NOTES FROM NELSON.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 287, 21 August 1886, Page 2

NOTES FROM NELSON.

(from our own correspondent.) Harbour Improvement. Under this heading the correspondence columns of the local papers have had a pretty fair tarn daring the week. Mr W. Akersten and Korari dividing the honors. It is all very ridicaloas, for the harbour is plenty good enough for all the traffic now, or likely to be, for many a year. The total inward and outward shipping of the port is about a thousand tons a week, and the actual cargo carried about one hundred tons; and the very remote chance of these hundreds being increased to millions led to the learned discussions and personal recriminations we have been flooded with lately. I sincerely hope it is all over, for it has now passed the stage of being interesting to the general public, and cannot lead up to anything practical now that the promoter has shown his hand —a substantial fee before ho goes into further particulars. I Coroners InquestV

In the early days of the Coast, when travelling was more risky than now, and when all the goods used up country were taken up the rivers in canoes and boats, deaths by drowning were only to common, and inquests consequently very frequent; and as those who W6re drowned always washed ashore on the north side of the river owing to the set of the current, the Gobden folks had a little party of twelve of the great unwashed oftener than they liked. Sometimes two a week, according to floods, but usually one a fortnight on an average; and as the population was limited the same individuals often got together at these lively reunions, and many were the dodges they tried to escape being in a jury. On one occasion the local bobby caught me unawares, and told me I was wanted at 3 p.m. It was then after two. I bad four of my min with me and a dray load of goods for a claim ; I was working on the beach about four miles away. I protested, for as I explained to him I had a steam engine at work there, and the man I had left in charge was a bit absent minded occasionally, and was very likely to blow the boiler up and sacrifice his own and about a dozen other lives, and that there would have to be a wholesale inquest if I did not get back at once. Mr Bobby did'nt see it; he would have trouble enough to make up the- dozen anyhow, and he wasn't going to let me off, especially as I had so much experience in the inquest line. So we stayed. At 8 p.m. 6liarp we entered the Court. There wasn't a soul there: so seizing on a blank form I wrote on it. " We the undersigned having been summoned to sit on a Coroners inquest at 3 pm. sharp, having attended and found no one present, have left." This we subscribed to and cleared out with the dray. We had got about a mile on the road when a mounted trooper galloped up to us, and ordered our return. I told the men they could go if they liked, but I meant going on to the claim. They went back, I went on. About a couple of miles further on the trooper again galloped up; this time with a warrant for my arrest. The Coroner was, all the officials from R. M. downward, rolled into one. I told the bobby who was a decent enough sort of a fellow, to take the warrant back to Mr Coroner with my compliments, and to light his pipe or do anything with it, and kept on my journey. The Coroner on receipt of my message made some very severe comments on my want of reverence for the dignity of his office and fined me £5 in my absence. Next day I got a summons to appear on the following court day to answer the charge, I went. The beak was a little, self important individual, who is still a Government official, but who had only been R. M. for a couple of months or so then, and knew absolutely nothing of law or court procedure. So as soon as I got in the box I went for him. Asked him how it was that be, a public servant, receiving public pay, dared to trifle with the time ot respectable citizens by issuing orders for them to appear at so solemn a tribunal as a coroner's inquest, and then to absent himself at the very time he had fixed himself. That I intended bringing his conduct under the notice of the minister of justice with whom I was acquainted, and so on, till he was precious glad to strike out the five, and after the court was over to request the pleasure of haying

a glass of wine with me. Tliey want keeping in their place at times do these coroners. Some of our new J.P.'s might find the anecdote useful. An hour with a dentist. Of all the ills poor frail humanity is subject to, toothache is one of the most annoying, and least sympathised with, and with some people the prospect of a visit to a dentist with a view of having the offending grinder removed is almost as bad as amputation of a limb; with others it becomes as easy as the proverbial skinning of eels. [I have had a gross or two extracted in my time and

thiuk nothing of ir.J And in these (lays of scientific research and invention, dentnl | surgeons liave become so proficient that 1 the operation is not only performed without pain, but the extraction of an old fang becomes a positive luxury. The action of anesthetics, however, is various in individuals, a pint of gas will r.end one patient off into unconsciousness at once, whilst another may imbibe gallons of the vapoury beverage without a stagger. It so happened, not long ago, that a friend of mine requested mo to accompany him to a dental surgery, and as he explained, that he was going to have a tooth out and that the operation was to bo performed whilst under the influence of gas, it was necessary that a witness should be present in case of unpleasant consequences. Wo duly arrived at the convincing ground, and as the patient had given notice of his intended visit, we fully expected to find all the appliances and the operator ready. The room was furnished with the usual requisites for digging out molars: there wr.s a chair with 110 end of joints and levers which the dentist informed us was the grandest invention of the age; you had only to sit in it, and by a jerk he could get you into any desired position, and it was just lovely to have a tooth pulled out in it. There was a grand display of false teeth and gums, I asked him if thoy ever ached, but the artist did not seem to understand; then there was an array of pincors of blood curdling shapes and appearances, and last of all the gas fixings; the gas holder was about the size and shape of a quicksilver bottle, and the operator said it held 100 gallons—l asked him if it wasn't rather a tight fit to squeeze that quantity into a half gallon receptacle; and ho explained that it was packed in very hard. This thing had a pipe leading in the direction of the patent chair and a sort of arrangement like a fog horn on the end which fitted the patient's mouth bo that lie would take in the gas : between the mouthpiece and the reservoir was an india rubber bag which held about four gallons. After a considerable amount of fussing about, Mr Dentist requested his victim to seat himself; lie then manipulated the levers and joints lill he got him into shape, and then proceeded to fill the bag with gas, talking all the while about the absence of danger in its use, and the heavenly feelings ex-; perienced by the subject. I noticed that there was 110 appearance of inflation in the bag and suggested that he should let on a little more steam ; 110 did so, and in a few minutes that part of the business was ready, then ho gave a few more jerks at the chair and asked the patient how he felt; again assured him there was not the slightest danger, and was about to apply the fog horn when he said " Hah, I think it will be better to use a gag, as you might not get the full effect of the gas." Then he fussed about for a while and brought out some-gags which he proceeded to try on, or in, my friend's mouth, after prizing his jaws about to their utmost limits lie at last got one in to suit him, and gazing upon him for a moment with rapture he said " Do .yon think that will do ?" " Ah, Yah 1" was all the reply the sufferer could make. - I thought the operation would now begin in earnest, but he went on to explain again that there would be no danger, and that if he " took j it" kindly he would turn blue or some other colour, and then he found the gas bag had leaked out. This error was rectified and then the fog horn was adjusted, and the patient breathed in the vapour for some minutes, the operator keeping up a running comment thus: " He takes it splendid," " Never had such a beautiul subject," " Do you notice him turning blue," and so on. Presently the subject gave a kick, and pulled the fog horn away. Horror ! the gag had slipped ; my friend, as soon as lie had recovered from temporary lock jaw, wanted to know how much of the beverage he had consumed. Jt was four gallons good measure, but it had not the slightest effect on him. Operator said, "Whiskers prevented him getting full effect, must go to barber's for soap and brush and lather him." I suggested bringing over the barber and his shop tea. He took no notice, but left us. Half an hour had elapsed and I was getting a bit impatient. After a while the dentist returned with shaving soap and brush, and endeavoured to manufacture some lather. I again came to the rescue and suggested that hot water was the usual thing to use for that purpose; he acquiesced and in a fitful kind of way went to work, sometimes lathering his patient and sometimes the wash basin till he seemed to satisfy himself that he had made my friend hideous enough for even scientific dentistry ; then he stuck him in the chair again, fixed another gag, and found that he had forgotten to fill the ges bag; this interesting but wearisome operation was again gone through and then tho lather had got dry and the water had got cold, so considerable time elapsed before the fog horn was fixed on again.) Then he frantically called out to me to " let him have it." I put on a full head of steam and in a couple of minutes the bag was empty and my friend instead of being a helpless corpse was just as lively as evor. The Dentist was amazed. " Wll3'! why ! youv'e had eight gallons of gas and not insensible yet! I never knew such a casi." I remarked that the eight gallons did not seem to have inflated on him to any appreciable extent, and hinted that as we had been three quarters of an hour ov(r the business and the tooth had'nt started yet, would'nt it be as well to go back to first principles and have it out in the simple old fashioned way. This seemed to strike them and in another minute the business was over. So it saems that anaesthetics are something like whiskey—the quantity to betaken depends upon the taker; but it appears to me that eight gallons is a pretty steep drink. Korari.