Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1277, 19 March 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1872.

The recent importation of that terrible scourge of the human race, small po\, amongst a party of immigrants, forcibly suggests to our mind the necessity that exists for stringent quarantine laws and their mare strict enforcement. What has taken place on board the ship -England is hut that which might have been looked for amongst the earlier results of the immigration policy. It was only to be expected that sooner or later some dangerously infectious or contagious disease would be brought to our shores by means of some or other of the ships employed to bring an extraordinary increase of population. Unless the utmost care be taken by those having charge o( the arrangements on hoar 4 such vessels, relative to food; clothing, cleanliuenSj and ventilation, they are pretty certain to become hotbeds of disease, and to develop in a ■virulent form any tendency thereto that may exist in auy of the passengers. This consideration shows the danger attending the indiscriminate communication with new comets by the residents of the and the necessity of arrangements for the complete isolation of new arrivals, whenever such indications are apparent.

Xt is perhaps a good thing that the (pircum«tances attending the arrival of the Ejaglawd fee QQQuncd at so ear]y

a stage of the development of the immigration scheme, as it cannot fail to cause the Government to take such steps as are necessary for the protection of other ports of the colony from the danger vO which Wellington has been subjected. As it was, no arrangements to meet any such contingency existed in the port of "Wellington ; but it fortunately happened that an island existed in the harbor sufficiently isolated as to be capable of being promptly converted into a quarantine station ; but, even then, preparations had to be made, buildings erected, &c, before the unfortunate invalids could be released from their lazar-house, and placed in circumstances more favorable to their restoration to health and strength. Even after all the precautions taken, it is doubtful whether it will be possible to prevent the spread of the disoase on shore, for there must necessarily have been a much greater risk of communicating it to residents than there would have been if proper quarantine arrangements had previously existed, and the immigrants had been at once placed under its regulations.

We wish now to point out the fact that as yet we have no such arrangements for this port. There is no doubt that vessels containing immigrants for Hawke's Bay may shortly arrive from beyond sea, and no one can tell that circumstances more or less similar to those which existed on board the England may not have place on board some of them We have no Soames' Inland in uur Bay to be converted into an impromptu quarantine ground, and it is absolutely essential to the recovery of the afflicted that they should be released from the confinement of shipboard as speedily as possible. We, therefore, trust that the Government will not delay to take measures commensurate with the necessities of the case, either by providing a quarantine for the whole Colony, or arranging for the special requirements of each particular port, v here immigrants may be expected to arrive, so as to reduce to a minimum the chance of the introduction amongst us of any danger such as that brought to the shores of the colony by the immigrant ship England.

One civil case occupied the whole morning in tie Resilient Magistrate's Court to-day.—Paramena and others v. Davie, a claim of .£SO damage for cutting down timber in a portion of the Raukawa bush belonging to plaintiffs, Mr Lee appeared for the plaintiffs; Mr Stedman for the defendant. The fact of the damage was not disputed ; but the defendent denied his responsibility ; alleging that the damage had been committed under the directions of a man named Cannon, who krtew the boundaries; and who had been directed to cut the timber in a part of the bush belonging to defendant. Cannon denied this, stating that he had nothing to do with the sawyers who had committed the damage, and thai he had warned them and Davie too that they were trespassing and that they would get into trouble Kvidence was also taken as to the value of the timber cut; one of the trees in particular, which had been tapued by the natives for a canoe. The testimony was very conflicting and the Resident Magistrate reserved his decision for tomorrow morning. Another case— Davie v. Seymour, was to. come off this afternoon.

The Napier Volunteer Artillery competed at Port Ahuriri on yesterday afternoon for the Government prize of i>3. The company was divided into two detachments. No. 1 winning by three points. The sale in England of half-penny postage labels and cards during the ■six: months ended the 31sb March amounted to 168,753,0,6.0, the dutv being £351,562, Us &l

The annual yield of gold is greater in Victoria than in California. In

1867 the value of the gold exported from Victoria exceeded £5,734,748, while the value of that produced in California in the same year—the latest of which we have any record—was £5,000,000. A writer in the Evening Post says : —By the Nebraska we learnt that small pox was raging in New York. Has the Government taken precautions against its introduction by our thousand a-week mail service, and instructed the Health Officer in Auckland to prohibit communication with the mail boats unril he has ascertained that they can produce a clean bill of health ? Such a small matter as this may have escaped their attention, occupied as their minds must be with vase schemes for developing the resources of the colony.

The Age urges the construction of tramway* in Melbourne.

The question has been mooted at Westport, whether it will not be necessary to change the site of the town to one of greater security both from floods in the river and from encroachments of the sea.

Nine persons near Urana, N.S.W., have been poisoned by eating a pie which had been cooked without an orifice in the paste for the escape of the steam and the gases evolved in cooking. The Mayor of Auckland has written 10 the Provincial Government, respecting the formation of a quarantine station in the harbor. The Harbor Board intends to enforce the quarantine regulations against vessels arriving from Britain.

A yacht club has been formed in Auckland.

The Thames chief Taraia, described as " the last of the cannibals," is dead. The body lias been placed in a coffin with a glass lid. A great gathering is expected at the tangi. The Wanganui Herald hears that the General Government are about to reward the, distingivised services of Mr Edwin Woon with a billet in the native department as usual. The cry is "still they come !'' Sawn timber is selling at from 35s to 40s per 100 feet at the Tnangahua diggings, Nelson.

Sir Alfred Stephen, 0.8, Chief Justice of New South Wales, was sworn in as Governor of the colony upon the departure of Lord Bel more.

A claim at; the Half-ounce diggings, Grey Valley, has been yielding 90 ozs. per week foi eight men; and another, in the .same locality, 40 ozs. per week for -six men.

4,669 persons in Bunedin have, by signature, pledged themselves not to shop after one o'clock on Saturdays. The road sicamer belonging to the Provincial Government of Canterbury has been submitted to public auction. It was bought in for the Government at £'375.

A new Scotch Church, to hold 900 persons, is to be erected in Collins-st., Melbourne, at a cost of £20,000.

A navvy on the Southern Railway Extension, Canterbury, has declined to work there any longer, on the ground that the scenery is so very uninteresting. Poor fellow ! The Southern Cross complains that Auckland is the only centre of a town population in New Zealand which can not boast, of possessing a volunteer fire brigade. The claims made by the United States, which have been brought before the Aititration Commission at Geneva, for direct losses caused by the depredations of the Alabama and other vessels alleged to have been fitted out in British ports during the civil war, amount to $19,021,428, or nearly four millions sterling. The Camera Times is not surprised that, " in the absence of Mr Vogel, the Government should have decided to hold the next meeting of Parliament at Wellington ; nor would it be surprised if, on his return, the Cabinet should reconsider the matter, and rescind its former decision." Does the Times really believe (nsks the Evening Post), that a vi*it to Otago would be agreeable to Mr Yogel ?

ARRIVAL OF THE SHIP ENGLAND AT WELLINGTON WITH SMALL POX ON BOARD.

[from the evening post, march 15."]

The voyage of the ship England to this Colony seems to have been made under peculiar difficulties. For one reason or another the surgeon was off duty for nearly two thirds of the voyage. At one time, Captain Harrington reports that the best half of the ship's company were laid up with sickness in* the southern «eas, amidst gales and icebergs All the passengers who could be spared from, attending on the sick, were placed on watches and even then the captain could wiih the greatest difficulty muster five or six in a watch>, such was ihe strain upon them in attending their families in sickness. On last Monday morning, the passengers went en masse and made complaints of negligence and cruelty against the doctor, one charge being made of his having caused the death of children. Acting on his authority, the captain immediately ordered him under arrest, where he still continues till handed ovei to the proper authorities. It does not appear that the captain himself has made to the Board any specific charge against the doctor, but attributes hi* negligence to his bad

state of health and his inexperience in the superintendence and care of immigrants at sea. With regard to the treatment which these immigrants received on their way to England, we are informed .that some of the captains who brought them over, out of sheer compassion for the women and children, sooner than see them remain on the upper deck of a steamer in the North Sea in the month of December, put I hem down on the ballast. The consequence of the inhuman exposure was that they went on board the ship England with the germs of disease, of bronchitis-, diarrlnea, &c, which showed itself soon after their departure from Great Britain. The seamen are now all on dirty, and the passengers are enjoying the good food that has been sent otf to them. The Scandinavians are said to have been very badly selected, and to have been chosen or rather " picked up " from the lowest gtades of the population. The investigation by Dr Buhner has clearly proved that there was small-pox, as well as measles onboard during the voyage, although the ship's doctor asserted throughout that it was the measles, and inserted entries in the official log to that effect.

The New Zealand Herald states that Mr Bedims;ton, who has for some time past been engaged in boring for coal at Wangarei, has leached a depth of 200 feet, and that the indications promise a discovery of coal within a fortnight. The Nelson Examiner, March 2, sa ys; : —Mrs E. W. Stafford and three of her children, accompanied by Mrs Atkinson, were taking an airing in a carriage on Wednesday afternoon last, and returning through the Wood from the Wakapuka road, overtook, in Grovestreet, the carriage of Sir David Monro, containing Lady and Miss Monro. The horse driven by Mrs Stafford was a recent purchase, and although believed to be quiet, was known to be excitable. En passing Lady Monro's carriage, Mrs Stafford struck her horse with the whip, which caused him to kick the splash-board, and then start off at a gallop. As they approached Collingwood bridge, Mrs Stafford became alarmed, having no control ot the animal,, and expressing her fears of danger in crossing the bridge to Mrs Atkinson, that lady caught one of the reins and pulled the horse suddenly round before the bridge was reached —so suddenly that the off shaft snapped off short, and the breeching giving way on the other, the horse was liberated and went off with the broken shaft at, his heels. The sudden wheel round of Uae vehicle threw one of the children out of the carriage violently on the ground, but fortunately without doing it any serious, injury. The escape of the whole pavty was not a little remarkable. Any accident while eroding the bridge couldl scarcely have failed of being attended, with serious, consequences ; while haft the shaft not broken, the probability is the vehicle when pulled round'WOUM have capsized..