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New Zealand Mail, Issue 753, 6 August 1886, Page 23

It is interesting and gratifying to observe, says the New York Tribune, that in nearly all the accounts of what happened ou board the Oregon after the collision, the first credit is given to the women passengers for coolness, bravery, and dignified behaviour. The men in the first cabin are said to have come next in freedom from panic and in the repression of selfishness, but not all of them had self-command enough to refrain from convulsive struggles to get into the boats, and not all of them remembered at that exciting moment the courtesy habitual to them. The womeD, however, behaved nobly, and, so far a 3 can be ascertained, perfectly, Helpless and utterly dependent as they were, they made no trouble, got in nobody’s way, abstained from all Dervous collapses, did not add to the general distress by screaming aud crying, implored no one to save them, but conformed to all the requirements of the situation a 3 calmly and promptly as if they had been thoroughly used to shipwreck.

A report on the progress of the leper settlement at Molokai, one of the Sandwich Islands, states that the settlement opened iu January, 1886, with 141 lepers, of whom 103 were males and 38 females. Up to November last there were admitted 3101 lepers, of whom 1985 were male 3 and 1116 females. AH the lepers admitted up to 1868 are dead, and nearly all up to 1870 have also passed away. The largest muster roll from the foundation of the settlement was in August, 1884, at which date it stood at 841, comprising 512 males and 321 females. There is a biennial appropriation of £20,000 for the maintenance and care of the sufferers. The Government provides the lepers a liberal ration, consisting of 211 b of poi, or of rice and poi, with 7<b of beef and mutton. Salmon is also served out as an occasional ration, and many of the older lepers prefer salmon becau-e their teeth cannot masticate beef. Those who have the means erect eomfortable framehouses for themselves, and upon their death the houses are sold on account of their heirs or some othsr residents. Those living outside the hospital do their own cookiog and washing. By tacit consent it is assumed that the lepers on the reservations have lost their civil rights, but the statutes nowhere declare it. The lepers are free tenants on the Government land. They have no rent or taxes to pay, and may enclose and cultivate a patch of land at pleasure. Many cf them do so, and squat among the sheltered rocky land some distance from the villages.