The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-09-25 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

his daughter about to become the victim of these monsters
killed her w►th his own hands. During the voyage back to
Kapiti, the old man was dispatched ; and it is a fact that one
of the ship's coppers was in use for cooking human flesh for
his guest; and that Stewart and his crew participated, if not in
the feast, in the atrocious murder and revolting preparations
made for it.' "

A most pleasant gentleman this ! By the way, the writer
informs us that the English villain Stewart (who, we
grieve to say, is not a fabulous character) was lost on his
homeward voyage. A somewhat similar character is
Waka Ncne, an ally and favourite of the English, con-
cerning whom our author gives us a funny story of

A WAR DANCE IN UNIFORM.
" Waka has wisely merged his title of chief into that of an
officer, and acts much more in that capacity than any other
chief I have met. His faithful services to the government
have secured him a pension for life. He generally dresses in a
naval uniform, and when so dressed expects the customary sa-
lutation to which his assumed rank entitles him, being that of
a post captain; which mark of attention we never failed to pay
him when he visited the ship.
" He has a nice little wooden house at Kororaika, and does
the honours to his visitors very well indeed ; he studies to do
everything in European fashion. One of the most difficult
habits to drop is to discontinue seating themselves on their
ankles—a most peculiar posture, and to our stiff-limbed race
as uncomfortable as the use of a chair is to a maori; he, how-
ever, seldom or never indulges in this luxurious attitude since
his promotion. I have on several occasions dined in company,
with him, and could scarcely believe that so much good breed-
ing and politeness could be worn with such ease by a man born
and brought up a thorough savage. I was amused at his ask-
ing those he considered his juniors to take wine with him, and,
when the cloth was removed, waiting patiently for herGracions
Majesty's health to he proposed, at which toast he left no heel-
tap. He is always ready to know anything concerning Queen
Vickytoria, of whom he asks the most particular questions. I
should think him to be about forty-five years of age ; but from
being very much tatooed, and from his not knowing his own
age, which none of them do, it is very difficult to arrive at it.
A most ridiculous scene occurred at the return of his tribe
from Ruapekapeka. Waka being in his full uniform—epau-
lettes, cocked bat, and all—which had been given him by
Captain Sir Everard Home, of the North Star,' a war-dance
took place in honour of their return this was a series of the
most extravagant distortions of features, accompanied by the
most discordant yells and shouts, as well as dancing, which
consists in jumping off their feet as high as extreme excite-
ment and great activity alone could accomplish, flourishing
their muskets and tomahawks over their heads at each fresh
scream ; the chiet giving the time for these displays of diaboli-
cal manoeuvres, which, brwever, they execute in the most ex-
cellent measure, keeping the most correct time in these horri-
• ble chorusses, as well as jumping together with the greatest
precision, the 200 muskets acting as one; iece of machinery.
At the first part of this spectacle Waka stood with the officers
who were looking on, merely showing that his mind was with
the dancers by a slight movement of the leg, and every now
and then slapping his thigh with the palm of his hand, marking
time; but gradually becoming more and more excited, forgot
the dignity due to his uniform and new station, and in a few
minutes snatched a musket from the willing hand of one of the
soldiers standing by who had been watching him, and joined in
the noisy throng, soon taking the prominent part which his
energy of character rendered him so well able to perform, los-
ing all control of his gentlemanly self: this ended in a sad ca-
tastrophe happening to his blue dress pants, which could not
stand the repeated tests of strength they were put to. We all
laughed most heartily; but so excited had our tatooed officer
become, that he did not discover the damage done to his li-
mited wardrobe until the dance was over, when he felt rather
ashamed of the figure he had cut."
- - - • -

We shall not follow our author through his narrative of
the various encounters with the natives, by which the
insurgent natives were at length put do Nn ; but proceed
to give a few of his observations upon the capabilities of
the country, since its return to a condition of peace :
IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONDITION OF THE NEW ZEA-

LANDERS

" Since Captain Grey's administration, a great improvement
has manifested itself amongst the natives ; and, from very late
accounts, it seems that the roads lately made in the southern
provinces have done much to improve the condition of the co-
lony; showing the natives how easily such work can be done
when persevered with, as well as the great use of facilitating
the communication between the out-settlements and the prin-
cipal parts, and the advantage it is to themselves to have such
employment given them. We explained to them that this road
would soon be m:.de all the way to Auckland, a distance of 500
miles, and that coaches and waggons would be frequently go-
ing to and fro between these two places. They are making ra-
pid strides in the various branches of trade."
The following are his views as to the
PROSPECTS OF SETTLERS IN NEW ZEALAND.
" Civilisation has taken root, and is advancing with rapid
strides among the native population of this district. They do
more ; they offer to intending settlers the best guarantee they
can desire for the future tranquillity of the district. The na
tives are now most busily employed in the arts of peace;
pleased with the progress they have made, they are most an-
xious to be further instructed; the fruits of their honest in-
dustry they dispose of to the settlers, and expend the proceeds
in the purchase of British manufactures. They are too much
interested, they have too much to lose, to allow the peace of
the district to be disturbed; and the more roads are opened,
and the means of communication i nproved, the more inti-
mately the races are brought together. In the very formation
of these roads the European and Mori may be found working
side by side. It is possible that disturbances may-occasionally
occur, for with Rangalliata and those who act with him the old
leaven still remains ; but the great hulk of the native popula-
' lation are peaceably disposed, and rapidly advancing in civi-
lisation. Let the force now in this part of the island be main-
tained for a few years longer; let the present influences now at
work be suffered to have their free development; let the firm
but kindly policy now pursued towards the natives be perse-
vered in, and we have the surest pledges of the rapid progress
and prosperity of the colony.
" The progress made in every way in New Zealand within the
last three years, and the first two under such disadvantageous
circumstances, reflects the greatest credit on the present go-
vernor, whose indefatigable exertions have been crowned with
unexampled success ; inspiring those who are already out in
the colony with hope of a speedy return for their care and
hardship's, and those who are thinking of going out, with con-
fidence as to the ultimate issue of the undertaking. The pre-
sent drawback to poor people of gentility emigrating is the
voyage out under the present system."
We most cordially recommend this little volume to our
readers. Its perusal will tend to stimulate to the perusal
of more elaborate works; and of itself it will dissipate
many wrong impressions with respect to these colonies.

Lord and Lady Clarendon returned to Dublin on
Friday. They did not visit Cork.
THEATRE-ROYAL.-Mr. Copeland is about to treat us
with six performances of English opera. Mr. Sims
Reeves is engaged as prima tenmi, and will give us his
unrivalled Edgardo, " Lucia di Lammermoor."
THE VICES OF WHAT ARE TERMED PURE TRIBES OF
MEN.-It is a fact of ethnology, that while a tribe of
men, kept to itself and free from foreign admixture, pre-
serves its natural good qualities in undiminished excel-
lence through numerous ages, all its natural vices become
increased in intensity and vitality by the same circum-
stances of isolation. Look at the miserable Irish always
standing in their own light; look at the Spaniards, keep-
ing to themselves, and stifling all their noble qualities by
the permanence of their national vices ; look at the tribes
of Asia, doomed to perpetual subjection while they re-
main unmixed in blood. Had the Saxons remained with
uncrossed blood, they had still been stolid, heavy, dream-
ing, impracticable Germans, though they had peopled the
plains of England ; but, when mixed with the Celts and
Danes, they formed the Lowland Scots, the most indus-
trious and caniest chiels in the wide world: fused with
the Dane and Norman, and subsequently mixed with all
people, they became Englishmen—rerun domini—like
the Romans of old. It may be mortifying enough to
national pride, but the fact is, nevertheless, patent and
certain, that extensive admixture of blood commonly
benefits a nation more than all its geographical advantages.
--Blackwood's Magazine.

GAMBLING.—This vice has been practised by the most
civilised and enlightened people, as well as by the most
barbarous and ignorant. The coronetted legislator of the
foremost nation in refinement has been known to sacri-
fice a princely income to this passion. No station is free
from its degrading influence. The brutal bull-baiter,
and the most profound thinker have alike met ruin in its
vortex. An instance of the latter occurred in the case of
an author of European celebrity, who, in one of his
works, said, " The gamester, if he dies a martyr to his
pursuit, is doubly ruined ; he adds his soul to every other
loss, and by the act of suicide renounces earth to forfeit
heaven !" The man who wrote that sentence was him-
self a gambler, and ultimatety a suicide ! Such is the
result of this demoralizing habit, commenced perhaps in
a state of dissipated ennui, and continued through a viti-
ated state of the digestive organs, entailing a morose,
peevish, and discontented a state of mind, the whole of
which might have been prevented by the occasional use
of that mild aperient, Frampton's Pill of Health.
AFRICAN JUGGLING FEATS WHICH BEAT THE SCOTCH
WizAans.—After the feast came music, dancing, and a
variety of juggling feats. The dancing girls were beautiful
and very graceful in their movements, and the conjuring
tricks were novel and performed with great skill. Some
of them were truly wonderful, as, for instance, turning a
man into a tree bearing fruit, and with monkeys skipping
about in the branches ; and another case, where the chief
juggler apparently swallowed five men, ten boys, and a
jackass, threw them all up again, turned himself inside
out, blew himself up like a balloon, and exploding with a
loud report, disappeared in a puff of lurt.inous vapour. My
companions declared that we had got into a country of
enchanters, and I could not but admire the skill with
which the tricks were performed, although I was too much
of a Yankee to be much astonished at anything in the
hey! presto ! line.—Kaloolah, or Journeyings to the
Djael Kumri.
A YANKEE DOCTOR'S NOTIONS UPON THE MODE 01,
BESTOWING THE BODIES OF THE DEAD.—The Romans
burned, the Egyptians embalmed, and we bury our dead ;
while some of the Tarter tribes expose them on stages for
the birds to peck at ; and the Ilindoos chuck them into
the sacred river. Mere fashions, all of them, and fashions
must change. Ours is the least useful, and in these days
of utility, I'm sure it cannot last long. Only to think,
that the Christian and civilised portion of the eighty-six
thousand, who daily leave their bodies behind them, is of
no service, unless it is to poison the air, fatten worms, or
stimulate the rank and uncropped herbage of the grave-
yard. True, those slain in battle are not wholly thrown
away—they say that the crops at Waterloo are uncom-
monly fine ; but then battle-fields are too rare to amount
to much in that way, and besides they are seldom or never
selected with a proper reference to agricultural purposes.
The dead are also heaped up too much, and the piles of
bodies are never afterwards properly distributed. Now,
by a judicious system of skirmishing over a large extent of
arable land, armies that were impoverishing a country on
the one hand, might be enriching it with their blood and
bones on the other. I wonder the potentates of the earth,
who are always studying the welfare of their subjects, have
never taken the subject into consideration, as it is the
only argument that I know of in favour of war. If, in ad-
dition to this, bodies were freely given up for dissection,
the oft-quoted reflection of Hamlet upon the possible ap-
plication of Caesar's clay to a bung-hole, would be de-
prived of half its point. " Base," as applied to our post-
mortem uses, would cease to be true, and many a man
would be of more real service to the world after death
than he ever was during life. The fashion would be use
fill too, as furnishing tests of respectability. Each family
might have a room devoted to the purpose, where their
departed, but preserved, relatives would be arranged.
Just think of a man with a garret-full of great grandfa-
thers—whocould doubt his claims to respectability ? espe-
cially if at the same time he had money in the-bank !
.Kaloolah, or fourneyingis to the Djeliel Kumri.

SPECIAL VESTRY MEETING Y.- _ ESTERDAY.

Yesterday a Special Vestry was held for the purpose of
receiving an address to the inhabitants of this town, from
the Rev. Rector Campbell, in answer to the charges which
had been preferred against the Vestry by the General
Board of Health. The Rev. Rector Campbell occupied
the chair, and the following members of the Board were
also present :—Messrs. Harbord, Abrahams, Cafferatta,
Ireland, Molyneux, Mellor, Blain, Clarke, Willmer,
Brown, Cairn, Dover, Johnson, and Gardner.
Before the proceedings commenced,
The CHAIRMAN (addressing himself to our reporter,)
referred to the document which was about to be submitted
to the meeting, and said that the address, even if adopted,
must not appear in the papers of to-morrow. The re-
porter must therefore not consider himself at liberty to
publish it unless he had the express authority of the
meeting for doing so.
The address, which was a lengthy document, was then
read, but in consequence of the restrictions imposed upon
us by the intimation recorded above, we are prevented
from giving it in extenso. It went into a detailed expla-
nation of the course pursued by the vestry, from a period
antecedent to the breaking out of the cholera in Liverpool,
with the view of proving that the charges made against
them by the General Board of Health were not at all war-
ranted by the facts, With regard to the hospital-in Queen
Ann-street, it stated that although Dr. Duncan, the medi-
cal officer of health had recommended its removal to
another district, the vestry did not consider it advisable to
remove it in consequence of its proximity to Districts
where cholera might be expected to prevail. It then went
on to say that had Dr. Duncan been more frank and com-
municative to the vestry much more might have been
done. It complained of the want of courtesy shewn to the
vestry by Mr. Grainger, one of the government medical
officers of health, when he was in Liverpool, and
after going into the particulars of what had been done
by the vestry,—alluding in severe terms to the im-
putations which had been conveyed upon► them by the
Board of Health, by stating that they had " done no-
thing," and " violated the law," it went on to state that
such a report as had been issued by the Board of Health
did not become the gravity or the dignity of such a board,
which ought always to be cautious in the statements they
made. The Medical Relief Committee or the Vestry
might not have done all that it was possible, but they had
done all that it was in their power to do. It was not true
that deaths had been caused by the neglect alleged by the
Board of Health, but were traceable to causes over which
the Vestry had no control. The address concluded with
observing that the Vestry trusted the people of Liverpool
would treat them with more justice than the Board of
Health had done.
Mr. HARBORD moved that the address read be received
and adopted, and printed for circulation in the town.
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. ABRAHAM (chairman of the medical relief com-
mittee) rose, and said that generally speaking he agreed
with the contents of the report. There were, however.
two or three allusions on subjects to which it referred,
with which he could not agree. In the first place be did
not agree with the censure thrown on Dr. Duncan. He
had had numerous and unreserved conversations with Dr.
Duncan, and he (Mr. A.) believed that the great mistake
had been that they had expected from Dr. Duncan what
none but a salaried officer ought to be called upon to per-
form, and he thought that the evil had been in not ap-
pointing such a person. Neither could he agree
with the allusion thrown on Mr. Grainger, and he
must really confess, that whatever other members
of the board might think to the contrary, that he never
saw anything offensive in his manners when he was down
in Liverpool, and he (Mr. A.) believed that the main
cause of their not having, in June, made the medical
appointments about which so much had been said, was to
be attributed to the peremptory order received from the
board of health. His own impression was, that had Mr.
Grainger been left to himself, he would have carried out
the house visitation in a far more satisfactory manner than
it had been done. As there seemed to be a number of
little matters on which the address required some slight
amendments, he thought the best way of proceeding
would be to read it over again, and consider it paragraph
by paragraph.
The CHAIRMAN thought there would be some difficulty
in doing so.
After some further irregular conversation,
Mr. ABRAHAM proceeded to contend that up to the
time that Mr. Grainger came down there was no occasion
for complaining of Dr. Duncan's conduct towards the
Vestry.
After a few remarks from the Chairman on this subject,
in defence of the allegations contained in the address which
he had drawn up,
Mr. ABRAHAM continued, expressing it as his opinion
that at the period referred to Dr. Duncan did not consi-
der that the Vestry was not doing its duty. He reiterated
his opinion that it was in consequence of Dr. Duncan not
being a servant of the Vestry at the time that all the mis-
understanding had arisen.
Mr. HARBORD said that by an arrangement made with
the Health Committee of the Town Council before the
cholera broke out as an epidemic, Dr. Duncan was under-
stood to be a servant of the Vestry, and his services were
to be given to them, if required.
Mr. BROWN agreed that Dr. Duncan had not been
sufficiently explicit to the Vestry. He had frequently
asked him questions, and could InA obtain from him any
clear or satisfactory answer which he could understand.
The CHAIRMAN said that what he complained of was,
that when Dr. Duncan was writing to the Board of Health,
finding fault with the Vestry, he did not come torwareand
complain to the Vestry itself. Why did he not come to
him (the Chairman). and say, " You are not doing your
duty ?" Had he done so, he must have known that he
(the Chairman) would have said to him, " I will do all I
can to make the Vestry know their duty, and keep them
to it." At that time Dr. Duncan did not say one word as
to neglect of duty on the part of the Vestry, although he
(the Chairman) was inviting him to do so, if necessary.
Mr. ABRAHAM maintained that at that time Dr. Duncan
did not think that the vestry was not doing its duty, and
he bad no objection to the reporters stating it to the
public that, up to the time of Mr. Grainger coming to
Liverpool, Dr. Duncan never expressed the slightest dis-
satisfaction with the proceedings of the vestry, except on
the question as to whether the house in Queen Anne-
street should be used as an hospital, or as a house of
refuge. Dr. Duncan's opinion was that it should be
closed at once as an hospital, but be continued as a house
of refuge. The Medical Relief Committee did not at
once close it as an hospital, but determined to keep it
open as such until other premises were obtained, and at
this Dr. Duncan did express his dissatisfaction.
The CHAIRMAN could not then understand what Dr.
Duncan meant by stating that the Vestry had neglected
its duty for three months before the period alluded to.
Mr. ABRAHAM. No, that was not Dr. Duncan's
statement, but the statement of the Board of Health.
Mr. DOVER thought it was much to be regretted that
one of their own servants should be allowed to make
complaints against them to the Board of Health, without
their knowledge. There was no doubt that Dr. Duncan
was placed in an awkward position, but he (Mr. Dover)
could not help feeling that he had not pursued a proper
course.
After some further discussion all allusions to Dr.
Duncan were struck out of the address, the chairman,
' however, expressing it as his opinion that they were per-
fectly just,
Mr. ABRAHAM objected to the wording of it, on the
ground that if left as it was it would convey an impression
that the Medical Relief Committee had no intention of
removing it. Now, he again wished it to be distinctly
understood that the Medical Relief Committee only in-
tended to keep it open until they got another ; but they
had great difficulty, for people would not let them pre-
mises for some time, on any terms.
After some conversation, the alteration, as suggested
by Mr. Abraham, was made in the address.
On that part of the address being read which stated
that the Committee had done their best, but that they
might possibly have been able to do more had Dr. Suther-
land come down instead of Mr. Grainger,
Mr. ABRAHAM again objected and expressed a contrary
opinion.
On the paragraph in the address referring to the cholera
hospital in Queen Anne-street being read,
The CHAIRMAN.—Did Mr. Abraham mean to say that
if they had had Dr. Sutherland amongst them they would
not have been able to do more ? He had no wish to say a
word against Dr. Duncan ; but he certainly was of opi-
nion that he was deficient in energy and decision. It ap-
peared to him that he took a long time to make up his
mind, and that was what he (the chairman) complained
of. He repeated it to be his belief that if Dr. Sutherland
had been here more might have been done.
Mr. ABRAHAM said most distinctly that he did not be-
lieve they could have done more.
Mr. HARBORD was of opinion, that with Dr. Suther-
land's services the medical relief committee might have
done more, although at one time he was of a different
opinion. He could not forget that Dr. Sutherland had of-
fered his services to superintend the arrangement of their
medical staff, and he thought much more might have been
effected had Dr. Duncan used greater exertions on this
matter. He must, however, do Dr. Duncan the justice to
say that he had complained of not being summoned to at-
tend the meetings of the medical relief committee.
After some further discussion of an exceedingly irre-
gular character,
Mr. BROWN expressed his conviction that if Dr. Su-
therland and Mr. Grainger had kept away from Liverpool,
the medical relief committee would have been in a much
better condition for affording relief in cases of cholera,
because they differed in their notions of what was the
right kind of treatment. One of these gentlemen said
they must do one thing, whilst the other recommended an
entirely opposite course of proceeding. It was quite
clear, therefore, that in any case the Vestry would have
been blamed by the Board of Health in either case, in
consequence of the opposite advice given to the Vestry of
their own own officers.
The CHAIRMAN observed that the paragraph in the
address under consideration did not state anything po-
sitive. It merely stated that more might possibly have
been done under the circumstances alluded to.
The paragraph was then ordered to stand as it then was.
The next paragraph referred to in the address was a
statement alluding to the closing two of the parish ceme-
teries within the borough, and the opening of St. Mar-
tin's cemetery, and the purchase of the new cemetery for
£13,000.
On this considerable discussion was raised by a remark
which fell from
Mr. ABRAHAM, who said that the purchase of the new
cemetery was made in consequence of both the other
cemeteries in the town being full, and without any refer-
ence whatever to the cholera. Notwithstanding that the
cemetery had been closed, it had not yet been used, but
interments still took place in the town.
Mr. JOHNSON thought it was most important that the
fact of their having expended £13,000 on a new cemetery,
at a distance from the town, should be stated in the
address, as it would tell in their favour much more than
anything else.

Some discussion having taken place upon St. Martin's
cemetery,
Mr. DOVER expressed his opinion that the neighbour-
hood was very healthy ; and although an opinion had gone
abroad to the contrary, the cemetery was not more than
half full. It was in an open locality, with four wide streets
surrounding it, and there had not been more than two or
three cases of cholera within the two or three streets sur-
rounding it on each side. He thought this fact should be
stated, because the Health Committee of the Town Coun-
cil was calling on them to close the cemeteries in the town.
The CHAIRMAN regarded it as of the greatest possible
importance that the purchase of the new cemetery for
£13,000 should remain in the address. He considered
that statement in itself would go further in their favour
than all the rest of it. It would prove that they had done
in this respect what had not been done in London ; and if
this statement could only be circulated through the me.
dium of the Times, which had published the charges of
the Board of Health, it was most desirable that it should
be done. _ _

After some further discussion, it was unanimously
agreed that the statement should remain as part of the
address. _ _ . _

The other portions of it having been considered, with
the few alterations made in it, the address was adopted by
the meeting, and ordered to be made public through the
medium of the newspapers.
The meeting broke up about one o'clock.