THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri FRIDAY, 23rd OCTOBER, 1874.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1622, 23 October 1874, Page 402

THE Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri FRIDAY, 23rd OCTOBER, 1874.

Certain discoveries of a most important nature have been recently made by members of the medical profession as to the superior., sanitary properties of wooden buildings over those constructed of brick or stone. Dr. Charles ShrinTpton lias embodied those discoveries in a pamphlet which he has published on " Hospitals, Cottage Hospitals, and ventilation" in which is demonstrated that in ,: wooden huts or sheds the mortality amongst those suffering from dangerous diseases such as pyemia, erysipelas, and puerperal fever is reduced to such a minimum as to become almost nil-, while in buildings constructed of prick or stpno Ijjege generally prove fatal. Dr. D'Espino also gives \\\ the Medical Times and Gazette an account of a visit which he has paid to the rujedical faculty of. Leipzig, where, the .discovery, has been turned: to practical account—.the old. hospital having been demolished, and its place supplied by , wooden buildings, and, in these during ■ tlio 12 months ending August, 1878, no less than 2G6 serious operations have been performed, and not a single case lost from pyemia, while in the former hospital Ithe losses; of-life from this 'cause : following amputations averaged 40 ,or per annum—evidently a.result /of a moVt striking character. The above facts were embodied in an address given by 'Dr. John- D.ay in A ? ,vgns,t l§sj/. ( befoi-e the Medical Society of Victoria, whicli lias sjnee been published m; a pamphlet Dr. |)ay, it seems, being impressed with the importance of the matter, set himself to investjgat'e;its' probable cause, and has arrived at the conclusion that certain wtio'ds--notably such as are used in

building.houses, as red and yellow deal, American pine, white pine,. oi\spruce, •possefs' the property "of acting on the oxygen of the atmosphere,"*sptd effecting into peroxide of hydsogen,y a substance having remarkable sKJwei*-' of the offensive! products of .decaying organic matter-f—in other a powerful deoderizer, and; as<he asr lieves himself in a position to prove, an antiseptic or disinfectant as well—a substance capable "of oxidizing mid rdestr.qying zymotic poisons. He believes this property !to " bei hlainly owing Ito the turpentine..contained, in ~the .w.oods,„in. question. Should the theory prove wellgrounded, there will be an end to the employment of other than wooden buildings for hospital purposes, and sufficient reason exists in the facts produced to cause those having the control. of the construction of such buildings to investigate with the view of adopting such materials as most consist with the sanatory condition of the patients. ,„. o . Mails close for Auckland, per Pretty Jane, this day, at 1 p.m. Mails close for Poverty Bay, per Rangatira, this day, at 3 p.m. The Vanguard Lodge, 1.0.G.T., gave a soiree on Tuesday evening in the school-room, West Olive. The Rev. H. B. Redstone occupied the chair; and a varied and entertaining programme of vocal music, readings, &c, was gone through in a very successful manner. A number of brothers and sisters of the Order from Napier contributed to the evening's amusement. The room was crowded, and the affair was a success. Tbe.first performance of the California Minstrels, which "was given on Wednesday night hi the Oddfellows' Hall, to a good house, was very successful. The singing was first-class, and the choruses and accompaniments exceedingly good. Among the songs we may specially,note Mf Campbell's " I'm waiting, my darling for thee, ? ' and Mr Mavor's " Essie, dear," which was encored. Mr Rockefeller's song, 't Mamma, where has baby gone ?" was sung with much expression, and this gentleman's alto voice was very noticeable in the choruses. His banjo performance was admirable, and met with an encore, in response to which he played upon the same instrument a selection of chimes. The choruses " Lo, here the ; sabre," from " The Grand Duchess," and "The moon has raised her lamp above," from " The Lily of Killarney," were well and effectively rendered. The " nigger business," the step-dancing, and the laughable farces, were all in good style, and fully appreciated. The same performance was repeated last night, to a very good house. There is to be an entire change of programme this evening. In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, Michael Langhan, a boy of eight or ten years of age, had the chargesheet almost to himself, three serious offences being recorded against him. 1. Placing a piece of two-inch piping as an obstruction across the railway on the 17th instant; 2. Stealing a number of eggs and some coppers from the house of Mrs Hunt at Waitangi-.on the 17th instant; 3. Robbing a child six years of age of a shilling on Shakes-peare-road, on the- 19th instant. The parents of the boy were present, and informed the Court that he was quite beyond their control, and that on this occasion he had been from home two days and nights! The Court reserved judgment till the following morning, when the boy was committed for four years to the Roman Catholic reformatory at Taradale, with a caution that future misconduct would'be visited with imprisonment and corporal punishment. A female was fined 13s 6d and costs 6s 6d, for.drunkenness., Yesterday, one drunkard, failing to appear, forfeited his bail. A little amusement has been occasioned by the following curious item, which appeared originally in the Coromandel Mail of the 17th jilt :—" Owing to the highly-refracted condition of the atmosphere on Tuesday liight, tho 15th instant, the phenomenon of a double moon was distinctly visible for a considerable time. The two moons were plainly seen, one under the other, and, the weather-wise foretold a heavy fall of rain as a consequence. The rain which fell yesterday justified their predictions." (A humorous writer in a southern contemporary claims to have witnessed a similar phenomenon, to which, as a weather-sign, he attaches little importance. It will be generally admitted that there is an oc-. casional want of accuracy in observations of this kind—so much depends upon the observers. , , Truly this is an official ridden country. The latest instance in point is reported from Opotiki, where a great and unmerited hardship has been inflicted on a deserving officer — Joyce, A.O. He had served eleven years in flic Colonial forces, during the whole of which time he bore an unblemished character. Being desirous of entering the marriage state, he applied/for the usual permission, which in a case of this kind is ■ a mere matter of form. While waiting for the reply from Wellington,'he made all preparations, and his intended had come to Opotiki, .when his application was returned, he having inadvertently omitted to enclose, a certificate of character. He immediately repaired the omission ; but, everything being in readiness, did not delay his marriage. Resiilt: disgraceful and instant dismissal for ".disobedience to the rules:-of. the service." The usual course l in such cases' "has-been to inflict a trifling- fine, and administer a caution ; but this wjll not now satisfy the outraged proprieties of an overgrown officialism. The affair has roused deep'indignation in Opptiki, and the local scribe has : given expression tp' the-'JBClitimcnt in the. Bay of Plenty Tjmes j n po wimioji terms.

Sir George Grey has addressed a strongly worded petition to the Governor against the proposed constitutional ch|hges. The text of tlife petition; wiiu) published yesterday in the'New Zea- ■>. la&d Herald. Sir George considers t\m proposed change and a' violation Of the liberties of the people. He. is of opinion that in deciding to sweep away Provincial Councils without: consulting the public, Parliament has set a bad example to the whole Empire. The New Zealand Tablet, (Dunedin), which has apparently at its command sources' of; information which are not accessiblfi to its contemporaries generally, informs, its readers that the action of the Marquis of Ripon in abandoning Freemasonry and joining the Church of Rome, was " a most glorious triumph" secured by that Church, and was " celebrated in the Court of Heaven above with groat joy.'' The speedy conversion of Mr Disraeli and Mr Gladstone is predicted in the same article. The state of feeling in some quarters in Germany may be gathered from the fact that some careful observers of the course of events are apprehensive cf another struggle like the Thirty-Years War in that country. Political struggles, it is remarked, in tho present state of military science, are short and decisive ; but when tho element of religious fanaticism is introduced, they may be prolonged indefinitely. According to the Neue Allgemeine Zeitung, the Ultramontane papers of Germany are now ventilatiug the idea of " a general religious war." The charms of some fair damsel of Taranaki have proved too much for a susceptible member of the literary staff of the News, {whose glowing description of his inamorata is but faintly d isguised by being written in the plural number. This is what he says :—" While it has always been an acknowledged fact that the Taranaki women are the fairest in New Zealand, yet the half has not been told of them. Their forms are perfect models of ease and grace, and there is a certain style and gesture in their walk which is not possessed by one out of a thousand in the rest of the Colony. Their features are regular and handsome; their skin fair i light waving hair ; dark blue eyes, and a peachy their cheeks which make them almostfirYesistible. Their forms are muchbetter'developed than other wornem and though slender enough around [the waist their muscle is sufficient to curb the fiery steed uppti whose back they take their morning exercise." A recent shipment of copper tokens to the nominal value of £l6O, recently received by the Auckland Licensed Victuallers' Association, has attracted public attention to the very unsatisfactory state of our copper currency, which is in no way improved by so largo an accession of spurious coin. There being no means of calling in the old coinage in this country, there is in circulation every kind of copper coin that has been issued for the last century, from the ponderous penny pieces of George 111 to the light bronze of the present day. To this is added an unlimited variety of " Brummagem" metal, issuod by houses in every Colony in Aus tralia. Some of these are the size of the old, and some of the new coinage, and it is sometimes difficult to discover whether a coin is intended for a halfpenny or a penny. If . the Auckland Licensed Victuallers had imported a quantity of genuine coin, they would have benefited the public; but their late action has caused much dissatisfaction, and Auckland storekeepers are refusing to accept the new tokens at more than half their nominal value. In reality they are only worth what they would bring as old metal; and we doubt whether the cost of manufacturing and importing the coin was equal to half its assumed value. There is no doubt that tho Association profited well by the venture, their copper token being only the same size as her Majesty's bronze coinage. It appears, too, that as they are issued by an " unincorporated" body, no oue can be made legally responsible for them at the date, (not very distant), when it will be unlawful to use this spurious coin.