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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 154, 30 June 1881, Page 4

The feeling of Ministers on the subject of Local Government (says the Parliamentary correspondent of the Otago Daily Times) is that the proposals of Sir G. Grey and Mr Moss simply mean the restoration of Provincialism in an aggravated form. This they will unflinchingly oppose. Even the members who stood by Provincialism to the last now admit that its restoration is impossible. But Ministers, I believe, while willing to meet the views of the House, hold that the present Counties Act contains full powers to effect all that is demanded by those who raise the cry for reform} excepting this : ultra - provincialists. Under sections 25 to 39 of the Counties Act, any number of counties may b 6 grouped into one larger . county . if thd > inhabitants choose. All the counties , in a Provincial District might be amal[ gamated into one if agreeing themselves to do so. The only obstacle to such a process being carried out consists in - the preference of the people themselves that their districts should remain separl ate. It is not thought desirable to takd from the people their present right o ' • deciding whether their county shall remain separate from its neighbors, whose local interests might be very different, It is believed, moreover, that the present cry does not emanate from the country districts at all, and that tho latter would be quite satisfied if th 6 finances were placed on a better footing-. It is in this direction that I expect thi Government proposals to tend. Tbe rapacity of the legal profession is proverbial (says the N.Z. " Herald ") and people have, been accustomed to quote the Waka Maori libel cbbo, and the State proseoution of George Jones junr,, bb typical cases. But tbe medical profession, at least in Victoria, rur) them very hard, if one may judge frooi tbe following faots, which hove come out in a Parliamentary paper laid beforp the Victorian Assembly. Mr Superintendent Hare, it will be remembered , was wounded in tbe wrist in the affair with tbe Kelly gang at Glenr-owaoi Tbat injured wrist has been ape^fec^ godsend to at least tbree medical menl Dr. Ryan got £63 for going to Benalli to look at that wrist, and £252, for twenty-four visits to that wrist at &unl bury. At Richmond it was neoessary to pay 150 visits of inspection by th 4 same gentleman at a cost of £157 lOsS That doctor evidently thought be had , d 9 n ?: we .U enough out of the Bfjair,~ftnd apparently retires from theieoene, foi Fitßgerald now puts' ih a bill fbr £107 2s 6d— mark the BcrypaiWUy evinced against overcharging by inserting that half-crown for professional attendance re the wriil. Evidently Drßyan and rTrririwrTTr~^-Ti — : — rrrTWHuiVmm'i,- ''_____ ma i r:

Dr Fitzgerald were cot equal to the situation with respect to that wrist, and a Dr Toul comes in with & bill of £28 7e. This latter is so paltry a figure tbat it must either be a retainer or a " refresher " touching that wrist. The balance of the bill wbich foots up lo a graud total of £620, is made up of raiecellaueouß medical charges. The Benalla ''Standard" heartlessly, remarks that had a constable bsen shot in the wrist he would have been handed over to a police surgeon, and the coat would bave been lees tban a sixtieth part of the above bill.