THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH, 1862

Otago Daily Times, Issue 92, 3 March 1862, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH, 1862

" Mb. Wabd's Mail Service reforms seem to 3 please no one. The Wellington Chamber of i. Commerce has emphatically declared its disci approval of them ; Otago has rejected them; c and Nelson, it is said, is more than halfaverse "to them, ls is almost stated in so many words that Mr. Ward has undertaken a brief non behalf of Auckland and Canterbury. We >' are not inclined to credit any motives ofthe kind; on the contrary, we believe Mr. Ward, - with excellent motives, is committing that very common error of a young man entering on a novitiate of public life, the initiating measures of reform without courage to carry them out. Instead of real effective reform, Mr. a Ward is substitutinglittle peddling .changes, cals dilated do more injury than good. Wellington 1 finds that the only good it will derive is that of c having its communication with Sj'dney cut j off, whilst its English mails will be delivered ? only a day or two sooner. We expect that - the Wellington people willhighh'approve the L' modification^" Mr. Ward's, plans that the resos lute stand made by Dunedin will entail. Otago . will now stand in the same position as Mely bourne hitherto has done; it will be the depot j for the arrival and departure of the mails. Instead of it being hooked on to a coastal ser- . vice, as Mr. Ward proposed, it will now be f the terminus, and stand by itself. All that Wel- , lington wiil have to do, to place itself in direct 1 communication with England, will be to sub- '" sidise one boat monthly to bring down and return with the mails. We italicise the one be- ,' cause Mr. Ward, through a careless examinaf tion of the dates, has become impressed with - the opinion that the other provinces will require r two boats monthly to enable them to take ad:i vantage of the Otago contract. Such, howi ever, is not the case. The English mail is due tin Melbourne about the 10th or 11th. Sup- ' pose it to come on at once, it would reach Dunedin about the 18th. The , re-tarn mail to Melbourne would have ,to leave on the 18th, so that the Provincial ■■ steamers bringing down the mails for Eng- ' land, would just be in time to receive the . English mails from Melbourne. Judging by experience hitherto they would nearly always have a day or two to spare. On one occasion only has the mail from England reached Dunedin in time to answer the letters by the mail from Melbourne the same month. Although we hope to see this oftener the case when the mail arrangements are made, and that the occasions will not be rare when the Melbourne mails will reach Dunedin in time to afford a few hours for answering by the monthly return steamer on the 18th ; yet, as far as the other Provinces are concertied, the margin will be so slight that one steamer from each to bring on and return with the mails, will be ample. Canterbury, Wellington, Marlborough, and Nelson may therefore have their direct services to and from England at a very trifling expense, and as faras the three last are concerned, dispense with the present protracted coastal arrangement. The Coleman Company's vessels will then be available to perfect, as far possible, the Sydney and the Inter-Provincial •

As the growth of a child may be measured bjr the awkward disproportion of his old gar- . ments to his increased dimensions, so the i growth of a community may be very fairly i estimated by the comparison of the customs, i institutions, and buildings, which were suffi- ' cient for its former state, with the requirements 1 of its present condition. There are few in- s stances in which this truth has been more t clearly exemplified than in that of the Dun- ' edin Hospital. Established at a time when the Province of Otago contained less than half j its present population, and when, moreover, r from the steady habits and healthy occupations 1 of th« people, accidents were rare and sick- c ness almost unknown, the Hospital was in f the first instance a very unpretentious wooden a building, capable of accommodating only a ' limited number of patients, and conducted in ° every way upon the most economic scale. For |I' the year from 30th September, 1860, to 30th \* September, 1861, the total siim appropriated | c for the Institution was .£1330, of which sum j^ £200 went to the Surgeon, £180 to the at-i c tendants, £50 for a Chaplain, and £900 for !si rations and medicines, and medical comforts. But it was, even then, beginning to be ; h found ;that the building did not afford is] sufficient accommodation, and accordingly |tl we find that a sum of £250 was appro-'JI mated for building purposes. Before, how- | — iver,' the last half of tha.t financial year °' iad expired, the gold discoveries had-, ntroduced a new into Otago y' ociety, and the almost unexampled increase of n( he population was accepted as a warning that' m iirther Hospital accommodation must soon be be equired. Accordingly the Government approriated for the current half year, from 30th W! eptember, 1861, to 31st March, 1862, the cv im of £3397 10s. on. the maintainance ac-,'pr mnt j being nearly six times as'much as for- no

Imorly. Of this sum =£3000 was for rations and medicines, and-.£'2o lor instruments, the re-il imainder being; divided as follows : Surgeon,' l£!50; keeper with family, .£ll2 10s.; assist-? ant keeper, .£0.5; chaplain, .£50.. In addit.ionj> to this iWOOO was appropriated fur the pur- ! pose of erecting additional building-!, and £400 , for the purchase of bedding and furniture. ' Fart of the sum for building purposes has been , voted to the erection of two large wooden buildings to accommodate in each thirty-two patients. It will tints he seen that the authorities have shown themselves laudably alive to the duties imposed upon them by the altered circumstances ' ofthe Province. The Hospital, with the addi- . tions lately made is a collection of buildings capable in all of receiving about a ; hundred patients, divided as follows : —ln the - original wooden building, say 22 ; iv the building next added (stone) 14 ; aud in the new 1 wooden structures, each 32. The two new wooden buildings are both built in two floors thus making in each two wards to contain sixteen beds. With regard to the internal arrangement of the institution, it appears that the wards are as a rule cleanly kept; that they are tolerably well ventilated; as well, indeed, as the style oi ' the buildings will allow; and that the patients ' are in general well cared for and comfort- " able. It is not, however, to be supposed that there is no room for improvement. There are, on the contrary, several points in which there is a most glaring deficiency. In the first place, " there is no resident surgeon. The int stitution is under the charge of the ls Provincial Surgeon, but he does not reside on the premises, nor are his services a exclusively retaiued. This appears to be a great and fundamental error. An Hospital without a regularly resident surgeon can hardly be properly conducted. It is next to impossible for a gentleman who does notvisitthe > patients until mid-day to devote that care and attention that many of the cases must require. ? In making these remarks we wish to avoid any personal reflections on the gentleman who now acts as surgeon to the Institution, indeed, as Provincial Surgeon he should have nothing to do with the medical attendance, • which comes within the scope of the ordinary ... duties of a House Surgeon. It is only to be feared, judging by the sanitary state of the city, that as Provincial Surgeon he will shortly - have quite sufficient to occupy him without attending to the details ofthe Hospital. What we maintain is that it is absolutely essential to the success of the Hospital that a 0 man of competent ability should be attached f to it, should reside upon the spot, and should . be paid a sufficient salary to render him inde- ; pendent of any private practice. Another j point, to which we think it necessary to refer, •is this; that, as at present constituted, the f entire - control of the Institution is > vested in the Provincial Surgeon; there :is no Board or Committee, the Sur- , geon alone has the whole management of • the Hospital. Here, again, without refiectin"- -. on Dr. liulme, we think this is not a power to ; vest in any one man. It is quite opposed to 1 the ordinary practice which obtains in the ma- , nagement of Hospitals, and is altogether throw- . ing too much responsibility on one individual, i Wewouldsuggestthata Board be established [' to exercise a control over the Hospital, and to t administer its funds; and that a Resident 1 Surgeon be appointed, to be responsible to, t and to be removable at the pleasure of the > Board. Honorary Visiting Surgeons should . also be appointed to assist the Kesident Sur- > geon by their advice, and to conduct opera- . tions. In addition to this a sub-committee of , the Board should be appointed, as a Visiting . Committee, to inspect the Institution from . time to time, to see that the patients were : comfortable and contented, and to give an eye to the repair of the buildings, and to any other : matters that might come under their notice. . A Visiting Committee, for instance, would order the stone building to he white-washed . inside; would give instructions for the removal . of the cause of an offensive smell between that i aud the old wooden building; and would insti- : tute enquiries as to why lunatics are lodged ,in the Hospital; and if it were found impos- . sible to have them removed would make . proper provision for their safe custody and for . preventing their becoming an annoyance to the ordinary patients. : In mentioning the lunatics we cannot avoid remarking that it is a most strange and unprecedented thing for lunatics to be placed in a hospital at all. We would enquire how it is that there is no sign of a proper lunatic asylum being erected, seeing that sums of £'2000, have been twice appropriated and that for this year £4,000 has been set aside for the purpose of erecting an asylum. '. Again we repeat that these remarks are made in no captious spirit, but that all we desire is that an institution of such importance as the Hospital should be conducted in such a way as to be a credit to the Province, and to ' accomplish the objects for which it was es- ' tablished. Neither would we have it sup- ' posed that our remarks are directed against the Provincial Surgeon, who, we believe, is both i hard-worked and ill paid. It is the system with which we find fault, and until that is improved the Hospital will never eotnmand public confidence. '

The concert given by Mr. Thatcher and Madame Vitelli. on Saturday night, was a great success. The room in which it was held was) constructed out of part of the old Commercial Hotel, adjoining the fine new building. With 'characteristic energy, Mr. Jones made the alter- , ations in a few hours by tlie aid of a large num- . ber of workmen, and the old hotel was trans- i formed into its "new purpose. The room was i crowded ; all tho seats were occupied, and in i the part destined for a promenade, only standing i room could be procured. We should think tliere were at least GSO people present, amongst whom we did not notice a single member of the softer sex. Both Mr. Thatcher and Madame Vitclli's efforts were highly applauded, and in almost every instance one and sometimes two encores were given. The local songs wero the great hits of the 3vcning. In two quaint productions of bis own Mr. Thatcher hit off very happily a few local peculiarities and incidents, which elicited vociferous applause. His allusions to the " broken- ( .'.own swells," " to the Arcade," " to Pykes not i flourishing, where other fish are so cheap," i md to the annoyance experienced by the old in- 1 habitants from the desire of the new to rent land I jf them, were received with the warmest ap- » iroval. The verse referring to the last Glided £ something like this: —" Hoot mon, keep your J siller," exclaims Mr. Brown, " dinna fash the 'aid folk of Dunedin." Mr. Thatcher announced % i repetition of the concert nightly, with a change 1 ivery evening, both in the local and other c longs. c W re are glad to observe that the friends of the I ate Miss Loftus will not allow her memory to lumber under the imputation cast upon it, by _ s he blind ignorance or prejudice of the Coroner's ? ury. The following is from the Sydney Herald: t -" The proceedings at the iuquest upon tiie body fa f this lady have, on the application of the [ ( Jishop of Sydney, been brought by certiorari efore the Chief Justice, with a view to the re- b ersal of.the verdict of felo-de-se which the Coro- T er's jury recorded. His Honor has referred the tl latter to the Supreme Court, and the rule has *' eon enlarged until the first' day of next term." bl A meeting of the master Bakers of this Town jj! as held at the Provincial Hotel on Saturday C r 'ening, when it was resolved that in future the d( ■ice ofthe 4 lb. loaf should be lOd. until further sj itice. Jpi

Some interesting disclosures concerning tlio li profits mads by steamers in tho Melbourne and r Otngo trade, have lately conic to light at the half- s ycariy meeting of'the.Tasmanian Steam Navi- A gatioli Company. The '• City of Ilobai t" has a made four trips between the places with follow- * intr results, iv nett profits:—lst trip, £1196 ; 2nd trip, .£877 ; 3rd trip, £1250 ; 4th trip, £1250 ; making a total of .£4573 nett profits in the four trips, consuming something like twelve weeks in time. "As a striking contrast to this, it was stated that the eight trips made between Melbourne and Hobart Town during the half year, had realised a nett profit of £G4G. The " Tasmania" belonging to the same company has been laid up for repairs, i consequently the " City " is obliged to go on the ( Hobart Town trade again, although that of Otago ' is admittedly the moro profitable. The " City of ! Hobart" gross results on her third trip was for ' freight £1800, and passengers £1010, aud on her . foltl'tli, freight £1750 and passengers £800. • The " Louise" arrived in the Port on Satur- i ' day, from Mauritius, and reported that cholera .• was raging in that island. In consequence a s visit was paid to the ship by Dr. Ilulnie, Provin- < . cial Surgeon, and Mr. JVlusgrave, the Acting '' Kesident Magistrate. "" It appeared that the ', c'• Louise " had left Port Louis with a clean bill ' aof health, but shortly put back, and after ". leaving one man behind left again with a fair bill '. of health. Since then there was no sickness on board, except one case of dysentery, from which s one ofthe crew is now suffering. These parti- - culars were reported to a Board, consisting of the Collector of Customs (Sir. Logic), and the Chief c Commissioner of Police (Mr. Branigan), when i it was decided to keep the vessel in quarantine s until further examination. It is to be hoped , that extra precautions wiil be adopted, as it T| would be a shocking thing were cholera introdisced into this crowded city. The sudden changes to wliich the climate of this Province is subject make it a most interests ing field for meteorological observations. It is, 1 therefore, much to be regretted that no correct' 1 or official register has hitherto been kept here, l Some time ago the General Government for--3 warded to the Provincial Government a set of dee licate instruments for that purpose, and when the j last estimates were under the consideration of the T Council, the sum of £300 was voted for the erecj tion of an observatory, and a half year's salary for a registrar at the munificent rate of £30 per J annum. Whether it has been found impossible • to induce one of the clerks of the Survey Office c to accept of tlie situation, as was originally in•i tended, we do not know ; but one thing is eery tain, tliat tliere is no attempt' made to register c the extreme variations of climate wliich are so c usual here. Most of the /ictorians look forward ~ to the winter with unmitigated horror, and it is t very unfortunate that there are no statistics att tamable to prove to them what, we think, those who have courage to remain here will discover, that the anticipation is worse than the reality. • A register was at one time kept by Dr. Burns. and was published by the General Government -' among the statistics of New Zealand ; but this - was not an official register, aud, indeed, we ber lieve, has since been discontinued by Dr. Burns . , A correspondent asks us to state the date of the t first discovery of gold in California by Mr. Mar--5 shall at the junction of the Americanos and Sacra- , mento rivers. Curiously enough on such an important point, the authorities one would deem ~ most reliable differ. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates fixes it at. September, 1847, whilst McCulloch fixes 'it as lata in May or early in June, 134?. In 1 Robert Hunts's edition of Ure's Dictionary, 1848, lis also stated to be the date, and we venture to • ihink that Haydn is mistaken. The usual meeting of tho Town Board is to be . held to-day. I After an extraordinarily long voyage the "Sea- , man's Bride " has at length arrived with the . Royal Princess's Company on board. As the Theatre is quite ready, anil everything? prepared ' for their reception, no time will be lost in opening j the House, Tuesday night, we believe, being fixed ' for that purpose. The six o'clock evening services in the Episcopal • Church arc now discontinued, and in their stead f there is to be an afternoon service at half past t three.