THE Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1876.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4172, 2 July 1875, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1876.

Referring again to the. necessities of the Medical School in connection with the University of Ofcago, we are anxious to impress upon those concerned the necessity of making the requisite alterations at once. In the Hospital, first of all, immediate provision should be made, for a change of system which will enable all students to avail themselves of the clinical teaching to be obtained there, so that the University may commence the next winter session on such a basis as to secure to students two anni medici which will be recognised at Home. The following are the lectures which must be attended by all students who wish to put in their two years here, proceeding to a British University to complete their studies:—

(a) Chemistry, 100 Lee-) tures > Professor Black. (6) Practical Chemistry) ■ ; (c) Descriptive and Sur- \ '■■■'. gical Anatomy > Professor Coughtrey. (d) Practical Anatomy J (c) Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, Captain Hutton. {/) Hospital Practice, by. Clinical Teachers, who should be the Visiting Surgeons and Physicians, ex officip. (g) Dispensary, or Pharmacy Practice, by the Dispenser attached io the Labpratoryof Hospital. Besides these, it will be necessary for students to attend at the post mortem examinations at Hospital.

It is with regard to (f)and(g) that we desire to draw the special attention of the Provincial Executive to the alterations that should at once be made. We have referred before this to the readiness and courtesy with which the present Provincial Surgeon agrees to waive all claims of his office in deference to the advancement of teaching connected with the University. We trust very much that he will be prevailed upon still to render his servic s

available for the instruction of pupils and for the advantage of patieuts, as one of four teachers required to complete the proposed scheme. Besides. Dv Hulme, three other medical men must be enrolled as lecturers for the University on those subjects noted last upon the list. It is a great pity that; the session of the Council was allowed' to pass by without a vote being taken for a sum sufficiently moderate to remunerate these three gentlemen for their labours Nevertheless, such an oversight should not be allowed to impede the progress of arrangements. We trust that the Executive will see their way at once to make the .appointments, and there can be no doubt whatever that the Council will give an ex •post facto sanction to their act. Since it appears that the preparations for teaching students which have been made up to the present time will be altogether thrown away, unless another £400 or so per annum is spent, we think that the Executive will have no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that they are justified in acting as we have suggested. Prompt action is required. General Medical Council?, like time and tide, wait for no man. If timely care is nob taken to furnish the teaching power demanded for recognition by the Medical Council, we are afraid that intestine difficulties in Otago politics, or jealousies between Otago public men, will not be considered by the Medical Council of Great Britain as sufficient ground of excuse for recognising the two medical years of an imperfectly taught medical student.

It may be remembered that when the University received an additional endowment it was upon the understanding that the Medical School should be founded; as the revenue arising from that endowment has been found altogether insufficient to accomplish this object, we do not doubt that the political powers will carry out their original design by supplementing that revenue. The Hospital is a Provincial institution, and as its management is altogether in the hands of the Provincial Council, it is but right that they should make those alterations which are required for a public purpose, such as the properinstruction of medical students. Another branch of medical education will have also to be cared for by the establishment of a lectureship in Botany. The first professional or preliminary scientific examination, usually passed by students at home before the end of the second winter session, consists of Botany, Zoology, and Chemistry, As lectures upon two distinct subjects are not recognised if given, by one man, it will be necessary to appoint a lecturer upon Botany before the beginning of next summer session. In addition to this it would be necessary that Captain Hutton should lecture only upon Zoology, and extend his course so as to comprise fifty lectures. We might suggest that, as the museum is rapidly extending^ Captain Hutton should be formally and solely Curator of Museum and Lecturer on Zoology to the University. These improvements in the machinery of our high class education are rendered necessary by the fact of our having undertaken to furnish two yearsofdifctinctly.technicaltrainingtothe alumni of the University. There is now no possibility of halting in our movement forward without sacrificing very much that we have already accomplished, than which we are sure nothing could be farther from the wishes-of-those interested in education. We are not afraid that the will is wanting to do what has to be done. All thos9 who have had any experience of the, somewhat dilatory fashion in which ihe-most' pressing work is often done, will join with us in hoping that the alterations in Hospital management, and with regard to Capfc. Hutton's lectures, will be accomplished at once. We need not again repeat that, unless all this is done, there is no advantage whatever. accruing, or to accrue, from the expenditure already incurred. Professor Coughtrey's appointment" would prove unnecessary unless he is duly supported by other qualified teachers. .'"•'.'■ Each professor or lecturer in other branches aids in his own way in raising the general standard of education. In taking steps to forma Medical School we have gone into an .entirely different groove, and we must1 be prepared to follow on and carry out the undertaking. The object aimed at is a high one. Eventually—perhaps before many years have elapsed—we shall be able to furnish here such an education as will render it no longer necessary for students ti> proceed Home at all. Until then we shall do well to fit in our course with that required in medical schools at Home.

The mhixi object in forming a non-political Waste Lands Board was to get rid of that changefulness in the method of dealing with our " heritage," which . suggested political jobbing even when it was not a sign of real unfairness; We must confess that we are often disappointed with the proceedings of the preßenfc Board. From anything like'improper action, produced by influences that will not bear examination, we believe that the Board is absolutely free. We conceive that the geotlemeh who compose it are above and beyond suspicion, and we wish to guard ourselves from being supposed to make insinuations. Nevertheless, we think it cannot be denied that the extreme uncertainty that attends their action, is apt to cause most unpleasant reflections in the minds of their constituents. It is really impossible to hazard aguess as to what will be the line of conduct adopted by the Waste Lands Board upon any given occasion. Asarule upon any one Wednesday the probability aeems to be that they will reverse the decision of the last sitting, refuse what they had before allowed, allow what they had steadily refused. We are very sensible of the extreme difficulty of acting upon one definite plan. Circumstances alter so much that it must continually be found necessary to change, as it appears, the whole method and plan of procedure. It is one of the gains of the present system that, a certain discretion is left to the Waste "Lands Board, and that they are not bound too tightly by rules. Our quarrel with them is not that they exercise their discretion upon occasion, but that they change their minds so often that even practised agents, who-appear before them continually, like Mr Connell, are unable, up to the last moment, to hazard even a guess what upon earth they will do next. In fact, we object to their action as regards quantity rather than quality—in degree rather than in kind. "Really, sir," a tailor remarked to a customer whose clothes were country-made, "a coat ought to touch the back somewhere." "Really, gentlemen," we would say to the members of the Waste Lands Board, "your decisions ought to touch rules sometimes." We need not trouble our readers with individual instances of the Board's eccentricities. Any one ruporfc of proceeding*, almost, will supply them with more than one. Without assigning reasons for their

dicta, the Board changes its method every fortnight, and however^ unjustly, rcattses the outside world/ quite unnecessarily, to suspect the purity of that administration which is ruled,', as it seema, only by a causeless love of -, change, for change's sake. ■. ■ \.:';.;-- . ■.. ' ■:■-'' ■-..

Our representative at the Pert telegraphing says :—There is no sign of the steamers Taranaki and Easby. Tie weather of yesterday and last night must have'been. much heavier outside than in Port, and hence their: detention... Taey will probably arrive at the Heads dtfring the night,- and come ■• in tomorrow morning. '.. ;■'

Our Auckland correspondent telegraphed last evening ac follows':—Tairua shares have receded to-day several shillings, speculators evidently considering that £40,000 for a mine which had never been tested fair crushing was rather a high figure,—The fact of Insurance and other Colonial stock having steadily declined lately is attributed to the inducements offered by the Banks for deposit, causing the withdrawal of money from ordinary investments.—The Southern Cross states that it knows by letters from Sir Julius VogeJ, relating to private business, that it has always been his int«ntion to return to the Colony; but it considers that it is not improbable tjiat the Rothschilds may have made him an offer, and that possibly Sir J. Vogel will return t > England. But it maintains that he has too much respect for his reputation to remain away. from the Colony now when he ought to return.

Through an error in punctuation in our Waste Lands Report, which appeared yesterday, the Chairman was credited with using words which were really addressed to him. The sentence should read thus :

—"Mr Reid : I cannot wait long, Mr Chairman ; 1 have no time to waste here."

Tho Museum yesterday received an addition to its collection of fishes in the shape of a curious-looking specimen, called the "leather jacket " (Monacant/iwt convcx&rosIris). This fish was obtained at Pelichet Bay, aud is the first of the kind which has been found on the sherea of the Middle Island. It is. however, common near Wellington. ■;'■.;■'■■

We understand that a preliminary meeting is to be held on Monday, to initiate arrangements for the due celebration of the O'Connell Centenary in Dunedin.

It is not often we have to chronicle the fact of a cart being bogged in George street, but about one o'clock yesterday, opposite Mr Bard's shop, a dray was hard and fast up to the axle. It appears that, owing to some flaw in the water main, an excavation had been made, and not being properly filled up, the near wheel of the cart sank into the soft ground as, far as it well could. The jdriver, who was sitting on his load—several bags of potatoes —looked kind of scared when he found one side of his dray dipping consider ably. It required the whole cargo to be diseased before progress could be reported and leave given to start again: "We should not have drawn attention to this little incident, had it not occurred to us that possibly a heavily laden coach might-get into a similar place some day, and then, if travelling at a fair pace, the consequences would be somewhat serious. We feel sure that the fact of haying mentioned this affair, will draw the attention of the authorities to the dangerous state of our streets in places where excavations have been made.

At the Police Court, yesterday, EL A. Johnston and W. Perie were each fined 6s for drunkenness. Geo. Kutherford, an old offender, was fined 40s, in default, three days' imprisonment, and Ckxs. Walker, who made his third appearance, was fined 20s, with the alternative of 48 hours' imprisonment. He was also informed if he appeared, before the Bench again he would be dealt with as a habitual. , Two dissolute women —Mary Ann Harris and Alice Ruth—were charged, on warrant, with having no lawful means of support, and each sentenced so 14 days' imprisonment. ■ Messrs Ward and Flexman.preside .."..■ : ;.; ••..';, ;

The railway refreshment rooms at Port Chalmers, about which there has been so much squabbling for some time, were closed yesterday, to the entire gratification of the bulk of the Port people. '"■ Situated as they were, in a place altogether too circumscribed for the proper working of the railway, the rooms have been an unmixed nuisance from first to last. We sincerely hope that until the Port Chalmers railway station is established in a better position, nothing more will be heard of refreshment rooms in connection withit. Every inch of the space of the present station is needed for traffic purposes, and it is to be hoped that, pending the erection of the new station, long time talked about, the Government will lose; no time in utilisingthe vacated room for the convenience of the travelling public and traffic purpose* generally. . ....

Inspector Nimon, ; evidently ashamed of the City Council's lethargy to the matter of bad roads, has determined,to use; his prerogative regarding dirty footpaths, in accordance with a bye-law passed in IS7I, and at the City Court yesterday, no lew ;ih»n fifteen shopkeepers were summoned for neglecting to clean the footpath opposite their places of business. As the bye-law has not been enforced since last winter, caeh defendant was dismissed with a caution, though a recurrence of such neglect will meet with the full penalty allowed.

On Saturday last we published a Melbourne telegram to the following effect:— "J. C. Ray has brought an action against Constable M'Meckm, who arrested him in Sydney, for illegal arrest, and lays damages at £1000." As our readers will probably be unaware of the actual facts of the case, we give the following from the Sydney Evening News, which reports that "a joung man named John Charles Eay, 29 years of age, described as a woohtapler, wan brought up at the Central Police Court, Sydney, on the 4th June, in custody of Detectives Lyons and Camphin, on a charge of embezzling the sum of £1000 at Melbourne. The accused was apprehended by Detective Lyons, on the strength of a telegram from the InspectorGeneral of Police in Melbourne to the In-spector-General of Police in Sydney. In reply to the charge, when arrested,.Eay. said he had deposited £1000 in his own name in the Union Bank in Melbourne, but he knew nothing about embezzlement. : He handed to Detective Camphin, at the Police Station, a draft for £648 2s Gd, payable at Sydney, £32 Is 4d in gold and silver, and a slip representing a deposit of £997 17s ,10d, by J. C. Ray, in the Union Bank of Australia, Melbourne ; also some papers. He said that he had arrived by the City of Adelaide, from Melbourne."

A novel expedient—at least so far as it applies to the district—has been resorted to by one of the Reef ton bonifaoes for the purpose of collecting old debts. He announces that tenders will be invited for all score 3 remaining unpaid after the 30th insfc.

A singular case of damages against the Gas Company at Greymonth is likely to be heard shortly, if not amicably settled before reaching Court. It appears, says the local Star, that one evening during the present month, the Gas Company had not sufficiently pnrified the gas, and so filthy was the smoke which left the flame that in one instance at least the paperhangings on the wall and cc ling, together with the mouldings, were rendered quite dark in colour in the course of a few hours, It has therefore been contended that the Gas G- "pany is liable for the damage, and an application to that effect

! htm alr.-ady been made to its directors.—-If the Greymoutti people get a verdict on the ground of imparity, we in Dunedin should certainly be entitled to damages for bad measure. During the last two or three days . the supply has been very limited, and the assistance of kerosene has often been called on. It certainly does seem too bad that at. the price charged we cannot have a better light. At one time we had occasion to complain of impurity of the gas, but we are afraid that defect has been remedied at the expense of the illuminating power.

The Age of a recent date reports that the Minister of Mines, in the Victorian Legislative Assembly; stated, in reference to the disposal of the prospecting vote of £10,000, that boring operations would shortly be commenced in the Ovens district; and it was recommended by Messrs Couchman and Smyth that a prospecting scheme on the low level tract between Stawell and Glenorchy should be initiated. Boring sites had also been indicated at Ararat and Ballarafc. Prospecting parties were also to be employed in Gippsland, in the country north-west of Oape Otway, and that lying between Colac and Rokewood, should reports justify such a course. In reply to a question from Mr Woods, as to whether the Government had considered the desirability of purchasing a diamond bore, Mr Mackay said he thought a diamond machine would be too expensive. The Taranaki Herald says : A Good Templars' settlement is proposed to be formed in the Province. His Honour the Superintendent has received a letter from the District Deputy of the Taranaki Good Templars (Brother Skeet), asking for information whether the Provincial Government would entertain an application from a jointstock company for a block of 100,000 acres (or not leas than 50,000 acres) of land, upon a deferred payment system, for the purpose of forming a Good Templars' special settlement. The letter states it is purposed to form a company, under the auspices of the Independent Order of Good Templars, for the formation of a bonafide settlement, one feature in the rules of the association being the prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquors within its bonndary. Other persons would be permitted to join, and enrolled as shareholders of the association, provided I they agree to the articles of association. His Honour has forwarded this letter to the Council for its consideration, and we have no doubt the scheme will receive every consideration from the members, but it is more than probable that, before granting the request, full information on the subject will be required.

The Sydney Morning Herald remarks that the enormous loss involved in the importation of large quantities of railway iron, almost worthless, to New South Wales, has been the subject of very general conversation in Sydney, and a good deal of indignant feeling has been evoked on the subject. The Government have sent instructions by telegraph to England to say that Mr Shields is not to be entrusted with any further commissions ; and the law authorities have been set in motion with a view to obtain compensation from the Park Gate Company for the inferior quality of the rails supplied by them to the New South Wales Government.

The Waikato Times, inasevere article on the mismanagement of the Auckland and Mercer Railway, brings forward a number of charges, and complains that arbitrary freights are charged upon goods. It remarks —" A case ,of this kind came under our own personal observation lately. Upon a passenger's personal luggage, weighing not more than a hundred pounds, the sum of 8s was charged,. or at the exorbitant rate of eight pounds per lon for a distance of less than forty miles. la another more recent case a quantity of timber, urgently required by Captain Beere, was carelessly thrown down on the line at some distance from the Mercer Station, and the railway officials refused to carry it en to the end of the line, so aa to facilitate its shipment, unless the cost of removal were prepaid. We know of instances in which parcels are cast out of the goods vans at some distance back on the line, the owners being compelled to follow si surly official through mud and slush to pay the freightage charges. Goods waggons are shunted off the main line, and left there, the owners being put to the expense of carting away their property to the steamer, though the railway authorities could deposit the goods within a comparatively short distance of the landing stage."

According to the Southland News a correspondent states that an "experienced ploughman," recently engaged by a country settler, j appeared rather n'on-plussed when he saw the implement he professed to know all about, and innocently asked what "that 'ere thing" was. This, of course, at once bowled him out, and he then admitted he had been an omnibus man in London nearly as long as he could remember. This speaks for itself of the home immigration agents and the free system. *■ ' Commenting upon one of the evening papers at Wellington, now being the Ministeriul paper, the Auckland Star says:— " Now is the time for the Tribune to come to the front, and by capacity for vigorous lying show its capabilities asjj the new Government organ."

Tho Geelong Advertiser says that the glare of the extensive fire at Sanclridge was distinctly observed by several persons who happened to be abroad in Geelong on the night in question. A number of the residents of Queenscliffe observed the conflagm tion from that township, and on assembling at the lighthouse, the sky seemed lighted up to such an extent in the direction of Melbourne that they were under the impression that a large portion of the metropolis was in flames.

Mr George Lumsden, one of the Southland members, appears to have been getting himself into hot water!wilh,the Invercargill people over the site tor a Town Hall. In concluding his letter to the Southland News on the subject he becomes nearly humorous, and remarks:—"May I, in conclusion—without offence—congratulate you on t'ue delightfuj rapprochement between you and your contemporary The Times, arising out of the discussion of the above question. Although you seem rather shy at fraternising all at once, perhaps you will yield still further to tho old lady's blandishments. May you live leng to bless or curse me for giving oo casioni—Yours, &c—-Georgjb Lumsdkn."

Signora Magi, of the Italian Opera Company, has had the misfortune to become acquainted with the law of mortgage while in Sydney, in a manner which must have been very provoking. The following letter appears in the Sydney Morning Herald:—"Sir— Permit me, through your valued columns, to tender my warm thanks to those numerous kind friends who honoured me by their presence at the benefit which you have been pleased to notice so favourably in this day's paper. I regret, however, to have to say that their liberality was intercepted before it reached my hand. At the close of the performance I was coolly informed that the night's takings had been handed over to a mortgagee, who had made advances, on the week's receipts a few days previously. This fact was not made known to me until the performance was concluded. I have the honour to be, &c, —Almacinzia Magi, Charlotte place, Sydney, sth June."

The following is the style of criticism given by a New York daily, on the performance of Mad;stue litulersdorf, an opera

singer. It almost beats some of the notices on Madame Arabella Goddard's performances. The • critic says : —" To tell you how she sang would be mpossible; but if one may compare an object of., sight to an object of sound, we should say—her voice is like a rocket, which from the first, bursts upon the sight with a magnificence that claims undivided attention, and in an instant carries your attention from earth to heaven; where it bursts into ten thousand orbs of glory that scintillate each a separate gem upon the blue empyrean; and burn each with a varied hue of beauty that at once distracts and commands attention; until they burst with a fleecy train of stars that floats down the vaulted sky aoftly and slowly; until the earth seems over-arched by a lacework of fire, that drops earthward as it falls, growing thinner, finer j till, like the last ex piring breath of a sigh, it is lost on the evenng air."

Those who braved the inclement weather last evening to attend the Princess Theatre were fully repaid by the excellent representation of "Our American Cousin." Mrs Bates as Florence Trenchard, and her husband as the generous, warm-hearted Asa Trenshard, revelled in their respective characters. Mr Stoneham's conception of Lord Dundreary apparently met with the unqualified approval of the audience ; and Mr Musgrave's Mr Bunuey caused much boisterous laughter. The other characters were fairly represented. A farce concluded the entertainment. The benefit of Mr Musgrave is announced for to - night, when "Caste" and 'Aladdin" will form the attraction. To swell an already capital programme, Mr Bracken has consented to recite "Bingen on the Rhine." We trust to note a crowded house—there being no more painstaking and conscientious actor here than the boneficiare.