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Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 194, 14 March 1868, Page 2

Catholic Church.—We understand that it is the intention of *he Rev. Father Walsh to open the newChurch on Tuesday next. The building has little or no ornament about it, and the interior will not be completed for some little time. This will be the first place of worship opened on the Buller, and we hope to see other congregations follow so good an example. The Nathan Ttotjpe.—This family have completed their Charleston engagement. They arrived in the Buller yesterday morning by coach, and proceeds by the Kennedy this morning to Grreymouth aud Hokitika, where they intend giving some of their talented performances. Mb Cashmore's Sale.—ln another column we draw the attention of our readers to the clearing-out sale of Mr Cashmore's stock. As the gentleman means to clear out, it will be an excellent opportunity for the inhabitants of Westport to refit themselves without a sacrifice to themselves. Flirtation.—Mrs C. F. Evereste delivered a lecture on the above subject at the Court-house last evening. The lecture was addressed more especially to young ladies, and we understand it was very poorly attended. Seeing that the majority of the young ladies of Westport understand flirtation in a practical, more than a theoretical point of view, we do not wonder at their not attending a lecture on a subject in which they are so well versed in, but at the same time we cannot understand why the gentlemne of the Buller did not render the support which the talents of the fair lecturer deserved. As we have heard the lecture before, we can only imagine that it was full of points, and deserved more support than what it received. There are certainly but very few admirers of " Percival Keene," or " Midshipman Easy" on the Buller or they would certainly have attended to support the daughter of the genius who penned them. Earth Closets.—The dangerous emenations from unventilated sewers is one of the chief causes of those diseases of the typhoid kind, which have been the means of deciminating mankind in closely packed towns, and one of the chief ends of science in application to health is to make those necessary sanitary improvements which Rre so essentially necessary to nullify the effect of these poisonous emanations, where a lack of water, insufficient ventilation, or ignorance of nature's laws have created pest houses, where the spirit of death is fostered, and from whence the destroying angel of pestilence stalks through crowds of our fellow-creatures. Attention has

been drawn through the columns of our local journals, to the stenches prevalent throughout Westport, and the close muggy weather wo are now getting will increase the evil power of these poisoned gases on the general health. In England, where so much

attention is being paid to the sanitary improvements, the evils of imperfect water-closet drainage have been lessened by the earth closets at present being introduced in nearly all the barracks and hospitals of the old country. The Registrar-General in his report ou the public health of London, says that "he regards the earth closet as destined to be as useful in the departments of public health and national agriculture, as the invention of the powerlooin has been in the cotton manufacture." The increase in the number of our population and houses, resulting in a proportionate increase in the number of cesspools and foecal ditches, demands some attention from the authorities for the sake of the public health, and as the dry earth closet system is the most efficient, simple, and inexpensive way of getting rid of and utilising our sewage, we hope to see the time when its adoption shall be compulsory. Local News.—Only those who are behind the scenes know the difficulty experienced by newspaper writers in finding any matter of public interest to comment upon, the weather, the crops, the health of the people, each form a sort of standby on which to weave a few lines. Our French writers,, however, seem to have hit upon rather a costly expedient for creating matter for sensational paragraphs, and as the idea is a novel one, we clip fro.m the last Home JVews the following particulars :—" Hundreds of the chairs which stand for hire on the Paris Boulevards were recently smashed in the night. The perpetrators were unknown, but they have been since pounced upon by the police at night, while breaking up the chairs in the Champs Elysees. There were two of them, and both belong to literature. One is named Dacire, a writer of farces ; the other Baratin, an insurance broker's clerk and a writer in obscure periodicals. As a comic article on the subject had appeared in the Figaro, the magistrates seemed to think that this couple of lively French literateurs were providing matter for another article, and perhaps for a vaudeville at the Theatre Dejazet. The unseemly freak cost them upwards of £lO, besides the law expenses."

Tub Cexsits of Nelson, The Nelsou Colonist says : —" The census of this Province has been taken, and we believe the general figures have been totted up at least sufficiently to arrive at a close approximation of the population of the Province. On applying to the chief enumerator for the figures, we find that he declines to give them on account of the restrictions placed upon him by the recent extraordinary circular of Mr. Stafford's ministry, and some very absurd regulations contained in the instructions to enumerators, by which the information so obtained, and which is intended to be made public, the earlier the better, must on no account be divulged, not even the totals of populalion! If this isn't tithing mint and cummin, while neglecting the weightier matters of the Government, the phrase has little meaning. We believe that the population of the city of ISelson, as per last census, is a little over 5500, which figures as compared with 1864, shows an increase of about 1000, the population in 1864 being 4543." It may be in the remembrance of our readers that other enumeaators were not so particular, as the gentleman appointed for Westport veryobligingly furnished our contemporary with them, notwithstanding our autocratic premier's letter to the contrary. It is as well for the public that some gentlemen have the spirit and independence to set aside the instructions even of a Premier.