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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1226, 19 January 1872, Page 2

The present hot and dry weather appears to be telling terribly upon the sanitary condition of Auckland city. There is no proper drainage, and the effluvia existing seems to be something fearful. At the recent- sessions of the Supreme Court the nuisance was so abominable as to cause the serious illness of many persons, and the consequent adjournment of the Court. In the New Zealand Herald's report of Court proceedings on the 9th inst. : ?* Mr Brookfield, before the commencement of the business of the Court, asked leave of his Honor to call public attention to the state of the building. He said that both himself and his learned fiiends were on Friday extremely jll, in consequence of the horrible stench that came up from the basement of the building He had heard great complaints from persons attend iug the Qourv on business that they were frequently compelled to. leave the building. He had thought that the nuisance might have been abated by the absence of the large number of persons who were riot obliged to. attend, and an interval of ventilation.; but the nuisance was that morning as bad, if not wor.se. He belieyed it proceeded from the water closets and urinals below the Court. There was also an escape of gas, which, combined with the horrible smell, was enough to cause very serious injury to the health of all who had any business to transact in the Supreme Court, —His Honor said he had also felt exceedingly ill, but he did not know that it was altogether from that cause. He did not know of auy other course at once to adopt but to order these places to be shut—at all events for a time —The Sheriff said the only water supply for the building was from the roof. The recent dry weather had lefj) the place without a drop of water, not only for weeks but for months. A man had been employed to keep their clpsets, but there was not water to flush ihem, except n-hat could be obtained from the neighborhood.— His Honor said the only thing to be done was to close the doors.

The Evening Post, of Wednesday, reports that news has been received in Waikanae that an p]d Maori, named Pipi, has shot himself under rather peculiar circumstances. He was ill with a kind of low fever, which has carried off many Maoris about Otaki and the neighborhood; and hearing that his malady was catching, he shot himself, in order to prevent it spreading among his people.

In I lie Auckland Police Court re eently, Mary, a Maori, was sent to jail for three months for having no visible mean" of support. There were nine previous convictions against her. A contemporary fears that if all the Maori women who have "no visible means of support" were treated in a similar manner, jail accommodation would soon become inconveniently scai ce.

The New Zealand Herald accounts for the prevalence of diarrhoea in Auckland in the following manner;--" The strawberry is, we believe one of the most wholesome fruits grown; but ihe fruit as grown, and the fruit eaten in Auckland are very different things. After strawberries, bruised and pulpy by careless plucking and transit, have remained in shop windows in Queenstreet for 24 hours, absorbing all the floating germs in the neighborhood, they are, we can well believe, any thing

but wholesome food. In this state, however, they are sold at cheap rates to. the poor and 1o children; and hence, we should suppose, arises much dysentery and diarrhoea/'

The Coromandel Mail sa\s: —As a man of the name of William Phelps, was branding some logs in Rogan-'s Creek, pn the 21st ultimo, he found the. body of a man supposed to be that of Denis Egan, who was drowned in the creek on the Ist January, 1871. It was partly covered with sand, and when removed to the bank the tiesh fell from the bones. Egan was well-known to Phelps and others, but the body cannot now Ije identified, as the clothes have been worn away, and nothing remains but the boots, which have not been recognised. J?gaii, at the time when he met his death, was in the employ of Edward M'Donnell, and was procuring logs for Harris's saw-mill. The deceased, if Egan, was a native of Liverpool, about 24 years q£ age, and a single man. As there are two men. missing in this district it will be satisfactory that an enquiry should take place to ascertain the identity of the, b.o.dy found. According to the South Australian, Register an exploiting expedition H so,on, to start to investigate the contp-. nent to the westward of Stuart's rock. It is intended that; the nevy expedition, instead of losing time by setting out fi om the inland frontier- of the. eastern, colonies, shall start from Mount Freeling, situated some miles southward of Central Mount Stewart, thenceproceeding "in a bee line " to Perth, The total distance to be accomplished; will be between 1,000 and I,XOO miles without allowing for deviations, so. thai the tiip will be one occupying many weeks. The charge of the party is to be entrusted to Mr Ernest (^J e s» who is reported to be well qualified forthe task, being thoroughly inured to, bush life, and not only burning with a, desirp for adventure hi the hitherto untrodden wilds of Australia, but also animated by a commendable and more, rational anxiety **■ to extend the bounds, of geographical knowledge." The following is from a recent issue of the Thames Guardian :—The. stono from the Hape Creek promises to prove of greater value than was at first; thought of. Mr Buchanan of Shortland is engaged in cutting out a font for the new English Church from some, of it, and finds it to be very good indeed for the purpose. The stone gets hard after exposure to the air, and re 7-eqmres care in working, as it is very short, in the grain, but it is capable of; being brought down to a very' smooth surface, and will take a beautiful polish. The pedestal is of Octagonal form, two, feet high, twenty inches in, diameter, and two feet in height. The sides will be panelled and carved nicely, and rhe whole thing promises to he not only an ornament to the church, but a proof of the resources which our district possesses, as. we now h.ave a stone at hand whiehis quite fit for tombstones, and the many other uses, to which it will no doubt be put, and which may ere long prove a source of revenue to, the field.

The New Zealand Herald is very glad to learn that a commencement has ac? tually been made of the Auckland and Drury railway and that men are already employed in clearing the ground in the neighborhood of the Newmarket end o? the old tunnel. From this we judge the approach to the Auckland terminus will be hy the way of Mechanics' as originally planiied. The Government of Belgium have entered into a contract with the Directors of the Thames Iron Works, for the establishment pf a. fortnightly mail seiv vice between Antwerp, and New York, by vessels from 3,500' to, £3,000 tons," for 15 years. Arrangements will be made by which this line of mail packets will call at Dover to take mails and passengeis en route.

It is asserted that in England more people are killed on the byslipping upon bits of orange peel than peris.li in railway accidents. An American contemporary commenting upon, this statement, remarks:—"To equalise the two classes of deaths in this country would involve such an expenditure of orange peel that we could not afford t*>, use it for flavoring a pie,"