THE MEAT QUESTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 200, 27 August 1867, Page 2

THE MEAT QUESTION.

To the Editor ©j? the Nelson Evening Maii*. Sir — As showing tlie veracity of " Joseph's Mate" I beg to send the inclosed certificate. Yours, etc.,- ; John Pratt. I was your shopman when two persons called from the Taranaki Buildings respecting some meat. I distinctly state that I was seriously directed by one of the men named (I believe) Sims, to send 141 b. sirloin of beef and 81b. of rumpsteak to the Taranaki Buildings next day. He wanted then to take some sausages with him, and asked why we did not regularly supply the patients with rumpsteak and sausage, for they had as good a right to them as other people. — Edward Smith. The Medical Practitioners Bill has passed through the House of Representatives, and is now before the Legislative Council. It has undergone some material alterations. Local Boards of Examiners are constituted at Auckland and Dunedin, but ir. is still intended that the majority of the Board shall be at Wellington, as being the present seat of Government. Medical men registered under the Imperial Act are entitled to be registered in this colony without payment of any fee, and the schedule has also been amended by the insertion of army and navy surgeons. The limits of the Act, as regards qualifications are very large, but it is obviously difficult in a young colony to ensure the passing of a measure which imposes restrictions. For instance, the 12th clause takes in all foreign diplomas, if the Board are satisfied, upon a personal inspection and examiuation of the applicant, that he is qualified to practise. The bill in its origiual state fully recognised all duly qualified medical men< whether homoeopaths or holding any other medical theory; but it left out such men as the leading homoeopathic practitioner at Auckland, who, we believe, had been originally a photographer, or some such artist, and turned homoeopathic practitioner, without any previous medical training or education in anatomy or pathology. The 14th clause of the present bill in its altered form admits ail persons who were in practice before a certain date (1857), whether they have diplomas or not — and, we were goiug to add, whether Europeans or Maoris; aud it is understood that this concession was stipulated for by the Auckland members in order to prevent the exclusion of the great Auckland apostle of homoeopathy to whom we have already alluded. With this single blemish we believe that the bill will prove a boon to I the medical profession, of which it recognises and assures the status, and will also be beneficial to the colony generally. We understand that on Monday next, the 2nd September, the telegraph offices will take their time daily at 1 o'clock from Wellington, and if a system has been adopted there of getting the correct time, not only will the telegraph time here be better regulated, but also that kept by the different public clocks in the city, which are occasionally curiously at variance. We learn by telegram that the Kaikoura arrived at Wellington with the Panama Mail this morning at 8 o'clock. At present we are without information as to how or when the Nelson portion of the i mail will reach us; rumors are afloat, with what foundation we are unable to discover, to the effect that they will be brought on at once by the Government steamer . St. Kilda. Should this not be the case, we shall probably have to wait for the return of the Claud Hamilton on the 2nd proximo. There was a large muster of the members of. the Volunteer Artillery Corps at the drill last night at the Militia Office, Hardy-street, for the purpose of nominating two. members of the Company to commissions as First and Second Lieutenants. Prior to the commencement of the proceedings, Captain Pitt read a letter addressed to the Hon. Major Morse by Mr Under- Secretary HoH, authorising the ordering of the uniforms for the Corps, and guaranteeing payment for them on the part of the Government at the rate of £3 each, any extra cost to be defrayed by the members themselves, the '. payment of this sum being considei'ed as an advance, the Company n N ot having yet been gazetted. In the same letter Major Morse; was requested to. ascertain what would be the cost of providing a new carriage for the, brass gun presented by the: Government.: to the Artillery ; Cadets. The following.

gentlemen were; then- nominated for a commission as First Lieutenant :— Messrs C. Hunter Brown. Hi D. Jackson, and W. L. Wi*ey. It having been explained by Capt. Pitt that the same (candidates, in. case of rejection for the post of Lieutenant, would be eligible for election as -Second Lieutenant, Messrs C..Hunter.Brown,,W. L. Wrey, and W. Lane were nominated. The election will take place on. Monday. An accident of a very threatening character occurred yesterday afternoon, about 5 o'clock, to Dr Cusack, which hbv&ver was happily unattended with any serious results. It appears that Dr Cußack was riding a young horse, which had~ only lately been broken in, on the Beach-road, when just beyond Auckland-point he met Pickett's four-wheeled carriage, in. passing which his horse swerved and ran against oue of the shafts. Luckily the shaft waa a very light one, and broke off short, inflicting only a slight wound on Dr Cusack's horse. The animal however was thrown down by the concussion, whilst the doctor succeeded in alighting on his feet, and thus escaped with only a spraiu, being in fact able to remount his horse almost immediately. On inquiry this mbrniog we were happy to find that Dr Cusack was no worse for the accident, and that he i 3 to-day pursuing his usual avocations. A paragraph appeared in our Wellington correspondent's letter yesterday, stating that on a division called for by Mr Parker, in the House of Kepresentativety ou a clause in the Municipal Corporations Bill relating to the plurality of votes, that hon. member and Mr Baigent formed the minority, the majority being composed of some 45 or 50 members. We find that on the reading of the 49th clause of this extremely volumiuous Bill, which refers to the qualification of burgesses, the question arose as to the propriety of allowing one person possessed of £350 in rateable property to have six votes, whilst his neighbor, possessing property of the value of £100, is only entitled to one vote. Such a proposition would certainly seeu> to justify the hon. representatives for Motueka, and the "WYiraeas in adopting the course, however hopeless of success they might be, on which our correspondent comments somewhat derisively. We understand that Mr Wells voted for the clause, and Messrs Curtis and Andrew Richmond did not vote at all. An inquest was held to-day at half-past 12 o'clock before Dr Squires, the coroner, and a jury, to inquire into the death of a child, aged eight months, named William John Corry Mou tray, who died yesterday morniug. The jury having viewed the body, proceeded to examine the witnesses, from whose evidence it appeared that the child was suffering from measles, but the parents had not thought proper to call in any medical aid, as their elder child, aged 7 years, had passed through the same disease without such attendance. The deceased was going on well until 6 a.m. on Monday, when it was taken worse, and shortly afterwards the child died. The father's evidence was corroborated by that of Mrs Weichmann, a neighbor, and the jury returned a verdict of "Died {from natural causes." Messrs J. Hogg and H. Hargreaves, who had been summoned aa jurors, did not answer to their names, and thus much delay was occasioned in commencing the proceedings. At the time of going to press, a barque was lying in the bay, at the outer anchorage, name unknown, and supposed to be either the Kate Waters, from Queensland, or the long expected Dona Anita. ; The extent of pocket-picking at the Paris Exhibition may be. judged from. the fact announced by the French papers, that on one Sunday no fewer than 84 "profes-, sionals" were taken "in the act." It may be interesting to the light T fingered profession in general to know that they; were not all English, a good sprinkling being French and German. .1 -~ *■' ■ The Fenians now own seven newspapers' in the United States, two of which are published in New York, and .one each h* Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Charleston, and San Francisco. These all advocate a Canadian raid, and the Brotherhood are about establishing another newspape^.ja , Philadelphia. ...•'•,,,!'', . . • The not very promising sbn of' an anxious parent has : been employed at board, in a country shop, for about six mouths. Parent writes to head of concern, asking how boy gets along; and if he sleeps on the premises; "Head of concern: writes briefly : "Boy good aa ever;; Sleeps in the shop daytimes j don't ;j£now where he sleeps at night." . ,