The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 315, 13 October 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1875.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

Bathing is so essential to health that it cannot be dispensed with. The practice of bathing, undoubtedly, reaches back to the earliest times in the existence of the human race, and the most ancient historical accounts make mention of it. Among the Egyptians the bath was an indispensable religious rite ; and the opinion prevailed throughout antiquity that purification of the body signified moral purity —hence the well known phrase, “ Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” Homer tells us that the Greeks bathed frequently —especially the nobility—and that many families had been cut off in his own day, by diseases caused through neglect of ablutionary exercises. To the Romans the bath was a highly prized luxury, and public baths were erected at the public expense throughout the empire. One Emperor issued an edict to the effect that bathing was to be practised by all adult males and females, three times a week at least, unless their health was such as to entitle them to an exemption from this rule. The ancient Jews, the Arabians, and the Mohammedans, have had constant recourse to bathing for sanitary purposes, and adopted it in their manners and customs. In all Eastern countries daily bathing is never intermitted at the present day; and Europe has, of late years, paid greater attention to this mode of preserving health, than it ever did before. Besides promoting cleanliness the refreshing and invigorating effects of cold bathing, in its various forms, have always been more or less understood, as havealso been the sanitary effects of the warm bath. The virtues of water as a curative agent have teen more fully developed in modern times, since the rise of the water cure or Hydropathy, as it is technically termed, Some of the early discoverers of this system, with that exaggeration which is generally incidental to everything new, gave it out that this system was a panacea “ for all ills that flesh is heir to;” but notwithstanding that these quackish pretensions have never been fully believed, it is universally admitted that water is capable of a large range of effects in promoting health. Water was extensively employed by Hippocrates, the “ Father of Medicine,” more than 2,300 years ago, in the treatment of many kinds of disease; and along with a well regulated diet, it appears to have formed the chief element in his medical armoury. In England, during the past century, eminent physicians —including Sir John Floyeb, Dr Baynard, and Dr. Currie — strongly recommended cold bathing as a preventative of disease; and Dr. Fahr, a few years ago, in giving evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, stated that the public health suffered materially from inattention to bathing, and suggested that the public should be enjoined to bathe more frequently ; and, moreover, that greater facilities should be placed at their disposal for that purpose that were then available. Public baths have since been so multiplied in all parts of the Mother country, than there is scarcely a village now without one.

Great as the facilities for bathing in Gisborne are, we are yet without public baths ; and in this respect we are an exception to other towns similarly situated in New Zealand. The town being built on sandy soil, and the streets not being metalled, we are perpetually inundated with dust, and wherever this nuisance exists to the extent it does here, there is necessity for frequent bathing. In all other matters tending to promote the welfare of the town, we display no ordinary energy ; but as regards making provision for bathing, we are decidedly at fault. It is true that many of our townspeople bathe occasionally, notwithstanding the danger that attends such practice from the presence of sharks ; and this is probably one reason why public baths have not been hitherto erected. We have heard it stated that as the sea and the river are alike available to all, and at all times, there is no necessity for incurring expense in putting up. public baths—a view in which anyone possessing common sense cannot possibly concur. If some are daring enough to jeopardise their lives in shark infested waters, that is no reaton why others should do so ; and until proper means are provided for the purpose it is unsafe for any one to bathe. Fatal accidents and narrow escapes from these voracious inhabitants of the deep are not unfreq tent occurrences elsewhere, and we may, therefore, conclude that similar mishaps are as liable to happen at Poverty Bay as at any other place where sharks are known to exist. But there is another aspect of the subject that must be touched upon. Leaving the molestation of sharks altogether out of the question, decency demands that bathing should not be practised in view of the public gaze, against which

evolting practice there is a stringent aw in force. It is, then, apparent hat if bathing is to be indulged in, the protection of privacy must be iccorded to it; and this can only be lone by suitable baths being erected, ks the summer is now approaching, ind as the necessity for frequent iblntions becomes more imperative luring the warm season, than it does at other times of the year, we trust that, an effort “will be made at onee to accommodate the town with public baths. The speculation is a safe one, and we have no doubt there is enterprise enough in Gisborne to embark in it.

The escape, on Saturday last, of the native, Te Hau, who was lately sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for larceny, and also committed for trial, at the next Session of the Supreme Court, to be holden at Napier, for a brutal assault upon Constables Walsh and Villers, has roused the indignation of the people of Gisborne against the Provincial Government, who are solely responsible for this; miscarriage of justice, as it may well be termed. To designate the wretchedly smalt and insecure box in which prisoners are confined in this town, a lock-up is simply a misnomer; but, notwithstanding, it is the only place available for onr local prisoners. Repeated representations have been made to the Provincial authorities as to the utter defectiveness of this building—if a building it may be called—for its purpose ; and although the late Superintendent (Mr. Williamson) when on a visit here in February, 1874, faithfully promised to provide us a proper place for the safe custody of violators of the law, nothing has been yet done towards the fulfilment of that promise ; and in the present moribund state of the Province, we do not, of course, expect that anything will be done in the matter until the General Government will have assumed the powers , which the Abolition Bill ednfers upon it; and even then we may be disappointed. The Central Government has as often deceived us as the Provincial Government has, and we hardly know which of the two is entitled to the greatest amount of reliance. Both have forfeited our confidence, and we do not calculate upon the lost confidence being restored whilst the present Executives hold office. That we should have been so contemptuously treated in regard to the effectual administration of justice, as we haye hitherto been, is a sufficient ground for disaffection towards the governing powers. We have, it is true, been adequately provided with the requisite machinery for the maintenance of law and order, with the exception of a place wherein to confine those who contravene our laws to such an extent as to forfeit their liberty; ' and lacking this ; portion of the machinery, we lack the (most important means of suppressing crime. Out police apprehend, and our Court of Justice" convict and commit, as the case may be, but no provision being made for. the safe custody of prisoners, punishment for misdeeds is so problematical a contingency that it may be said to be beyond the sure control of the local authorities; and what is this but the bringing of justice, in a great measure, into contempt. The dilapidated shanty, miscalled “ lock-up,” is a positive disgrace to civilisation, being, as it is, little better than a pig-sty. It has neither accommodation nor security, and to confine human beings in either of the two coffin-like apartments into which it is divided, is an unmitigated abuse of that justice which ought to obtain in a country where British law is administered. The escape of the scoundrel, Te Hau, is what might have been expected; for what could possibly prevent a desperado of his type, or, indeed, any ordinary criminal, from regaining his liberty, when the incarcerating restraints are so easily broken through? The Constables in whose custody the fellow was, when he succeeded in freeing himself from their surveillance, will probably be blamed for not exercising greater vigilance concerning him than they have done ; but taking into consideration the circumstances attending his exit, we unhesitatingly say that they are not at fault. The blame for this, as well as for many other things, lies at the door of the Provincial Government.