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Southland Times, Issue 1564, 16 April 1872, Page 2

In the District .Court on Friday, application j was made by Mr Harvey, on behalf of the executors under the wi'l of Henry Joseph de SmiJt, deceased, for probate of will. Probate was granted. The Roman Catholics in Christchurch appoar to be outgrowing their church accommodation. The existing building, which is now capable of holding 700 people, is to be enlarged to such an extent as to provide accommodation for 1200 to 1300 people ; the alterations costing, it is estimated, about £1000. The committee of the Tuapeka Hospital having made a representation to the Provincial Government to the effect that unless some immediate pecuniary relief was afforded the H ispital would have to be closed, succeeded in obtaining a sum of £200 to pay pressing demands. In connection with this matter the Tuapska Times says : — " We are informed that the cause of the vote for hospitals being expended, without leaving sufficient to pay the subsidy for several country institutions, was that the Invercargill Hospital last year received subudy for 1869, 1870, and 1871. That institution receive! £70 J in all. The question suggests itself, by whose authority was this injustice perpetrated ?" The Otago Daily Times of the 11th inst. says : — " We are informed that a cheque was given to the Provincial Government yesterday by Mr W. J. M. Larnaeh for £31,935 12a 61, being the balance of purchase-money for Mr Jo?. Clarke's land purchase on Moa Flat Station. This sum also includes the value of compensation at the rate of 2s 6s per acre, and survey allowance, all of which Mr Larnach has arranged with the Government to accept iv land value, on precisely the same terms as the original purchase. The 1900 acres allowed by Mr Clarke's agent to be withheld from his application, is upon the understanding, agreed to by the Government, that the same be sold by public auction within six months from the Ist inst." The Wellington Independent of 4th April says : — Some time since the public were informed that the Mormons resident at Karori contemplated departing en masse for America, in the hope that they would there enjoy greater freedom. A few days ago a sale took place at Karori of the goods and chattels of these people, at which the prices realised were in almost every instance absurdly low. The approaching exodus will reduce the population of the district by about fifty in all, of which number seventeen are females. We are assured that the good people of Karori are highly delighted at the prospect of being rid of their neighbors, and that there is not likely to be any manifestation of grief on the part of the settlers when the exodus takes place. It has been generally supposed that there are no insects or reptiles in New Zealand whose sting or bite will destroy life. The following, taken from the Nelson Examiner, would point to a different conclusion : — As a 1 idy wa3 visiting the hop gardens one day lately, carrying her infant, about five weeks old, covered with a shawl, the child suddenly shrieked, and on moving the shawl, a large speckled spider was found near the child's hand. A few hours afterwards the symptoms of a bite from a poisonous animal showed themselves, and notwithstanding all the care, medical and otherwise, bestowt»d upon it, the poor infant died about three days afterwards, the symptoms of blood poisoning being very apparent. In the course of an address in advocacy of the cause of total abstinence, Jdelivere 1 recently in Chrisfchurch, the Hon. Mr Fox said : — " Certain remarks upon his conduct in the matter had been made by political opponents from time to time These remarks he could treat — lie would not say I with contempt, but with the greatest possible pity for those who had nothing worse to Bay of him than that his leisure titna was spent in addressing meetings on a subjeot of this kind. (Hear, hear, and cheers). To this he pleaded guilty most cheerfully, but at the same time he tnus^t claim the right of imploying his leisure time as he pleased — (hear, hear) — and if he preferred addressing rneotings on this subject to playing games of billiards or indulging in the mazes of the dance, he did not see that any person had any' reason to complaia of him. (Cheers). In a recent is^ue we described the facilities afforded by the Vaccination Act of last session fop obtaining vaccination free of charge, from lymph officially guaranteed to bo pure. By last mail we hoar that small-pox is prevalent in the northern cities of America, and in Edinburgh. We hope, though we cannot bo absDlutely certain, that the precautions adapted in tho caae of the England will prove effjctive in preventing the introduction of tho diseaio by that vessel. W ith the view of calling further attention to the subject, we republish tha following from the Lancet: — Weare about to make astateuiont which, if it were not bajed up in stubborn undeniable facts at this moment before us, we should certainly neither believe ourselves nor ask credence for in our pages, so lamentable is it and bo discreditable to the intelligence of the people and rulers of this country. In tho yoar 1870 there were registered in the seventeen principal cities and towns of Englanl 1,253 deaths from small-por ; in the year just closed there have fallen victims to that disease in tho samo towns no less than 13,17 A persons. The proportion of fatal cases to the population of seventeen towns takon in the aggregate was 18 per 10,000 ; the ratio in London was 24, in Norwich 30, in Liverpool 39, in Wolverhampton 4L, in New-castle-on-Tyno 54, and in Suniorland 86. The highest small-pox mortality in London during the thirty-one years 1840-70 was in 1863, when 2,012 fatal cases were registered ; in the subsequent seven years (1861-70) the annual deaths were successively— 537, 646,1383, 1,332,606,273,31^ 958. Last year they rose to the unprecedented number of 7,876, whereof 2,400 occurred in the first, 3,211 in tho second, 1,255 in the third, and 930 in the fourth quarters. This epidemic began in the latter weeks of 1870, and roso rapidly through the first quarter of 1871 until its maximum f ktality was attained in tlu Week ending 6th of May, after which period it declined — at first steadily, but afterwards with considerable rapidity — to less than 100 deaths weekly in August, and tho minimum of 51 deaths was touched in the last week of September. Since that time, and especia'ly within the last month, there have been indications of recrudescence which demand the serious consideration of all who are entrusted with tue care of tho public health. ■