AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 745, 20 December 1869, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

The Melbourne papers inform us that in consequence (as is supposed) of being situated in a crowded neighborhood, the sanitary condition of the Hospital is not what it should be. Two patients who hud been operated upon were attacked recently with erysipelas, and in two days the number of cases has increased to 13—10 males and 3 females. It was thereupon resolved that the patients should bo removed outside the tents, that the wards be disinfected as thoroughly as possible, and that tho admisssion of new cases bo limited to the utmost. "Thus (says tue Age) the evil that wis foretold by the advocates of fresh air and no crowding, viz., that the very purpose of a Hospital as a curative insti« tution would be frustrated by the neglect of these conditions, has been exemplified in most striking manner. Patients are hurried out of the Hospital, and the admission of any more sufferers prohibited just as if a Hospital were an establishment which sick people ought to avoid, instead of being an institution to which they should hasten for reli f."

A. Rodgers and W. Taylor, two splitters at recently mado an interesting discovery. In the heart of a stringy-bark tree, about 3ft. in diameter, which they had felled, they found in a sound condition a parrot's nest, its composition of stringy-bark and feathers looking as fresh as if deserted by the birds but, yesterday As the cavity in which the nesi lay is surrounded on all sides by at least ISin. of solid limber, the only solution of the mystery seems to be that, many years ago, when the tree was but a sapling, an aperture existed at the side, t'-.rough which the birds entered and formed fciie nest, and that the wood has since closed over it, and concealed the opening. The Argus states that the Victorian Post O.lice authorities are about to issue env - lopes embossed with a twopenny sfa > p. They will I e ready on the Ist proximo, and wdl be soid in pickets of one dozen each, at 2s 3d per dozen, or four envelopes for 9d. The envelopes will be of various sizes, so as to meet all requirements. The en-bossed stamp is very neat, and reflects great credit on Mr Atkinson, the head of the printing department in Post Office. The Victorian legislators must have a marvellous fondness for their parliamentary seats. The houses of Assembly have been in session from February last, and show no signs of breaking up. They appear to take for their motto Tennyson'a refrain from the " .Brook "

Men may come, and men may go, But we go on for ever. The colony is showing signs of weariness of this endless discussion, producing as it does very little practical result. At a meeting of clergymen of Protestant churches, held in Sydney, the following resolution was unanimously adopted : That this meeting, having taken into consideration the letter of the Venerable Dr Merle D'Aubigne, recommending that special prayer by evangelical Christians throughout the world, with reference to tho (Ecumenical Council, to meet at Rome on the Bth December next, unanimously expresses its conviction that it is highly desirable that the month of December should specially set apart .by Protestant Christians in this Colony for prayer in public worship, and also in private and social circles, for the priesthood and peoplo of the Church of Home, that they may ba blessed with deliverance from ail human error, and brought into a full knowledge of Scriptural truth. . We imagine that such a thing as an unopposed election will never again be witnessed in the colony of Victoria, as by the new Payment of Members Bill a seat in the Assembly carries w.th it the couifjrtable little salary of £3OO per annum, and there is no clause to require any attendance or attention whatever. Under this bill a member who merely enters the House to hear the Governor's speech, and gets his name inserted on the minutes, would draw £3OO for that brief attendance, although ho never again enters the precincts of the House during the whole session. Who would not go in for politics in Vie* toria ? We have heard of colonies where certain branches of the Civil Service were considered a kind of refuge for the destitute —a provision for those who proved unable to earn a livelihood in any other way, but Victoria seems anxious to convert its legislature into a charitable institution of a similar kind. The following are items of Tasmanian news: —The Bream Creek diggings are suspected to be a hoax. The Customs revenue during the past months shows a considerable iucrease. The salmon have been seen rising in large numbers below the falls at New Norfolk. Dr Harbroe, of jtfmgal, has been committed for trial for a, capiul olfenco.