THE UPPER BULLER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 129, 2 June 1871, Page 2

THE UPPER BULLER.

(From a Correspondent.) The Warden paid his periodical visit last week, and had plenty to do in the way of hearing applications for agricultural leases. This is a good healthy sign, and denotes the settlement of some hundreds of acres of waste lands of the Grown. The Court was, as usual, well attended, but the cases were not of much importance. One Commack, ■; known ;in the district as " Californian Jack, " sued Macgregor of the Tirauraea. station for the balance of an account,, but the Resident Magistrate, after hearing the plaintiff** case, told him he

was almost unintelligible, and apparently had not a ieg to stand upon, so he was nonsuited, much to his disgust. Moran and his party have cut the (rack up the Maruia, and it lias been of great service already, a considerable number of diggers having goue up to try the ground which is said to have yielded payable prospects. An accommodation house «nd ferry are to be established ten miles up the river at once. Tim Shea and party from Waugapeka, are bringing a tail race up to a piece of ground at the lower end of the Matnkitaki, in which they have fouud good " color," indeed there is ground for miles up this river which ought to yield wages and would do more thau that if plenty of water could be brought to it. The Mangles, which at one time was extensively worked, has been tackled again by two parties, one of whom tried to turn the river after the old fashion in use in the Shotover River, but, unfortunately, a flood destroyed their preliminary works; they are now setting in to a terrace, but mean to keep the river claim until a more favorable season for turning the stream. The high price of provisions keeps population away from this place, which only needs that to develops into one of the most valuable inland districts in Nelson. In fact, this is about the only part of the Province where miners can obtain agricultural land in proximity to their claims, and the benefit of such a combination is evidenced in the permanent population of the Otago Goklfields, where mining has been combined with agricultural pursuits, to the great advantage of that Province. With the opening of a good dray road would come people, and then systematic prospecting of a known auriferous country, and the cultivation of every .-ivailable acre of agricultural land. Iv the meantime, we can only wait and hope that this locality, which it is of the highest importance for the province, aud especially the city of Nelson, to foster in every possible way, will receive some of the attention it undoubtedly deserves.

nothing which is, of all forms of opposition, the most hopelessly impracticable. At the present moment we are suffering from an outbreak of small-pox. After smouldering for some time in obscure alleys, it has broken out on a larger scale, and is beginning to make us Seriously" uncomfortable. There is at all times misery enough in London to turn the heart sick, if only it could be brought together and exhibited in public. But, a&^a rule, between the upper andthe lo^er classes there is a great gulf fixed. overcrowdiog and filth and starvation fUrremote courts with disease, but the evil^oes not produce an immediate effect b€vond their limits. They are the foul (Jgprewsions into which drains all the corrupt matter from the surrounding district. Is it an advantage or a misfortune that every now and then we reverse the process, and are reminded that we are accumulating stores of a very dangerous material ? Certainly, if we could infer design from natural consequences, we should suppose that some benevolent people have resolved to remind us of the ties by which we are connected ■with the most wretched of our fellowcitizens. Every arrangement is made for distributing as widely as possible ihe disease which has been concentrated at a few centres. Small-pox, we may say, is laid on like gas in every part of the metropolis, and we are not so likely to complain that the quality is defective. No rates are imposed for the avowed purpose of maintaining the disease, though we pay for it heavily enough j but nobody can find fault with the regularity and efficiency of the supply. The patients have every opportunity of communicating the disease, when applying for admission at the workhouses, or being sent round from one overcrowded hospital to another. The cabs of London are pressed into the service, and do their best to spread the infection in a higher class. One begins to look upon a four-wheeler with uneasy suspicion, and to enter it in the same spirit in which a mediaeval Italian shook hands with a tyrant. A ring might then contain a deadly poison, and, for anything we know, the mysterious germs which spread small-pox may be lurking in the frowsy cushions of the modern cab. The central authorities are apparently doing what they can ; and especially the energetic medical officer of the Privy Council. They are inquiring and advisiug. Their advice is, no doubt, excellent ; and the inquiries will produce some very useful statistics, on which further advice may be based when the opportunity offers. The small-pox has been gradually increasing for the last year ; full warning was given of the danger ; and the Boards of G-uardians have sufficient powers to meet it by effectual remedies. They could enforce vaccination, provide temporary hospital accornodation, and take proper precautions for disinfection. They were pressed to set the necessary machinery at work, and the Board's of Poplar and St. Luke's appear to have bestirred themselves to good purpose. The remaining Boards, however, remained in that attitude of magnificent repose which is most congenial to the Guardian mind iv general. They did not do anything in particular, and the anticipated consequences have followed with mathematical precision. The deaths from small-pox are steadily increasing, and we are inquiring and advising with more activity than ever. The latiguid and clumsy machinery provided for sanitary purposes will probably be got into action sooner or later ; but how much mischief may have been done in the interval is a matter of vague speculation. The particular form of evil from which we are at present suffering is the more annoying as it is precisely that which is roost amenable to preventive measures. We have been boasting of Jenuer's discovery for the last seventy years ; and perhaps it is the most tangible result which has hitherto been gained by medical science. In Ireland, many as are the misfortunes from which that . country suffers, there is at least the advantage of a comparatively efficient system of enforcing vaccination. The consequence is, that whereas Ireland was formerly quoted as a country where small-pox was more than usually prevalent, the small-pox has now been almost completely extirpated. «»The few cases which occur are traceaffle to foreign importation ; aad but for that disturbing cause, it seems tEat most serioua evil would have been fairly eliminated from the varied forms of human suffering. In spite of tfee example which is thus before our eyes^Aere are a certain number of obscure peifebs who, for some cause or other, are Sdoing their best to excite prejudice against tf&^ractice. We have lately received a publication which illustrates the nature of the warfare thus carried on against one of the chief securities for the national health*. We shall not name it, because we do not desire to give it even an indirect advertisement j but some of the language employed is so beautiful that we are unable to refrain from a few appropriate quotations.

" Vaccination," it says, is " a confirmed lie, and an unparalleled disgrace to civilised communities ; " it is declared that people " who have never been saturated with Jenner's blood-poisoning matter" have moved amongst the most malignaut forms of the disease, and never taken it. " Jennerism" is a " vile^ cheat," and a " damnable system." * * * v* \ There is, however, a serious r njoral to be drawn from such stuff as we have been quoting. There is a certain prejudice against the. practice of vaccination, which may be stimulated by ignorahjt ondesigning people. It is of great importance, therefore, that vaccination should be performed in such a manner as to secure success and to conciliate the confidence of the ignorant. However mistaken a prejudice may be, it is not the less to be carefully taken into account. All human legislation has to deal with a great number of stupid and ignorant persons; and they must be treated with the consideration due to their infirmities. The organization by which we at present endeavor to check the spread of disease, seems to be faulty, at almost every point. We have'^pleuty of good advice and excellent intentions. The G-uardians are probably men who sincerely wish to do right, but are slow to be moved, and are very little accustomed to take an enlightened view of sanitary reform. The medical officers are in a position of little profit and much labor, and though they have generally a most commendable desire to discharge their duties efficiently, they have already too much on their hands. The pareut is warned on registering his child to have it vaccinated within three months; but it seems that the warning is very frequently neglected, and that no proper steps are taken to enforce it. It is the old story, to which we have to listen so often that we are almost tired of its repetition. A panic may possibly be produced by the present increase' of the small pox, and a great raauy people may be vaccinated. After a time the epidemic will decrease, and it will be totally impossible to get up any interest iv the subject. We shall fall back into the old ruts, and wait placidly until the next outburst of disease. The real lesson therefore, is the necessity of improving our whole sanitary system, and especially the medical arrangements of the Poorlaw. Whenever we examine into any gross-ievil, we find ourselves invariably brought back to the same conclusion. It is not by denouncing special abuses, but by reforming the whole system of which they are the natural outgrowth, that we can expect any permanent improvement. The policy, therefore, of intelligent reformers should be to take advantage of every shout of indignation to secure some definite improvement. As a rule, when we have got up the steam, it is allowed to expend itself in producing a little more energy amongst the responsible persons ; but we are coming to see by degrees that such spurts of enthusiasm do little permanent good, ane that the force generated by occasional accidents should be applied as much as possible in the direction of simplifying our cumbrous and inactive machinery. If the present epidemic has some such effect, it may even do more good than harm; but if good indignation is allowed to run to waste, we can only look forward to a aeries of oscillations in which spasms of temporary zeal are regulary succeeded by loug periods of calm, spent in accumulating the materials of future evil.