THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1860.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 301, 7 September 1860, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1860.

In one of our late numbers we gave an account, taken from a Melbourne paper, of the establishment of a Turkish Bath in that city : this was caused by the success of one , opened in Sydney some time ago under the ' direction of Dr. Brereton, and which is said to have been decidedly successful even as a money speculation. These baths have become pretty common in many large towns in England, especially in the north. They were first introduced by the gentlemen connected with the Foreign Affairs Committees, now so. numerous and so active in the same localities. Most of these gentlemen had sojourned in the East, and knew from experience the : moral, social, and physical benefits of cleanliness. England perhaps of all countries was the farthest behind all in this matter; for till lately in very few towns could that essential aid to health and purity —a bath—be obtained. And even in London baths were constructed on the cumbrous,' ineffectual, and extravagant plan of large troughs, bathing in which has been aptly designated 6 paddling in dirty water.' The Baths and Washhouses movement was certainly a great stride in making baths cheap and popular; but whoever has entered those large and inelegant structures, .with-;the stall-like boxes, more like inn stables than temples of cleanliness, must have ■ been struck with astonishment'at the' waste of water in performing very imperfectly what they were specially intended for. the antiquity of the bath is indisputable, and can, be traced to the Homeric age. The Romans are supposed to have adopted it from the Greeks, whom they conquered; and it certainly was the most prominent socia) feature of this great people. Dioclesian is said to have employed 40,000 men in building baths. YMerever ruins of ancient Rome are found—in the East, the V/est, the North, the South-—there will be found the unmistakable ruins of the bath : in the lava-covered city of Pompeii are they found both in' palaces and private dwellings; in the great cities of Africa, in Iberia,, in Gaul, and in England, these remains are indisputable evidences of the all-conquering Romans. And is it not astounding that the Western Nations, who conceitedly claim to be first and foremost in all science, all knowledge, all justice, all freedom,- and all civilization, should have neglected for whole centuries what in many countries is not an individual but a religious duty? And stranger still is it that England—-a Bible worshipping country—should, have been the most backward of all in adopting cleanly habits, which are so strongly enjoined in that wonderful and sacred volume. ■

A book pubjished. some ten years since, entitled the',Pillars of Hercules, by.David Urquhart,' has a very long chapteron the bath;, and to this work and to' the indefatigable exertions of its author and his coadjutors, may be attributed, the erection

of the Turkish baths in England before adverted to in connection with the Foreign Affairs : C6nimittee. In the introductory remarks to this chapter the author :says it is amusing to hear people talk of cleanliness as they would of charity mnd sobriety. 'A man can no more be clean, than learned by ; impulse, and no more by his wjll understand cleanliness than solve equations. ,\, The great catalogue of diseases, is no doubt swelled to its present unnatural state by the ignorance and neglect of this gratifying as well as necessary operation. It has been truly stated that our body, is-a fountain of impurities, to which man is more-subject than : the beast, Indeed,,under the Jewish dispensation the body of man ,was held unclean but not that of beasts. The author declares the words cleanliness and the bath to be synonymous; without the latter the former is a sham and a delusion—an unmeaning term, leading us in; our conceit, to, place-the wor4 for the thing. To those who, are, apt to call every nation and people bar.barous and uncivilised unless it has what is called responsible government (where no one is. responsible), poorlaws and union workhouses, national debt,-, ■custom-houses, standing armies, hereditary legislators, taxation without representation, ; and other queer ihings, the following sentence may teach the lesson that the adoption, of any that is good, just, or beneficial, even tfrom an enemy or ' barbarian,' may be of immense advantage:— :; 'A people who know neither Greek nor Latin have preserved this great monument of antiquity [the bath] on the soil of Europe, and present to us, who teach our children only Latin and Greek, this institution in all its Roman "grandeur and its Grecian taste. The bath when first seen by the Turks was a practice of their ene-' mies, religious and political: they were themselves the filthiest of mortals; they had even instituted, filth by laws and consecrated it by maxim. .Yet lio sooner did they see the bath than they adopted k; made it a rule of their society, a necessary adjunct to every settlement; and Princes and Sultans endowed such institutions For the honor of their name.' He attributes the gravity, the sobermindedness, and the contentment of the Turk to their carrying the; art of cleanliness to the highest perfection^ .'.-Knowing they were dirty, they became clean; having common sense, they did not rush on a new device, or set up either a water-cure or a joint-stock water company; but carefully considered and prudently adopted what the experience of former ages presented to their hands.' : As there are many public establishments formed and about to be formed in Nelson, c. g., the College, Hospital, Lunatic Asylum, &c, we trust that the most prominent feature of these establishments will .fee.the bath ; and not only the bath, -but the bath constructed on what is now called the. Turkish principle, handed down from the great and noble Roman people, whose glorious career ma} 7 be partly attributed to the institution of the bath wherever they planted their standard, combined with their simple but just laws which they engrafted on the laws, customs, and'usages of those people whem they conquered, but Who never thought of' abolishing such laws, usages, and customs, unless opposed to justice, any more than they thought of interfering with the religion of the vanquished. We know that it can be urged against the bath that, like many other good things, it may be turned to vile purposes by the vicious, yet. the good, the grave, the austere have made it conducive to virtue, and it has been prized by philosophers, as essential to happiness. , In future numbers we shall give an account of the construction ot these baths, by which it will be seen that even in private houses the principle of this bath, with very little expense, may be carried out in preference to the usual mass of water in tub or trough. But on the managers of our colleges and schools rest the important duties of bringing up a cleanly, healthy, happy population, to extend by their influence and example such habits among their less fortunate fellow-citizens. As before stated, man is not born clean any more than he is born with the power of language; without being taught he can no more be clean, than he can speak without being taught. .

"Measures not Men."—By advertisement it will be perceived; that the Inspector of Weights and Measures gives notice, that the whole of this month will be devoted to testing all such implsments as represent fixed quantities possessed by persons in trade here, and.that application may be made at the Board of Works office within the above time. " Any unstamped or unmarked measure"' after the Ist October will render its possessor liable to a penalty of £10. So that our commercial readers, having had due notice of the penalty, will not be surprised if some day the inexorable inspector gives a new . reading of : " Measure for Measure;" therefore if it should not prove exactly "As you like it" still there has been for so long1 a. time an absence of test where such is of some importance that we. trust it will not prove "Much ado about Nothing" in its operation of usefulness. ■••';--- ■• i: ■ Accident. —An accident occurred at the dig-, gings on Friday last, which was attended with fatal consequences. Mr. Berry (an American), possessing, a clainiin Lightband's; Gully, was driving into..the. bank forming part of his claim, when the earth fell in. upon him and inflicted such serious injuries that death ensued in three hours from the time of the accident. Further particulars will be forthcoming upon receipt of the account of the Coroner's inquest. The deceased was generally respected in the locality. The funeral took place oil Tuesday last. Habitations for Refugees.—We are glad to find" that the wooden buildings proposed some short time since to be erected for the occupation of the Taranaki refugees have been vigorously commenced. The site chosen for them is on the south side of.the New College Building adjoining the. Waimea-road, and the speed with which the work is carried, on promises very early completion. Transfer of LicENCE.-^-On Wedne ,day the Licensing Magistrate granted a transfer of the licenc of the Northumberland Arms, Haven-road, lately in the occupation of Mr. J. Marsden to Mr. A. Bush, late of the Appleby Inn :.'suigties, Messrs. Calder and. W. fl.. West. = . ..-,-. .

New Bridge.—The bridge now in course of construction over'the Malta i river at the east end of Bridge-street, is in such active progress under the hands of tho contractor, that although a very short time has elapsed since wo recorded the.com-, nlencement of the work so much has already been accomplished that a speedy completion of the job may be expected.