Correspondence.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 100, 29 April 1868, Page 2

Correspondence.

HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT.

To the Editor of the Nelson Evening Mail,

Sir — Being with the Rev. R. L. Vickers on Sunday evening when the unfortunate man Enghman fell down in a fit, I can testify to the truth of his remarks. I perceive by the Colonist this morning, that it states that not more than 15 minutes elapsed from the time of the man being seized with the fit, and his admission into the Hospital. He was seen to fall at a little before 5 o'clock, and it was 25 minutes to 6 before we got him in; but he could have been taken in before had it not been for the positive refusal to admit him without an order. He was carried across the road and placed under my verandah, and there we tried various remedies to bring him to. Then Mrs Barton came over, and said he would be taken in if anyone could carry him over. A stranger went for a stretcher, and we carried him in there at half-past 5, and then no doctor was in attendance, although half an hour had elapsed ; and it was not till 7 o'clock that medical assistance was obtained. Thus the man was at least two hours lying in a fit before any medical aid came to his assistance. Why not hold an inquest that some of these facts might come out? Is it because the Doctor of the Hospital is Coroner as well ? If an inquest on the man whose body was exhumed two or three weeks ago was requisite, is not this more so, for the sake of suffering humanity? Some searching enquiry ought to be made in the matter.

Yours, &c, G. S. Wilson.

It appears that the Kaikoura performed the passage from Panama to Wellington in 623 hours, averaging lOf knots to Rapa, and 10 \ from thence to Wellington. As the contract time with the Government is 650 hours, Captain Darke is entitled on behalf of the Panama Company to demand from the New Zealand Government and that of New South Wales a gratuity of £] 00 or more for having .performed the voyage under contract time.

On Friday evening last, about thirty gentlemen, including representatives of the principal mercantile; firms and Banks, and other influential residents, met at the Albion Hotel, Grey mouth, in order to do honor to D. Johnston, Esq., late Collector of Customs at this Port, prior to his departure for Nelson. James Davies, Esq., was called to the chair, and H. Kenrick, Esq., to the vice-chair. After the usual loyal toasts had been proposed and responded to, the chairman proposed the health of the guest of the evening, and in appropriate language expressed the regret of the mercantile community at Mr Johnston's departure, and bore testimony to that gentleman's uniform attention to the dirties of his office, and the courtesy he had always displayed towards all with whom he had come in contact. He congratulated Mr Johnston on the improved position he was called upon to occupy, and assured him that he would take with him the best wishes of the-people of Greymouth. Mr Johnson feelingly responded to the toast,and expressed his thanks for the assistance which the mercantile community had rendered him in the performance of his duties. Several other toasts were drank, and the company separated after spending a very pleasant evening.

The Westport Times has the following : — On Thursday night, the two gentlemen connected with the Bank of New Zealand, who had joined the volunteers, tendered their resignation. Acting-Captain Pitt in publicly announcing the fact to the Volunteers, stated that the gentlemen in question had not resigned of their own free will, but acting under orders from head quarters. The facts need no comment, they speak for themselves.

The Westport, Star of the 27th, statea that during the past week fresh auriferous ground has been discovered on the north side of the Mokihinui river, near to the old workings, and a small rush has in consequence set in. We have not, however, been able to ascertain tbe extent or richness of the ground, but from the fact that during the week over £60 worth of fresh business licenses and miner's rights have been taken out, and that there are at present over 100 persons on the ground, it may be inferred that tho prospects are good. The township of Addison's ie gradually extending to the river in the direction of the Shamrock Lead. A considerable number of houses have been moved in that direetion. The storekeepers report that business is improving and likely to improve still more, because the claims as a rule, but especially on the Shamrock Lead, are turning out well. One claim at the latter place bottomed on Saturday last, and yielded a prospect of eleven grains to the dish. In the immediate neighborhood there are 18 claims on gold, and shafts in other claims are being put down. — Westport Star.

The Grey River Argus of the 25th inst, states that the last steamer from Sydney brought 93 diggers, who, after leaving remunerative employment in this colony, and impoverishing themselves by months of enforced idleness in Queensland, have been compelled to return to their old scene of labor. We learn that Sydney was crowded with men anxious to return, but without the means of doing so, and that hundreds were arriving from Queensland. A great many stowaways were discovered on board the steamer before her departure.

The Argus also quotes a private letter received by a gentleman at Greymouth from an old West Coast resident now in Sydney: — As there is a boat leaving this morning for New Zealand, I drop you these few lines to let you know how things are here. As regards the Queensland rush, it is quite a failure up to the present. There has been nothing new struck since before Christmas. The population on the Queensland diggings is estimated at from 14,000 to 17,000 miners; and with a return of about 800 ounces of gold per week, I will leave you to guess how the majority must be getting on. If nothing new turns up by the end of. the month, I expect I will return.

The Melbourne Argus states on authority ■ that Mr Mapleson, the lessee of Her Majesty's Theatre, the reconstruction of which will not be completed until March 1869, is prepared to bring to Australia some of those eminent artists who have been so intimately associated with all that is great and glorious in the^history of the musical drama. Of course it is expected that the people of Australia will offer such encouragement as may be expected to induce Mr Mapleson to carry out this project.

A strong movement has arisen in France against the Treaty of Commerce with England. The agitation was started by the manufacturing interest of the Northern departments, who complain that their trade is fast dwindling away before the competition of ' perfidious Albion ;' •but the outcry has now spread to the lower classes, who are too ignorant to he aware that they are practically demanding fresh taxes upon their ewn industry. A petition, praying for a revision of the Treaty, has been addressed to the Emperor by the workmen of Roubaix, who attribute the rise in the price of provisions, the want of work, and the reduction in wages to the obnoxious document.

The most comical fellow in the world is, we think, Mr George Francis Train. He is a tremendous ' tall talker,' the most selfsufficient, conceited, and blatant of human beings, but his humour is so rich, his fun so droll, and his braggadocio so inimitable, that it is little wonder the laughter-loving and all-believing populace of Cork find in him a perfect treasure. At a ' banquet * given him on Friday night, our Yankee friend, in some way or other best known to himself, got to speaking of a visit he had paid to Rome at the time of the canonisation of the Japanese martyrs. And a most gorgeous spectacle he looked at. ' Five hundred bishops dressed in purple, five thousand priests dressed in black, came up from the uttermost parts of the earth, and sat down with one hundred cardinals dressed in scarlet, at the great banquet of the Pope, dressed in white,' with three hundred millions of his flock at his back. Having expatiated to the immense delight of his audience upon this ecclesiastical flower-garden, he rose to the height of his situation. 'I will build a palace (he says) for the Holy Father on the banks of the Hudson (enormous applause), and when the hour arrives I will carry out my long-thought-of project of establishing a great Catholic colony on five hundred thousand acres of corn and wheat lands, surrounded by the Platte, the Loup, the Elkhorn, and the Misouri, in God's great garden there in America. And the poor people whom he was thus humbugging in this amusing fashion, drank in every word of his oration, and almost adored the beautiful picture which he drew for their behoof. They had no notion that Mr Train was doing a little in the speculating line, and that the lands he was talking about he was extremely anxious to get tenanted by strong, able Irishmen, 'with a little money in their pockets/ which it is understood was the chief object of his voyage. We have little doubt that all this * soft sawder ' will have its intended effect, and that plenty of Irish will be found to settle dawn on Mr Train's land at Omaha, waiting with loving patience for the arrival ot the Pope amongst them, which is sure to happen, as Mr Train says, 'when the time comes.' To what would a man, taking breakfast with his betrothed, be most likely to object ? — To take any butter (but her).

Holloway's Pilh:— The Great Necessity .—When the blood has been impregnated with impurities or been impoverished by bad digestion, excess, or other causes, an immediate antidote is presented in these purifying Pills. Unless this restorative be resorted to, the health will soon break down and the spirits flag. Holloway's Pills thoroughly purify the blood, completely cleanse the lungs, reinvigorate debilitated or vitiated nervous action, strengthen the muscles, and clear the brain. These excellent Pills are particularly recommended to all persons whose occupations are sedentary and conducted in close rooms. - The most nervous dyspeptic aud most desponding hypochondriac will derive advantage from taking a course of this excellent medicine, without experiencing any weakening, irritating, or. any other disagreeable effects. 859