The Colonial Medico.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3250, 8 July 1889, Page 2

The Colonial Medico.

A medical man who bus apparently had considerable experience of the Colonies warns bis brethren in tlio old country that for tlio medical as for other professions the " good old times "in Australia aro at an end. What with competition, and what with the "clubs," the practice of medicine is reduced, as here, to a mere existence; for though 7s Gd is the usual town and suburban feo for general practitioners, tin's is only equal to about half a crown to (is fid. Nor are tlio. prospects of the profession, it seems, very promising. Quackery, we are told, is rampant in all the Colonies, and is likely to be increased by tlio influx of those pretenders who have been shut out by the recent anti-quackory legislation in the United states, In view of these circumstances it is an ominous fact that the Chief Secretary for Victoria ia stated to have forbidden the police to prosecute ucregietetecl medial practitiouers,

saying that tliemedioal men, or some other person, should take up such cases. In the country, liie, we are told, is very rough. There is no society whatever, very little practice, and money is only to be mado by " mileage," whioh is not very pleasant, as there are generally no mado roads, and in some cases " bullock" or" bush tracks," or no track at all, In fact the only thing a practitioner can find to do very often is to drink very bad whiskey , and play cards or billiards with the "banker" or anyone else he can find. The one substantial jact to put on the other is that, according to this authority, with tho respectable proportion of the profession the medical etiquette in Australia is much abovo that of the mothor country.

Round tlie World otl Bicycles. We have bad by cable from time to time announcements of the progress made by two advsnturous Australian bicyclists, Messrs Burston and Stokes, who some months ago started on a. riding tour round the world, l'he 'Daily News' of April 22 has the following remarks "It appears from the narrative of Mr G. W. Burston of his travels on a bicycle all round the world that there are yet portions of this planet where a wheelman on his machine is an object of wonderment anil curiosity, From Alexandra Mr Burston and his party went to JaOa, aud 'cycled to 1 ' Jerusalem' und back, finding them- J selvos tho centre of attraction in evory town they visited. The mountains of Lebanon were rather more in the way of laborous climbing than tho 'cyclers 'had bargained for." From the summit, after gating their fill at ihe vast landscape, they ran down some 2,000 it to Slitora, and tlion, ascending tlio anti-Lebanon, sailed merrily along on tho down grade for twenty miles to Damascus where the. authorities who, like Mr Eider Haggard's mystic Princess, 'must bo i obeyed'—requested them to rido for the gratification and amusement of tho people. This they did with tin excited rabble at their heels. At Baalhoo tlioy woro treated ' like victorious generals,' but were constrained to givo another exhibition for the amusement of 4,000 to 5,000 spectators. 'Riding back,'says the rider, 'was quite impossible, owing to tho narrow road and immense crowd; hundreds of people waited round the hotels till midnight, and all the villages on the plains posted watchmen to signal our approach,' Those who would follow this example aro warned that travelling through countries whore a European is rarely seon lias its disadvantages and discomforts; but in India they were everywhere treated with kindness. It speaks well for the Indian roads that in eighteen days tho cyclists were able to cover 1,641 miles, when, owing to an attack of cholera, the trip was brought for awhile to an abrupt stand. Their best day's work in India is recorded as 137 miles in eleven und one-eighth'hours, including stoppoges. Mr Burston's letter is dated 'Boyrout, 27th March. 1 It informs us that the party were then going round tho coast ot Asia Minor to Constantinople, intending thenco to visit Greeco before landing in Italy, and sojourning awhile in Home, all which is deemed consistent with a hope to bo in London by the end oi May. It is not every one, or oven every cyclist who could find a pleasure in a spin of !87 miles in ono day upor the roads of India; but it is impoa siblo to read Mr Burston's oxhilarat ing narrative without feeling wha' a valuable means tho horse thai wants neither corn nor stablo liai provided for remedying that mosl obvious defect of our human facilities —man's miserably limited powers ol locomotion."