Correspondence.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 374, 24 May 1861, Page 3

Correspondence.

OUR..DOCTORS. To the Editor of the (Jolonist.

Sir,—l wish to draw your attention to the 'number of deaths occurring here, and to a small and well edited pamphlet, the " Report of the Auckland Homeopathic Hospital, and Dispensary for the year ending September, 1860;" and. would also suggest and take the liberty to call the attention of our Provincial Government to the admirable manner in which the Medical Report is got up in particular, to the clearness and brevity of the general statistics relating to the number of patients admitted, to the number cured, and to the number remaining under treatment; also to the inexpen- , siveness of the whole. ."■.-.

The Auckland Homeopathic Hospital is supported by private aid and the Auckland Provincial Government. Its medical officer and founder is the benevolent Dr. Fischer, the celebrated homeopathic physician, who undertakes the care and management gratuitously.

As before stated, I would wish to call the attention or' Our Provincial Government, also the members of the Provincial Council, more particularly now the Council i 3 sitting, to the fact of the inexpcnsiveness of the homeopathic hospital, to the large, number of cases cured, and the few deaths in comparison with hospitals conducted on the allopathic system. ■ ■ I imagine it would also be conferring a great boon to the-province to see printed for general information, a statistical account of our own hospital, got up precisely in the same pamphlet style, with this addition, —that the surgeon's name shall be printed in conjunction with his patient,—that every-one may see at a glance the benefits conferred on the individual patient or otherwise, and the professional ability of the medical practitioner.

: The number of deaths occurring in this and the other New Zealand provinces:—and mostly, too, among the youthful population-r-is distressing to contemplate. When our province had its minimum of allopathic practitioners, namely, two—deaths were rare, except by drunkenness and drowning. Now ; that we have a large number' of doctors, the case is &heved—death is doing its work with fatal precision. It should therefore behove the senior part of our population to look well about them, and endeavor to ascertain the ciuse. Not .wishing undeservedly to throw discredit On the allopathic practitioners, in which this province abounds, but as a senior, and with permission, I jnay ask without intending offence, how is it that our youth die out of all proportion to the adults ? Is there any allopathic practitioner jjio be found here to give a cltfar and sensible' answer to this? I fear not.:

• The climate of New Zealand is the same now as iwhen the first settlers landed —the .population is larger, truly ; but that is no reason we should die except of old age. The houses generally are suitable and well ventilated; the town drainage is progressing favorably, and as fast aa,.circumstances will:admit; less of our .food is adulterated here than in England; we have good drinkable water,. and plenty of it; in general there is less anxiety! to rear a family, and no idea of sheer want existing here,—where then does the cause exist for our continual bereavements ? This is a serious question. I presume, Mr. Editor, you will with pleasure give publicity to any statements or correspondence that may tend to throw'light on this distressing subject.

Yours, &c, .;...-.■ CHRONIC.

Nelson, May 18, 18G1.