Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Thursday, March 9, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1046, 9 March 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Thursday, March 9, 1882.

Venienti occurrite morin, “To be forewarned is to be forearmed,” is an eld saying, the force of which is acknowledged by every thinking man. But more than mere acknowledgment is required, especially in sanitary matters. Healthy and vigorous action, unceasing vigilance, and a strict regard to reliable medical precept, may serve as a prevention of disease the cure of which would cost the community of Gisborne of a surety much money, and, as a probability, much life. All around us, close on our thresholds, permeating the surrounding atmosphere, stalks in all its grim and loathsome nakedness, fell and dire disease. From Auckland, from the Bay of Plenty, from Wellington, and from other places with which we are in almost daily communication, come to us reports of deaths from that most insidious of typhoids—scarlet fever. Smallpox is still on the confines of the Colony, if not actually within its precincts. How are we, as a community, prepared for the advent of these diseases ? Are our sanitary arrangements sufficiently powerful to combat them, should they appear, as they may do at any moment, in our midst? They sound no trumpet to herald their advent, nor do they send any clamorous ambassador in advance to announce them. Their approach is as noiseless, and as unerring and swift as the elec trie fluid. Science has taught us how preventive measures may be, ought to be, adopted, while we have also learned, from pitiable reports of the rapid strides of these malignant diseases whei ever they have once managed to obtain a footing, how terribly fatal any neglect of such necessary preventives may prove. We have not the plea of ignorance to advance in palliation of such folly. We have had ample warning in the misfortunes of others, and if we neglect the proper and simple precautions so easily attainable in this, and every other, civilised community, are we not wickedly disparaging and jeopardising not only our own best and dearest interests, but those of the many who are constantly brought into contact with us in the pursuit of the various avoca tions of their daily lives. We know the danger, and if by our folly, neglect, or wickedness —call it what you will—we incur the inevitable penalty, of which our lives or the lives of those nearest and dearest to us form a portion, we are not guiltless. If any of us were to know that an enterprising burglar had been seen loitering about near our homes, we should probably be more than ordinarily careful to see, before going to bed, that our bolts and bars were safe and sure, and that our revolver was loaded, and a big stick hanging up near our bed ; and the enterprising burglar would then find, on his advent, that we were fully prepared to meet him, and that our weapons were such as he could not afford to despise. We should beat the burglar ©ff by preventive measures, and probably not even get a bruise, or lose a penny; hut if we, on the contrary were to neglect to lock our doors and windows, leave the revolver in its case, and use the big stick to boil the kettle, the enterprising burglar would make his entry, and would carry off our property, -and perhaps, leave us sore and bruised, perhaps maimed for life, or perhaps dead. Are we not knowingly placing ourselves in this latter perilous position ? Are we not, by neglecting to instantly adopt vigorous sanitary measures, by taking weeks to consider over what we really cannot afford to leave undone for a minute, and, by a wilful procrastination of our most urgent duties in regard to immediate and plentiful water supply, and improvement of drainage, wilfully and criminally opening our doors and windows, and giving every increase of facility to the unopposed ingress of that most enterprising burglar, scarlet fever ?

With regard to the case of saddle stealing lately before Mr Price, and the curious, and to any but legally educated minds, slightly drawn distinction between larceny and no larceny, as referred to by the Evening Herald of last evening, in a painstaking paragraph, we think that the plainest and most telling explanation is that given by an old legal axiom, “ Actus nonfacit reum, nisi mens sit rea\ that is to say the deed in itself is not criminal unless the intention be criminal also.’” This, we take it, thoroughly interprets the animus fwrandi&o frequently quoted by His Worship and Mr McDougall during the progress of the case. The intention at the moment of finding the lost property must be to knowingly steal it; or the deed is divested of criminality. In the case of D. Robinson it appeared that although the deed was apparent, the intention was not a dishonest one. The Magistrate

in giving judgment, stated that he dismissed the case owing to Iris doubts regarding the animus furandi. Had not David Robinson have been able to produce several credible witnesses who testified that he had made no con-1 cealment of the actual possession of i the lost property, but on the contrary had asked them severally to make it known to any enquirer that he had a saddle in his possession i which did not belong to him, we question whether those doubts would have existed. We are glad the man was acquitted, for we believe his retention of the saddle to have been an error, not a crime. At the same time we think it extremely fortunate for David Robinson that the Magistrate before whom the case was tiled, and the defending counsel, were both gentlemen well versed in the technical intricacies surrounding the criminal law generally, and the laws affecting lost property in particular.

The Bathust burr is flourishing in splendid luxuriance in various places about Shortland. The sheep shipped here on board the Oreti on her last northern trip arrived in Auckland in excellent condition. There were 550,000 copies of the Christmas number uf the London Graphic disposed of within 24 hours of leaving the press. This represents a sum of £13,750. The firing for the Government prize by the J Battery Volunteer Artillery, which should have taken place yesterday, has been postponed until an early date next week. We learn that up to yesterday afternoon, the number of shares in the Hamilton and Rotorua railway subscribed for in Auckland amounted to 126,000. —A’.Z. Herald, Bth March. Messrs Pitt and Bennett held an auction sale, on the ground, on Tuesday last, uf a portion of the debris from the lute fire. The attendance was considerable and the prices realized were satisfactory. The following large yield is reported to the Otago Doily l imes by a Mosgiel farmer: — On the farm of Knockhaspie, Taieri, last season, there was one field of wheat (16 acres) which yielded 94 bushels 37 pounds per acre. The Native Lands Court is still sitting, and is slowly but surely dragging along its somewhat monotonous course. The Ngatiporous will probably be able to return to their respective kaingas to-morrow. Labor is so scarce in the Albury district of the South Island that the contractor for the railway between Albury and Eairlie Creek has had to stop work. He offers £2 a week and rations, but even at these high rates cannut get men.

Mr O’Ryan, the bon. sec. for the Roman Catholic Church fund, notifies elsewhere in our columns that a Conversazione and Gift Auction in aid of the Church funds will be held at the Masonic Hall on Saint Patrick’s Day. We wish the undertaking much success. The Otago Witness says the loss of sheep on Waikaia stations is far above the average this season, which is attributed to the amount of phosphorised grain laid out by the rabbitters. The sheep eat it readily where grass is scarce, and on several of the stations the rabbits are being destroyed by trapping in preference to poisoning. Messrs Carlaw Smith and Co. notify in another column that on Saturday, March 11th, at 11.20 a.m , they will offer for sale at their Auction Mart the privileges of Pakirikiri Race Meeting. It is to be hoped for the sake of the sporting community that the attendance will be large and the bidding brisk. The auctioneers also advertise a lot of good hacks at 2 p.m. same day. Mr J. James, late of Mr A. J. Cooper’s employ, advertises that he has opened a boot and shoe establishment in the Gladstone Road, opposite Mr E. Burch’s. Mr James is well deserving of patronage by any who like to be really well shod. First class material and good workmanship are Mr James’s specialise. We wish him every success in Iris new undertaking. In many parishes in England bags have been introduced to receive the offerings of the people instead of the usual plates. As a consequence the amount of the contributions has fallen off, a good deal of copper money taken the place of silver and gold. A Liverpool clergyman preached a sermon upon the subject to his congregation, taking for his text the words: ° Alexander, the coppersmith, did me much evil.” We would draw the attention of builders and contractors or 011101*3 who may be interested by it, to the fact that tenders for alterations and additions to the Masonic Hall, in the Gladstone Road, advertised by Mr W. P. Finneran, must be sent in by noon to-day, Thursday. Tenders may be left at Messrs. Parnell and Boylan’s, and must be docketed “Tenders for additions, &c., to Music Hall.” The advertising architect notifies that the lowest, or any tender, is not necessarily to be accepted.

We quote from the New Zealand Herald, of the 28th ult., a paragraph relating to the increase of scarlatina in Parnell. Already in Newtou and other parts of Auckland and its suburbs this insidious disease has been raging with every appearance of increase in its virulence and the number of its victims. The very root and cause of the disease is traceable most, unmistakably to bad drainage, and an insufficient water supply. Parnell is a suburb of Auckland, Auckland is only 300 miles from Gisborne, the disease has travelled over a considerable portion of that distance towards us. Our drainage is none of the best and we have no water supply 1 Need we say more ?—“ It will be seen that the present epidemic of scarlatina has presented itself in Parnell in a very aggravated form, and that it is also accompanied by the presence of typhoid fever. The letters of the medical men in the district, published in our report, will give a precise idea of the nature and the extent to which sickness prevails there, and the character of the peril to be apprehended, when as they say, typhoid fever exists. The statement of these medical gentlemen is that the drainage has been neglected, although now the drains are cleansed, but Dr. Wright tells a story of the consequences of unhealthy enviornment which is as full of warning fur the wealthy people of the district as is is for the poor. Water is needed in abundant supply, drainage is necessary by the configuration of the place. Some of the gullies are said to be as bad as cesspits. It may not be unprofitable again to warn the people of Parnell that the neglect of drainage and water supply bids fair to imperil the lives of their relatives, neighbours, and the sojourners within their boundary. We refer the readers of these words to the letters of the medical men for the conkrmation of their force and truth. The people of Newton, Parnell, and other suburbs will not join the city because they would have to pay the water rate. This is the most wretched economising. But they should recollect that if scarlet fever and typhoid fever settle in a place, property will b? seriously affected in value.”

Mr R. Hill Fisher, local agent for the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company (Limited), by advertisement in another column, offers for sale about 8.178 sheep, in six flocks, comprising fat and store wethers and ewes of various ages. This offers a great opportunity to intending purchasers. Mr W. Dowden, auctioneer, and land, commission, and general agent, has most commodious premises for storage of produce, &c., consigned to him, at, his Auction Rooms, No. 161, Queen-street, Auckland. Mr Dowden is well known as a knight of the hammer, and his name is a guarantee that any consignment of produce, goods, fruit, or other business entrusted to him will meet with the most prompt attention and satisfactory settlement on his part. We understand that Dr. Leggatt has commenced practice as a surgeon and physician in Gisborne. He has now made arrangements by which the inhabitants of Makaraka and Ormond may have the benefit of his professional attendance at stated times during each week. At present Dr. Leggatt may be consulted at Mr J. H. Stubbs’s, chemist, Gladstone Road, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily ; otherwise at his temporary residence, Gladstone Road, near Mr Tutcheu’s, at any hour during the day or night. A telegram from Perth, Western Australia, in the Melbourne Age, dated 9th January, savs :—“ Last night, at. 9 o’clock, the Captain of the Volunteers received a telegram that a suspicious vessel was in sight off Ereemanele. Within half an hour a large body of Volunteers and Artillery inarched to the station, where they heard it was a false alarm. This morning it is stated that the telegram was only a ruse to test the efficiency of the Volunteers, but it appears that the Government have really received certain information from the Colonial Office relative to a Fenian expedition from San Francisco.

We (Hobart Mercury) learn that Mr. W. 11. Bloomfield, whose four-tooth Merino ewe gained first prize and champion silver cup at the late show of the Southern Tasmanian Agricultural and Pastoral Society, had her shorn after she had been safely conveyed home, and the result was 16iibs. of clean pure wool. This, Mr. Bennett states, is the heaviest fleece he has heard of for a ewe. Last year, when a two-tooth ewe, she was shorn on the Ist November, so that she was, when shorn this year on the 21st October, 11 days short of the year, having but 354 days’ growth of wool on her.

The other day an Auckland gentleman was asked by his cook for leave to go out to “ see her young man.” He refused permission, and ihe young woman became so enraged at his tyranny that she assaulted him with the poker, and, seizing a marlinspike, threatened to murder him on the spot. Having been disarmed, she caught hold of a jar and launched it at her unfortunate master’s head. He managed to dodge it, and it smashed to pieces against the kitchen wall. Tins should be a warning to hard-hearted masters not to interfere witli “ young ladies ” in domestic service who desire to* keep appointments with their sweethearts. A correspondent writing to an American paper says : —While staying at a Canadian house last summer the following incident occurred. A bull-frog out of tne Ottawa river was placed in a grottc in company with a small alligator from New Orleans. The frog was a large one ; the alligator measured about 12 inc es. One morning the alligator was missing, all search was in vain until justice demanded that the bull-frog should be dissected on suspicion ; murder will out, and in its maw was found the missing denizen of the Mississippi. The gastric juices of the bull-frog had made no impression on the horny hide of his victim. Anyone wiio has been to the Dublin Museum will recollect the small fish of 4 inc .es m length preset ved in spirits of wine with the 12 inch fish in its stomach. This is the only similar fact 1 can recall.

A singular instance of the effect of alcohol on the brain of a cat was witnessed (says the Auckland Star) at an hotel not far from Karangahape Road. A respectable milkvendor, but not a Good Templar, whoso milk is noted for its purity, has fur some time been in the habit of serving the hotel referred to, and of taking a glass of rum and milk. Just before taking his quantum yesterday, he was called by a person to the door, and on turning round, saw a fine tabby cat at the genial mixture, and apparently enjoying it. The cat immediately rushed away, as if conscious of having broken the eighth commandment. The remains were thrown away by the exasperated dealer in milk, and nothing was seen of the pilferer. Presently, however, a noise was heard in an adjoining room, and, on looking in, poor intoxicated puss, the alarmist, was spitting, scratching, and making the most hideous screams, to the terror of the household. The generous milkman expressed his willingness to pay for the broken glasses, but the landlord thought that he, being the owner of the mischievuus animal, ought to bear the loss. He felt that puss was under a delusion, and had mistaken the rum and milk for golden cream.

“ In yesterday’s paper we (V. Z. Herald) referred to the change of commander of the Zealandia, in consequence of the threatened resignation of the whole of the crew of that vessel. A correspondent, who has obtained information on the subject, writes :—The details of the cause of the change of captain in the s.s. Zealandia, are not generally known even in Sydney, where, from the influence of the late captain they were suppressed. We have it, from reliable sources, that the change might have been made some time ago had the interests of the travelling public or the company been consulted. The Zealandia, from her size, comprises a large community in herself, even without passengers, from the number of officers and men therein employed. The captain, for the time being, is absolute ruler, and, as is well known, can make the ship a comfort to sail in, or the other extreme. It is not often that in a ship’s company you find men who are able to combat successfully, especially in large boats or companies, with a popular captain, or the petty tyranny exercised bj’ the Jack in office for the time being, but in spite of his five years’ service the late captain of the Zealandia reckoned without his crew. It seems that when he joined the vessel, some five years ago, he introduced the strict naval system of discipline, and to such a length was this carried, that the life of the officers and men became perfectly miserable. Many of the officers came out from Home in the ship, under engagement for a term of years. This term expired lately, when they seized the opportunity of sending in their resignations in a body, owing to the very tyrannical and ungentlemanly treatment they had been subject to for years past. This wholesale resignation was telegraphed home to the owners from San Francisco, and caused an inquiry to be held in Sydney, the result of which was that if the crew, many of whom were old and valued servants, persisted in their refusal to proceed to sea in the ship under the late captain, he was to be dismissed and his successor appointed. The conduct of this gentleman when the discussion became known was far from dignified, as he went round among the officers to ask them to let. the matter blow over, and it would be all right in the future, to which they turned a deaf ear. One curious phase of the affair is t hat in spite of the matter of the inquiry being kept very quiet, it leaked out, and a number of applications were received from deck hands, viz., mates, second mates, and others, to fill up vacancies, but none at all from engineers.”

There is great excitement in Melbourne over a series of challenges to “ le box ” that are filling big space in the columns. Mr W. Miller, whom I take to be “Professor” Miller, waits till Mace’s back is turned, and then challenges him to box. Mace replies from Sydney full blast that, he will box Miller for from £2OO to £2,000, while Jack Thompson also skips in and offers in Mace’s absence to box Miller for £5OO a-side in five or six weeks. After this all round war whoop, Mace appears in New Zealand, and there I suppose the matter will stand, a case of “ no more brandy, no more fits.” —Auckland Evening Star. “ Folks talk about this being a dry time,’ observed Mr Smiley as he wiped his lips after his morning bitters. ‘ Tain’t nothing to what I have seen. When it gets so dry that the shingles follow the sun an’ curl right up so that you can see straight through the roof, an’ every time a hen steps on the blistering sidewalk she holds up her foot and blows it cool, an’ every time a dog sits down in the shade lie jumps like a school boy getting away from a tack-nail, then you cun talk about it being hut an’ dry. Why, I recollect one summer when I drove the cows five miles for water an’ then had to give them their own milk to drink. There wasn’t any water in them days, an’ we used to catch the dew ” Just then a collector walked up the front steps to ‘catch the due’ and Ichabod skinned out of the back door with his wonderful dry story half told.

At the meeting of the University Senate in Auckland an interesting discussion took place in committee on the clause in t’ie Chancellor’s report referring to the necessity for providing means of University education in the North Island. Sir Maurice O’Rorke said £l5O had been promised for this object some time ago, and referring to this matter in the course of conversation recently, the Premier told him that he did not intend to allow the vote to lapse. He also said he would leave the disposal of the money to the AttorneyGeneral, and the speaker (Sir Maurice) thought if steps were taken to establish a University College in Auckland without delay they could pay two professors, one of classics and English, and the other of mathematics and English, £6OO a year each, with £l5O travelling allowance. Four professors would be sufficient to start with. He endeavored to see Mr Whitaker that morning in order to ascertain if he was willing that immediate steps be taken, but he could not. see him. The Rev. W. J. Habens said Auckland and Wellington were centres which should have provided for them some means of University training. Sir Maurice O’Rorke said he was also in favor of having a college at Wellington, and had suggested it to the Government, but they had declined to entertain a proposal for the establishment of a college anywhere but at Auckland. They considered Wellington was situated sufficiently near Canterbury.