The Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1898. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6134, 22 March 1898, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1898. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

A few months ago, when the question of the administration of charitable aid: was under review, the desirableness of having at least three or four beds at the Armagh Street Dep6t for urgent or casual cases was strongly recommended in our columns. It was pointed out that there was plenty of room, cramped though the accommodation might be, for this kind of thiug. While it is true that the Charitable Aid Board contemplates the erection of new and sufficient buildings, it is equally true that the Dep6t, in the present as in the past, is shut as tight as a church dviring the night. As a member of our staff was pursuing his weary way home in the small hours of yesterday morning, he was accosted by a country youth, who, tired out, had spent the evening in a fruitless attempt to obtain a bed. The hotels dared not take him in, and the lodging-house keepers would not. A policeman, with that good nature so characteristic of his class, had walked round with the young man for nearly an hoar to various boarding-houses, but without avail. The best advice our representative could give the tired and inexperienced wanderer was to go to the watch house at the police station, and trust to the kindness of the officer in charge for a night's accommodation. This, however, the wayfarer was unwilling to do. Tt will be at once conceded that the young man should, in a Puritan City like Christchurch, have made the necessary arrangements beforehand, but a night out is a heavy price for country inexperience. "What if he had been old, feeble, penniless and unfriended ? As we have said on a previous occasion, beds are an absolute necessity in any properly administered charitable aid system, and the sooner the doors of our refuges are open all night the better for those who suffer, the better for the public at large, and the better for the charitable aid system itself. Putting the question of humanity, for the sake of argument, altogether on one side, it is cheaper for the j State to put up a few men for a few nights in the year than to have to keep them for monthsin the public hospitals, and, possibly bury them afterwards. We are not without hope that some practical action will soon be apparent. The question of the dissemination of tuberculosis by milk is the subject of au interesting article by Drs Stokes and Wegefurth, of Baltimore, Maryland, in tlie Medical Nacs of New York. They hold hat if the centrifugalised sedimen? of the milk from a number of cows shows under the miecosoope an excessive amount of pus, a careful inspection of the herd is ] necessary. They suggest that au average j

of more than five pus cells to the field °f a twelfth -inch oil immersion lens should exclude an animal from the herd. In Baltimore, a city of 500,000 inhabitants, there were 412 deaths from cholera infantuin during the year 1896. The disease is prevalent among children using cow's milk, and Dr Stokes and Dr Wi gef ur'th believe that proper legislation looking to the examination of dairy herds and the supervision of dairy stables would prevent many deaths from the various intestinal inflammatory diseases. It is thought that the adoption of such measures would tend towards securing a purer milk supply and lessening the danger of disease through infected milk. A former Speaker of the House of Commons, the first Viscount Hampden, laid it down as a rule that the " Father of the iiouse was a member who had for the longest time represented the same constituency without break. In accordance with *™ "HS? ti>e new " Father of the ITouse" is Mr William Wither Brauistou Beach, who was born in 1826 (when Mr Villiers •was already 24) and entered the House of Commons in 1857 as member for North Hpnts, and still represents the. Andover Division of that constituency. In actual length of unbroken Parliamentary service, however, Mr Beach must give the palm to Sir John Mowbray, who represented the City of Durham from 1853 to 1868, and since then has been one of the members for the University of Oxford. Of course, we yet need progretsive legislation. For instance, would not a male plebiscite in Christchurch endorse the following ?~ Obstruction of view in theatres. — " Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That any owner, lessee, proprietor, or manager of any theatre, hall, opera-house, or any such buildiug where theatrical or other performances are given, when any admission fee is charged^ who permits or suffers any person attending such performance to wear upon his or her head any hat, bonnet" or covering for the head which may obstruct the view of any person or persons during the performance in such theatre, hall, opera houde or building where such performance is given, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, ■ and shall' upon conviction be fined not more than ten nor lobs than two dollars."