works in progress grow larger, much more will have to be done. A preliminary report has lately been issued by a Royal Commission that was appointed in England in 1879 to inquire into accidents in mines, and report upon the possibility of preventing their occurrence, or limiting their consequences, and the London “ Times ” has given a very interesting resume of the results of their labors. One of the main questions looked into was, of course, that of safety lamps. It is generally through some failure in those lamps that the dreadful explosions occur, leading to such wholesale slaughter of the miners. It is a fact that more miners are killed in twos or threes by the falling in of the sides and roofs of mines than are lost by explosions of fire damp, but still it is the latter which most strike the public imagination. The Commissioners, after two years looking into the question, have come to the conclusion that, if the Davy lamp is placed in an outer case of glass, tho maximum of security is reached. Tho Davy lamp unprotected is anything but a safe instrument in a strong draught, hut protected it is all that can be desired. The lighting of mines by electricity also came under the notice of the Commissioners, and experiments were made to prove its feasibility, but a fuller examination into details is required respecting this method. If it can be done, no donbt one of the chief causes of danger in mines will be removed. A very curious subject, moreover, took up the time of tho gentlemen on the Commission, namely, the influence of suspended dust—not necessarily coal or inflammable dust—on the production of explosions. It has been shown that a percentage of firedamp which would he perfectly harmless in air alone is rendered highly dangerous by the presence of dust. But the most cheering part of the report is that which touches on the growing carefulness of the miners themselves. The recklessness of these borrowers in the earth was, at one time, one of the main factors to be reckoned on in calculating the dangers of their mode of life. But a better day is dawning. Education is spreading, and with it the lesson is being learnt that every miner is responsible, more or less, not only for his own life, but for those of his fellows, and that selfishly to run an unnecesssry risk is criminal as well as foolish. This is an enormous step in the right direction. Science is smoothing the way in one direction, education in another. The day may perhaps be not far distant when coal mining will not be reckoned among the exceptionally dangerous employments.