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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1128, 23 September 1871, Page 3

A late English paper thus refers to an " amiable blunder " :—lt appears from the Ordnance Survey Report, just issued, that the line of country from Worthing to London, and all around, the scene of a celebrated but fictitious battle, has been thoroughly explored by our engineers. The following announcement will, however, surprise many people. Major General James, the'chief of the Ordnance Survey Department, says : —" I had the honor of explaining'to Count Moltke the photozincographic process in our War Office, the process which probably enabled him to supply the officers in the German armies with an unlimited number of the best maps of France." And why not also with an unlimited number of our Ordnance maps for the of Prussian officers, if the Battle of Dorking is ever to become a reality 1 Ts this clone out of sheer simplicity, or thoughtless vanity, or from a desire to play the part of the frog in the fable? From whatever cause, it is to be hr>ped our amiable weakness will not be attended with similarly disastrous results.

The London Times, Ist July, says ; The deaths from small-pox, in London, during the last week were 232, against 245 and 240 in the two previous weeks. These numbers, however, are an increase on the preceding return of 228, which in its turn has been a welcome reduction from the large weekly totals of 267 and 257. The disease has varied too capriciously to justify our building with much confidence on an apparent diminution, but, on the whole, there seems a hope that the mortality has at la*t reached its limit. The returns we reported on Monday, as made to the Metropolitan Asylums Hoard from the temporary hospitals, indicate little amendment ; but the report of Dr Bridges, the poorlaw inspector, is much more encouraging. He furnishes information, not of the mortality, but of the number of cases of. the disease which come under the notice of the poor law authorities, and these show " a considerable decline, almost everywhere except in Marylebone and Paddington.'' There are three hundred and thirteen vacant beds in the temporary hospitals, which, are, therefore, ahead of the disease. This alone would be of considerable advantage since it renders prompt isolation practicable. These hopes, howe-\ er, cannot blind us to the extreme gravity of the existing returns. For some time past the deaths from small pox in London have been at an average of nearly 250 a week, and have furnished from one-fifth to one-sixth of the total mortality of the metropolis. In some other English towns the disease has attained the dimensions of a pestilence. In Sunderland, for instance, the mortality has been at the annual rate of 23 per 1,000, which is the rate representing the total mortality from all causes in the large cities of the United Kingdom. Southampton and Great Grimsby have suffered similar severity. In London alone, let it be distinctly observed that as many as 1,000 lives a month are nov sacriftced to a perfectly preventable disease.