CANTERBURY.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 280, 26 June 1860, Page 3

CANTERBURY.

(From the Standard.) During the last Session of the Provincial Council, we remember reading with feelings of regret and shame, that the Council had upon the motion of the ex-Provincial Secretary, passed an unanimous vote, offering the barren sympathy of this province, to the people of Taranaki, who were then suffering many of the horrors of war, and greatly fearing that those horrors would be expended. But that vote of sympathy was accompanied by no vote of assistance—it proffered no aid to the sufferers—and the plea made, was that the Province of Canterbury oould not afford it. It is true it was said, that if the Taranaki settlers were driven from their homes, and could any of them find the means to come here, we would give them food and lodging. Yet. at this very time, was this same Provncial Council engaged in concocting measures for the expending of between two and three hundred thousand pounds, including the saddling of the province with a debt of one hundred thousand pounds, upon a scheme of but doubtful expediency at the present time. But they had not a single hundred to spare for the relief of those who under the circumstances, might be considered as our brothers and our sisters, who, if they escaped with their lives, wore, and are suffering the total destruction of their property. The «[uiet Nelson and the quarrelsome Wellington, each voted .£IOOO to the sufferers. Nay more, the governing bodies of tile latter, threw aside for a time their cherished hatreds, to join unanimously, in the act of charity and love. But the would-be leading Province of Canterbury had nothing to give from the public purse^ although free from danger, which Wellington was not, nor were our rulers ready to open the way for private charity. We are reaping our reward, and the finger of scorn and contempt is being pointed at us by our sister provinces. We shall ourselves say no more on this part of the question, but refer our readers to a letter signed ' A Pilgrim,' and inserted in another column of this day's issue. We can add nothing to what our correspondent has said upon the subject, and we would not lessen the force of his observations, by diluting them by our remarks. In his last paragraph, our correspondent asks us to give his suggestion our aid. To this request we give our most hearty compliance, *nd cheerfully offer the use of our columns, for the promulgation ef any proposals which may have a tendency to promote such proceedings as may 4 wipe out the reproach that attaches to this province.' We would ourselves throw out the suggestion for, consideration, that, his Honor the Superintendent being from home, and that therefore the public will receive no call from the Government for the prosecution of the good work of collecting aid for the -Taranaki sufferers, a communication should be opened between those who are willing to give their assistance, and who we believe to be a very numerous body. We cannot in charity believe that there is a single individual in the province, who would not willingly give such assistance as he was able, if.an opportunity for so doing was offered. We shall be happy to offer any facilities within our power for any preliminary arrangements that may be necessary. Bullet it be borne in mind, that if we would do anything effectual, we must set about it at once.

Our Town.—lt is with great regret that we. feel compelled to advert to the unhealthy state of the town of Christchurch at the present time, and that regret is in no way alleviated by the conviction that the evil is considerably aggravated by the neglected state of our drainage. The late heavy rains have produced miniature lakes and dirty puddles in every one of our streets, aiid there is no way whatever produced for carrying off the water. But this is by no means the worst of it. Throughout the late long and dry summer our population have necessarily, in one way or other, discharged large quantities of both animal and vegetable refuse upon the surface soil. From the absence of sewerage, and also of water, even if we had the drains made, to keep .them clear, almost the whole surface has become charged with vegetable and animal matters, ready so soon as the warm autumnal rains should fall, to produce a most abundant supply of deleterious misama to poison the air and thence to engender fever, dysentery, and death among the people. But even this neglect of drainage and of water to render the working of such drainage efficient, has not been .sufficient, for we are' actually every day preparing miasma pits that a supply of malaria may be always on hand to be developed

.in uso, on all favorable occasions. The natural gullies in all parts.of the town are beingconstantly filled up, without any preparation for removing ithe'ivater. which in wet seasons will naturally saturate 'the soil thrown into them. Every farmer knows how prejudical this stagnant water in the soil is to healthy life, either vegetable or animal, and never fills up pita or pond/natural or artificial, without preparing beforehand proper drains to take away the surplus water for a 1 times. Before filling up our gullies large supplies of refuse are thrown into them, there to fester and ferment and so soon as a few showers of summer or autumnal rain shall fall, decompose; and evolve deleterious miasma, which, from the deficiency of drainage necessarily evaporates into the air and there, produces malaria without stint, ln our undrained porous soil these misasma vats will never lack decomposed vegetable matter as a material for the deathful manufacture, as these pits will be the natural reservoirs to which all fluid filth will find its way. We fear that is in vain for us to expect any amelioration of this destructive evil for some time to come, for the drainage of this town, deeply and efficiently as it ought to be done, if done at all, will be a work of very considerable cost, and our funds are all forstalle'd for years to come. But we may hear some devotees to the whim of the momoment derisively exclaim, Yes, if we have good luck, we "expect to have, one day, a railroad to travel upon, and what is it to us if we have a few scores, or a few hundreds, more or less, are, in the meantime immolated to this deity "of our present idolatry. Or what is it to us if through poisoned air and dirty water thousands shall suffer misery and disease; is not a railroad, if we get it, a sufficient return for all this? Ouii Streets and thrir Drainage.—The pools and dirty puddles of water abounding in every corner of our streets, might have expected before this to hiive stirred up our authorities to provide a remedy, and that remedy a permanent one, and it is quite true they have set about remedying the evil, and that by digging a trench across one of onr most busy streets, and leaving it open, and also by digging a similar trench across the street of the next greatest consequence, and covering it over with broken planks. We might reasonably have expected better contrivances than these now, when we have brick kilns established quite competent to the manufacture of draining tiles or bricks of a superior quality, which properly employed in the streets, would allow the water to escape as it fell. There are several varieties of drainage tiles or bricks which might be employed with advantage, but we believe that under the circumstances, the description call gutter-bricks would answer the purpose better than any other drainage materials. These are bricks manufactured of the same description of earth as pavement, or tiles, 12 or 14 inches in length,^ inches or thereabout in width, and 3£ inches in depth. One side has a semi-circular, hollow made in it, in the direction of its length, the radius being about 2£ inches. When two of these bricks with the hollow sides opposite are laid on each other they form a square, perforated by a round hole of about 5 inches in diameter. The advantages of these bricks for carrying off the water from such puddles as the sides of our streets at present aer, that being strong they may be laid nearer the surface than tiles, and that any laborer who properly understands the method of using a line, a spade, and a pickaxe, can open a trench for them and lay them down, and that they will carry off a considerable stream of water. A heading at each end of the completed drains may be put down of 3x4. inches, Totara, Monuka, or Puriri. Were drains of this description laid across the streets at the corners where the water is now stopped in its course of escape, aud a little care taken to keep the drains of the streets clear, the existence of the entire collection of dirty pools disgracing and impeding our ways might be prevented. This is surely a matter requiring immediate attention, if the comfort or the health of our citizens be worth the consideration of our town governing authorities, whoever they be, We would inaddition mention, that these said gutter-bricks wtieh laid with their hollow tides uppermost, as drains on the surface ofthe soil, form excellent conveyances for the taking away of surplus water from yards or other small inclosures, arid thus affording the ready means for removing all superfluous water about dwelling houses and premises, thereby not only promoting cleanliness and comfort but preventing to a considerable extent the spread of the sickness arising from stagnant water and malaria in the town, a desideratum we are sorry to say apparently much required.

We congratulate our fellow townsmen that at length the wretched state of our streets has reached the knowledge of our Provincial Government and that they in due form have issued their instructions to the Provincial Engineer, who, having given the necessary instructions, the water dammed up by the sides of our streets is allowed to escape, and that wooden culverts are being laid in proper places, so that we may hope not to be re-visited with the street lake nuisance until the said culverts shall become rotten and unable to bear the traffic. We wish we could hope for a thorough drainage of the town. . Without that we must have periodical endeqjies. (From the Lyttelton Times.) The weather, which for eighteen months and more has been persecuting us with drought, has for a week past changed at last to an opposite tendency. Easterly winds, feeling towards the south, and getting once or twice to the south-west, have charged the atmosphere with moisture, the temperature still remaining high for the time of the year. Though the cloud which began to settle down last Monday week, has lifted only once or twice since that time, and then to a very small extent and for a transient period, the amount of rain which fell was slight, until the night of Monday last, and Tuesday morning, when a downpour came which was moat refreshing. The previous moisture had penetrated the surface only to make it soft-, spongy, and sticky, and so to render walking a dirty and troublesome operation. Now, in Lyttelton, the streets aye washed clean from aU dirt, anc the gullies, turned into foaming watercourses, are hurrying to the sea the accumulated filth of months. This rain has scarcely rendered so good service to the streets of Christchurch and the flat roads around that town; but we are blessed with a conviction that the symptoms of illhealth which have occasionally appeared among the population lately, will now vanish completely from both centres. As may be expected, the heavy rain occurring after a long dry season has not been .without some ill effects, among the worst of which we may notice an attack by the wassa^ upon the premises of the Union Bank of Austral liain this town. The building stands with one" corner close upon the water-course which conveys a stream from Salt's Gully to the sea. The foundations of the building are laid deep down on the solid clay, but have been filled in with soil up to the level of the ground floor. The upper part of the gully is covered by a stone culvert, and below it passes through a wooden one formed some ten years ago or thereabouts beneath Norwich Quay. The latter culvert choked up, and held back the water; at the same time the top of the culvert higher up was obstructed by various substances washing down against an iron grating. The water being thus backed up, soon rose to the level of the culvert top, and poured down over the bank garden td the corner of the building above mentioned. Here it made havoc of the loose clay surrounding the lower wall, and with it the draining pipes which were laid therein. The breakage of these only let more water into the soil, which very soon disappeared into the gully, carrying away an array of water tanks, and considerably damaging _the* approaches to the building. Sundry indications seem to show, also, that the foundations of the building have not come off scatheless. The garden however, has to all appearance suffered most. If, as; is stated, the culvert under Norwich Quay be in fault, it will require immediate attention, for fear of the rain continuing, and carrying away the whole of the road under which it passes. And truly the poor wooden article, after lasting tea years, may justly claim a little consideration.

'Dudley, Esq., as Coroner, on the hody of Thomas 'Cam:<Ml Smith, of Kaiapoi,' carpenter. Tho draM-Td, whose wife was in-she hospital at Lyttelton, w;is returning thence on Thursday to Kaiapoi, end met some men who are at work upon the road near the 7lh mile peg, a little before dark. They did not notice anything remarkable about him. On Friday morning, he was found lying dead about three-quarters of a mile from Trelaven's public house. Oe had, apparently, from his position, and from his plaid-being carefully placed beneath him, lain down to rest, and died from cheer exhaustion, the night being very inclement. A post mortem examination was held on tho body by Dr. Beswick, when the heart was found to be diseased, but not to an extent to have produced death from that cause alone. No remains of food of any kind were in his stomach, and it appeared that he had taken no refreshment at all on the road. He had often been heard to say he never took any on the road when walking to or from port. A considerable sura of money • was found on his person. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased died from want of nourishment and exposure, at the same time laboring under a heart complaint. On the morning of the day on which the inquest -was held, his widow died in the hospital in port. Thus in two days both husband and wife were removed. The latter died on the second anniversary of their marriage, and was not aware of her husband's loss; they leave no family. Deceased was possessed of considerable property, but it is not yet.-known whether he lias left a will. ....,';

Canterbury Rifle. Corps.—Kaiapoi Com-PANY.rr-0n Thursday evening, Captain Scott attended at the Northern Hotel, Kaiapoi, to enrol members af the corps in this district, and give all information required on the subject. The room was completely filled, and 60 persons were enrolled before Captain Scott left tor Christchurch. Several additional applications were made afterwards.

Our whaler, the Corsair, hitherto a brigantine, hns turned out for the fishing season, rigged as a brig. Captain Gay, who has managed the change, reports strongly as to its efficiency, making the craft as handy again for her duties. The Corsair has been out about ten days, but has as yet taken nothing. The French whaler, General D'Hautpool, and a Sydney schooner, the Camelia, are also cruising off the coast. Captain Gay expects more luck with the full moon and a chauge of weather. We wish him success.

Curiosity has been excited by the discovery on Wednesday morning of a coffin containing human remains of somewhat old date, at a spot on the forty-mile beach, about a quarter of a mile from the water's edge, and on the run of Mr. Greenstreet. The coffin had apparently been buried some eight feet deep in the sand, which had lately blown away from over it. It is improbable that any one from the land side would have been buried there; and as nothing remains to identify the individual, the best conjecture is that, dying at sea, he was landed for interment from some vessel at the time on the coast. The coffin is well made, of sawn timber, and in the English fashion. The church at Kaiapoi, having been removed to its new situation, was re-opened on Sunday, the 20th instant. A bell turret is the only new feature in the building, which is to be the nave of the complete structure. Transepts and a chancel from the designs of Messrs Mountfort and Luck are to be added as soon as funds admit. The church was completely filled on both occasions, and the necessity for its enlargement is very manifest.

The greatest activity in farming operations is manifested in the district north of the Waimakariri, and the demand for land for cultivation increases. The entire stoppage of public works shuts out from occupation a large tract of country which would be at once occupied if means of getting on the land existed.

The anniversary dinner of the Kaiapoi Lodge of 1.0. M.U. Oddfellows, took place at the Northern Hotel, Kaiapoi, on Monday the 14th instant, when nearly forty brethren sat down to an excellent dinner provided by Mr. Whalley, which gave satisfaction to all present. P.P.G.M. Hutchinson occupied the chair, and brother R.W. Smith, the vice-chair.

An inquest was held on the hody of John Jellard, master ofthe barque Avery, now lying in Lyttelton harbor, on board that vessel, before Dr. Donald, Coroner, and a jury of which Mr. E. Dalgety was foreman. It appeared from the evidence of the officers of the ship, that the deceased had been unwell since Friday morning last, but was not considered to be in a dangerous state till Monday afternoon, when a boat was despatched for medicalaid, too late, however, to be of any use, as death had taken place in the meantime. The deceased had suffered from low spirits caused by losses arising out of monetary transactions, aggravated by not having receives! news of his family, and had been drinking to a considerable extent for some days past. The absence of a considerable quantity of laudanum from the medicine chest led to the supposition that he had been using that drug, hut as far as the evidence has gone there is nothing directly tending to prove the fact. The inquest was adjourned till the next day at 12 o'clock to hear the medical evidence after a post mortem examination has been made. The adjourned inquest was held at the Police Office on Wednesday last on the body of John Jellard, master of the barque Avery. From the evidence of Drs. Earle and Rouse, who had made a post mortem examination of the body, it appeared that there was nothing found in the contents of stomach which could throw light on the cause of death. The medical evidence, however, agreed in the opinion that the deceased had died from the effects of laudanum. The jury found a verdict to the effect " that the deceased John Jellard died on board the Avery on Monday last, but whether from natural causes or otherwise it was impossible to determine."