LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3163, 1 April 1871, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Tjir Sutekintendency. — Our readers will recollect lhafc this is the Ist. of April, or All Fools' Day, or 2>ohson d'avril, as they call ib in Franco. Can thoro bo any connection between the dnfo and tho candidature for the Supcrintendeney ? First, Mr Masters announces himself, then Major Finnimore follows in the wake of the patriarch of iho Wairavapa. This arouses the emulation of Con. Croft;, who treads on tho heels of the hero of Wnnganui ;, and to crown the absurdity, Mr Henry Anderson comes into the wash of t.he ro doubtable Con. We have heard a great deal of the famo of tho three Fs, but it would appear that the vacant offico of the Superintendency and the first of April are going to j bring us a formidable force of F — s to tho front, Mr Cowie, Inppector of tho Union Bank, has, we understand, obtained twelve months' leave of absence, and intends to take advantage, of it, by paving a visit to tho mother country. Ho will leave by the Phoebe on Monday. Mr Sutherland, from Australia, will act as Inspector during his absence. We wish Mr Cowie a prosperous voyage and a year's agreeable relaxation. T. W. LEwrs, Esq., has been appointed chief clerk in the Colonial Defenco Department. J. K. Wabbubton, Esq., has becn^ ap pointed chief clerk in the General PosroGlee. Siieei? IN Wairarapa.— The "Mercury" of the 27th says :— The result of boiling down sheep is practically eeen in comparing the sheep inspectors' returns for this and tho previous year. From Mr Donald's return we find that on May 31, 18fi9. tho number was 226,751 ; on Mny 31, 1870, the number was 180,700. From Mr Tvlford's return for the East Wairarapa, it appears that a slight increase has token place. In May, 1869, there were 132,347 ; and in May, 1870, thorc were 145 318. Visitors. — About 200 Maoris from Napier, are expected to arrive on a visit to their Wairampa cousins in the conrce of tho week. There have been great preparations made for their reception, and many have been disposing of their landed and personal property, in order to raise funds to purchase the necessary quantities of flour, rum, and other luxuries considered necessary. — " Wairarapa Mercury." The Whabeama Roads.— A correspondent writes to tho " Wairarapa Mercury" that the Mang'ipakelm bridge is gone, and that tho lasttime Mr Nicol, tho mailman, attempted to cross was nearly attended with fatal results ; and that the road down the Whakataki Creek to Castlo Point is almost impassable. "Best Danish Kid." — A few days since a woman came to tho Police Office in Paris, and stated that something wrong must bo going on in tho next house to where the lived, as every night she heard most lamentable and piercing cries, growing fainter and fainter at last, as if proceeding from some ono dying, and that since 6he had noticed theeo cries she had also perceived a very horrible smell proceeding from tho same houso. Upon this information tho police accompanied her to the dwelling indicated. A horrible odor met them upon the threshold, and finally, after repeated knocking, the door was opened by a man who turned pale at the sight of the officers. Upon entering his >oom they found stretched on the floor, with their throats cut, thirty bleeding corpses of dogs ! The man, on being interrogated, confessed that he stole tho animals and dragged them to his house, when he cut their throats so as not to spoil their skins, which he sold to the tanners for conversion into the best Danish kid gloves. — " Petit Journal." Shortening of the Cnuncn op EnglandSebvice — At, the meetingof the Diocesan Synod of Tasmania, recently, (as reported in the " Mercury,") tho venerable Archdeacon Brown moved the following resolution : — That, until a revised liturgy, approved by a general Synod of Australia, be adopted by the dioceso of Tasmania, it shall be permitted to the clergy oi this diocese, with the consent of a majority of the respective congregations, to shorten tho services by the use of only one Creed and the non-repetition of the Lord's Prayer in each service by the omission of tho minor Lit my when tho Litany is used, and of the Collect for the day, when tho Communion Service, where it occurs again, follows ; also, when there ia no Communion, of the prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church, which comprehended in what is already said in the Litany, &c. ; of the prayer for the Queen, after tho Commandments, when prayed for previously ; and save twice in the year, of the longer exhoitation before Holy Communion." He desired to state that his chief object was to have unity of action. It did not suit, country congregations to assemble more than once, or at mo&t twice a day, and therefore they could not have short separate services. He hoped the time would come when the churches would be invariably opened, and when we should have throe separate services. He would like to see our churches, as on tho continent of Europe, always open. Ho directed attention to the fact that the Lord's Prayer was too frequently hurried through when it wus frequently repeated. Tho speaker then adverted at length to the other points touched on in the resolution. The Rev. Mr Freeman did not see the necessity for shortening the services. Mr M'Ardell moved, as an amendment, that tho Synod proceed to tho next, business on tho paper. The Rev. C. P. Greene seconded tho amendment, which, after some discussion, wus agreed to. — " S.M. Herald," Feb. 27. Lifes 1 Stages. — The Chinese division of human life is interesting. The age of ten is called tho opening degree : 20, youth expired ; 30, strcnth and marriage ; 40, oflieially apt ; 50, error knowing ; 60, cycle closing ; 70, rare bird of age ; 80, rusty visage ; 90 ; decayed ; 100, age's extremity. Flourens' division is more scientific ; 1 to 10 years, infancy ; 10 to 20, adolescense ; 20 to 30, first youth ; 30 to 40, second youth; 40 to 45, first manhood ; 55 to 70, second manhood ; 70 to 85, first old ago; 85 to 100, second and last old ago. Pijtrid Food. — Who thinks of finding poison in the nnture-senled egg ! Yet it is truo that even a. fresh egg wi 1 produce vomiting and purging in somo people ; and such being the fact, we cannot bo any longer surprised that o otulo egg should be tho cause of much more violent symptoms. The influence of stalo food in tho production of disease is ono of the most important of medical problems. Wo believe most, implieity that scarlet fever arises from this cause j and it has been proved over and ovor again that enteric rognstio fever, as it is improperly culled, and cholera, may result from putrid food, or contaminated water. Like tho Pharisee of old, we " strain nt a gnat aud swallow a camel" — we avo shocked and disgusted by a harmless smell, at the same time, it may bo, that wo are taking somo essence of putridity into our stomach. What is more filthy than rotten cheese ?we aßk. " Delicious, and perfectly harmles," answers the gustronomer. Happily, use in second nature, to say nothing of tho antidotal properties "of good old port 5" but give this essenco of putridity to a child, or to an adult unaccustomed to its use, and soe what comes of it. Now and then hawkers of rotten American cheeßO y'mb our country

districts, and dole out hundred- weights of this poison at the attractive price of twopence or threepence a pound, and anon diarrhoea and putrid foyer spring up along their track. Nor is harm to bo dreaded from putrid mattor alone, for food in an incipient state of.change, and before the taste and smell can detoct tho danger, is even move likely to induce disease. In hot, muggy weather, animal fluids become crowded with the microscopical organism called bacteria and ribriones, within an hour or two of their removal from tho body. This is the first appreciable step towards chango ; sourness follows next. Wo know how rapidly these changes ensue when thunder is in tho air. Eveu the comparatively unchangeable boor iv our cellars turns sour then. These facts should teach us one una'tcrabjo rule— viz., to starve in hot weather, if wo cannot get fresh food.—" People's Magazine." Skllinq Bbead. — It has rocontiy been decided in tho English Bail Court (Mr Justice Mellor and Mr Baron Pigofc sitting) that a bnker must not only sell his bread by weight, but that the act of weighing must take placo when it is sold, and not when it is made. It came out, in the couvso of tho proceedings, that tho appellant, a baker of Daren try, was in the habit of weighing the dough and making an allowance- for evaporation; but (ho Court declared any such practice insufficient and illegal. Goitre and hie Use op Steet,.— Dr. Seilz maintains, in the " Allg. Mod. Cent. Zeit.," December 28th, 1870, that steel medicines nob only cause an increase of tho Derbyshire neck, but produce an enlargement of tho thyroid gland where there is the least actual or hereditary tendency to tho complaint. Tho author quotes several striking cases, p.nd. suspects that, such countries where the wnfcor contains a proportion of iron are most likely to bo inhabited with people suffering from goitre. lodine succeeded admirably in his hands, where, with steel, he hud provoked the rapid enlargement of the gland. Dr. Seitz calls upon his brethren to undertake experiment?, and to follow up the cases with actual measurement. An Antidote to Strychnine is found in common smoking tobacco — two cases are selected to convey some idea of its power. One, a largo pointer dog, which had eaten poisoned meat, and showed strong symptoms of poisoning by strychnine. I first gave ten grains of camphor in liquid form, in epito of which the dog had several violent spasms, and ultimately wont as stiff as an iceberg. I then gave him a strong decoction of tobacco, which, as tho spasms relapsed, slowly passed down his throat ; tho muscles again became so perfectly rigid for full five minutes that the only sign of life remaining vraß a slight action of the heart : the spasm gradually gave way, the animal got on his feet, vomited tho contents of his stomach, and in fifteen minutes was as well as ever, and so continued. The next was a email poodle dog, which I took from the street in a dying state. The symptoms were equally) severe as in the former case. In this instance I gave a scruplo of lobelia in water, which caused instantaneous vomiting. No further Bpaams occurred ; but half a hour after the animal's hind-quarters were still paralysed. Four grains of camphor was then administered ; in thirty minutes more he could walk a littlo. I thon gave a desert spoonful of the decoction of tobacco ; in fifteen minutes the little animal appeared in perfect health. I therefore deem tobacco a perfect antidote to strychnine, and should occasion offer I would without tho slightest hesitation, administer a decoction of our common smoking tobacco. The method hitherto adopted was to cut up half-an-ounce of fig tobacco, Baturate it in a quarter of a pint of hot water, press it out, aoid administer from one- fourth to tho lot at a dose, according to the circumstances of the case. — W. MoOEE, Homoaopathist, Sydney.