Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY,MARCH 23,1872.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1281, 23 March 1872, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY,MARCH 23,1872.

Jt is impossible to read the details of the manner in which the recent arrival of Scandinavian immigrants were treated during their passage from their own country to the English shores, without a conviction that the arrangements made by our Government for the care of immigrants during the necessary seavoyage are scandalously deficient. In the depth of a severe winter, in almost arctic regions, we find these unfortunate creatures shipped as a deck load on board the steamers plying in the North Sea, less care hoing taken for their accommodation than would have been the case had they been so many sheep or oxen. The captains of some of the steamers which conveyed them to England, we are told, out of compassion for the poor suffering women and children, permitted them to go down on the ballast, as being preferable to the exposure to which ther-e were subjected on the upper deck. Wretched a? must have been the accommodation below, it was. better than had been engaged for, and as might on|y have been expected under the circumstances, the nnfoi limates arrived in England with constitutions materially, and in some cases fatally, injured, having acquired the germs of deadly disease, which afterwards showed themselves in the (arms of bronchitis, diarrhoea, measles, and small What vender if the voyage was attended witfh difficulty when doctor, passengers, and S&ilors were alilce invalided, and barely able to work the ship and afcteud o,n the sick.

Not only were, the transport arrange ments bad, but the immigrants themselves appear to have been of a very undesirable kind. The Colony was led to expect that the respectable and industrious class of Scandinavians would be readily induced to emigrate, and would form a valuable element in our community. So far from this being the case, the immigrants are described as being of a very objectionable class, chiefly, if not entirely, drawn from the lower grades of the population. This, then, is the result, so far, of the great Government scheme of immigration, and of the best endeavors of a highlysalaried Agent General on the spot.

The evidences of failure are as manifest in this portion of the Governmental policy as in all the rest, and it is now openly confessed that it is not in the power of the Agent General to supply the Colony with a suitable of immigrants from onr own people; and the imports in the England may be re garded as a fair .sample of what can be done in countries fiuther north. So hopeless, in fact, does the case appear that serious thoughts are now entertained by the Government of introducing immigrants from China. An official document has already been tor warded to the several Superintendents of Provinces on the subject; but we trust that no encouragement will be given to the idea. The Chinese will come of themselves quite fast enough. We would be the last to close our ports against them when they come of their own accord, but we would not do anything to encourage their introduction, much less should any portion of the immigration fund be devoted to such a purpose.

We think the failure of the Agent General to procure the immigrants from our own country is proof that proper means have riot been employed for the purpose, St; rely there are thousands who might better their condition by transferring themselves to the Colony, and who would gladly avail themselves of the offer if it was properly brought home to them. The steps hitherto taken seem to have been rather of a deterrent than inviting character. What, we would a>k, would be the effect on the English mind of the sight of the Scandinavian sample? They would naturally object to emigrate with such companians as these, and the prospect of their society in a new country ; and the proposal to introduce the Chinese will, when it becomes known, have a similar deterrent eflect. Most of all, however, we fear the policy of the Government is the obstacle. Intending emigrants, of the class required in this Colony, are likely to inquire into the special circumstances of the various fields for colonization, and look with very natural disfavor on a country burdened with a large and increasing public debt, and the certain prospect of in to 1 erable ta x ation,

At a meeting of the British and Colonial Immigration Society's Committee, at the Mansion-house (the Mayor presiding), Mr Standish Haly, the honorary secretary, presented a 1 opart upon the results of his recent visit to Canada, which was listened to with much interest. It was incidentally mentioned that during the past three yeais the society had assisted more than 15,000 emigrants to reach Canada, and had expended, upwards of .£40,000. An amusing story is told hy a Victorian paper. It runs thus ; —A Chinaman called at a station not a thousand miles from the Mitta upon a Sunday, and negotiated for the purchase of a pig. The squatter wanted M 10s for the animal; John protested that £§ wa* the outside value. While, the

transaction was going on, the squatter suddenly espied a person who was to hold a ser'ice at the station that day approaching in a buggy, and incontinently bolted, to put on his Sunday clothes. John was rather astonished at the sudden disappearance, and asked the men in an adjoining shed, who had heard the conversation, " Why he run away so fast ] who that man % " They, not being in a proper frame of mind, informed the Celestial querist that the new-comer was an auctioneer, who was about to sell the pig John coveted. The business proceeded. All the available people on the station were assembled, and the minister from an improvised pulpit, began the service ; but no sooner had the first words issued from his lips, than the Chinaman, determined not to lose his bargain, cried out, " My pig; my pig. £6 10s ;£G 10s" The beneficial effect of that religious service we are not able to record.

The appearance in South Australian waters of one of the finest vessels belonging to the P. and O. fleet is (says the Register, 19th February) an event of no little importance. Tip till yesterday nearly 12 years had elapsed since the smoke of a company's steamer had been seen in St. Vincent's Gulf. In every respect the inauguration of the Glenelg detour—for we regard yesterday's proceedings in that light—was exceedingly successful. The trip from Melbourne was accomplished in tolerably good time, and quick despatch was siven to the steamer in Holdfast Bay. The P. and 0. Company may very appropriately accept this as che experiment which they have requested shall precede any definite agreement to call at Glenelg, and yield gracefully and at onoe to the proposals of South Australia, backed as tbey are by the influential support of the other colonies." We (Melbourne Leader) hear so many complaints of poultry dying that we publish the following hints from a successful poultry-breeder :—" Don't attempt everything the first year. T have had gteat success with poultry, and if you will take five or six rules from me • —rules that cost me many a pound to learn —you are welcome to them. 1. Give the fowls range enough : allow not less than an acre to a hundred. 2. Keep their roosts and nests free from lice. This you can do with sulphur smoke and carbolic acid in the whitewash. 3. Feed high, and give them variety—wheat and oats, and scraps as well as corn. 4. Make the good mothers nurses; give them large families and a sopaiate nursery,—the yard sodded with shortish grass. 5. Change toosters every spring. See that they have plenty of dry ashes to wallow in, and use lime-wash to keep the roosts sweet-smelling.

In reference io the sanitary condition of Sandhurst (Victoria) the Bendigo Advertiser says :—Since Ist January of the present year eight cases of typhoid fever have been cuied, two are convalescent, one is in a critical condition, and three have succumbed. It will therefore be seen that this frightful malady, which is the dread of all cities, is in our midst; and i-. slowly but surely numbering its unhappy victims. It is high time that the local authorities, especially the health officer and the Board of Health, took this matter into consideration, otherwise serious consequences may be the result when it is too late. The primary cause of typhoid is attributable to defective hygiene and inattention to the laws of health. Obnoxious gases aris ing from the filthy gutters mingle with the atmosphere, and contaminate the water with typhoid poison; and in that manner any one is liable to be laid prostrate by the malignant foe. Once attacked, it requires the utmost skill and attention to a subject which hitherto seems to have been utterly lost sight of, namely, the ptoper drainage of the city. The New Zealand Herald says: —There is an entablature in front ot the Artillery Barracks, Fort BritomauD, which it would be well to preserve as a memorial of (so far as New Zealand is concerned) an historic site. The inscription is, " Erected by a detachment of the 80th Regiment," with the date. Entablatures of this description are constantly used in England as records of buildings, monuments, or remaikable

places no longer existing, or so changed as to be forgotten. Fort Britomart in a few years will he levelled to high water-mark, and this square piece of stone might mark the place wheie it stood. Mr Froude gives numerous instances of how interesting such records become in course of time.

A Thames correspondent sends the following to the New Zealand Herald, March 11 :—On Friday afternoon a rather singular accident took place at the City of London mine. While the manager, Mr T. B. Hicks, was coming up the shaft, and had reached a distance on the ladder, about 10 feet from the bottom, a heavy weight was heard descending. Quick as lightning Mr Hicks grasped the ladder with a firmer hold, and had no sooner done so than he received a tremendous blow on the chest, which severely injured him, but still did not cause him to loose his grasp. On descending to the bottom, it was found that the cause of the accident was a large dog (since dead),, which in the course of his wandering above, made a mistake, and wandered below. Mr Hicks' injuries were e*amined, and found so severe as to necessitate his being confined to his bed for some lime to come.

Mr George Yandenhoff, who<e death had been reported by the American papers, writes as-follows to the NewYork Herald : —" I perceive by the newspapers generally that I am dead, and have been buried in New York with masonic honors. I never, as a rule, contradict anything that the newspapers say of mo; but in this case it will not be considered presumptuous or egotistical to say that J am not aware of such a thing having happened to me, and that I am as well as can be expected under the circumstances."

The New Zealand Herald, March 11, has the following : "By the return of the Duke of Edinburgh from the Bay of Islands last night, we learn that the American whalcship Europa— on board which a murder was committed, as fully reported in this journal a fortnight ago arrived at Russell on Tuesday last, a full ship, after having been out five years. On board of her the young Portuguese murderer was "till confined in a cage, were he was to be kept until the vessel's arrival in America. He could, doubtless, be tried in this country, but the delay necessary would bo too great; hence it was resolved 10 try him in New York, for which port the Europa will leave in a few days.

Under the heading of "Really tooBad," the Taranaki Herald says : Some wag has been playing a joke upon the editor of the Wellington Independent by giving him the following information relative 10 Titokowaru. The editor must know very little respecting native affairs, or he would never lave permitted the ridiculous paragraph to have appeared. It runs as follows : " For some time past Tikowaru has been hovering about the Patea district, but not meeting with either sympathy or support from the settlers, he has determined to return to his former security at Ngatimaru, about forty miles inland of New Plymouth. This is one very definite result of Mr M'Lean's native policy. Before taking his leave he stated his willingness to give himself up for trial on the condition that Col. M'Donnell should be subjected to a similar or< leal."

The Melbourne Age says :• —We may soon expect a fashion in noses, just as there is a fashion in the color ot the hair, the cut of a coat, and the style ol a hat. Hitherto mortals have been under the impression that they must be content with the nose that nature gave them, and many a young lady whose nose lias been rather too lnucli of a snub has mourned over the fact, but has nevertheless felt it to be incur* able. Better clays have,, however, dawned for those who have unfortunately unhandsome no'es. The following advertisement copied from a London paper, assures relief to those dj* contented with their noses •

NOSE MACHINE.—This is a contrivance; which,, applied to the nose for an hour daily, so directs the soft cartilage of which the member consists, thai an ill-formed nose is quickly shaped to perfection. Any one can use them, and without pain.

—The cost of these articles is very moderate, and the advertiser is a tradesman well known for his cosmetics, uV pilatorieSj and similar avtides*