ALEXANDRA.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 10, 12 January 1870, Page 5

ALEXANDRA.

(From our Own Correspondent.) January 7th, 1870. Since the holidays, most of our miners have returned to their various claims, and in one instance with a melancholy result. I refer to the shocking accident that occurred to a miner named Geddes, on whose body an inquest was held on Tuesday last, at which the following facts were elicited. The deceased and his mate were working in a sluicing claim in a branch gully running into Conroys, when the deceased requested his mate to go to the clam and turn on the water. He went to do so, and was sibsent not more than three minutes. A frightful sight met his gaze when he re-, turned. On looking into the cutting he had just left, lying between two stones he saw the brains of his mate, scattered on and around them. He then descended, and found the body so jammed between a large boulder, some ten or twelve tons in weight, and a lump of reef which was standing up about three feet, that it was impossible to extricate it without assistance. Wlvn this was obtained, it was found necessary to cut away the floor of the paddoek, before the body could be got out. It was immediately brought to town, to await the inquest, at which, after a careful enquiry into the circumstances of the case, a verdict of accidental death was returned. After a short interval, the body was conveyed to its " long home," attended by a very large number of miners and townspeople. The deceased was a youwg man, 29 years of age, of irreproachable character, had been in the district a long time, and was highly respected. The whole of the business places were closed, and, with scarce an exception, there was a cessation of all mining operations at the time of the burial; and, from far and near, mining friends followed to the grave the remains of the depa-ted. This sad occurrence has thrown quite a gloom over the coming-in of the New Year, but let us hope that its remaining portion will not be attended with similar calamities. Of course I have very little mining news to chronicle, as we have not yet fairly set in to work. Several fresh contracts have been let for sinking shafts in the various quartz-claims, evincing a determination on the part of the shareholders to thoroughly test the several lines that have been struck. Owing to the late heavy rains, our river workings have been slightly atfeeted, and some damage has been done by the flooding of the Manuherikia, but nothing to particularise. Several paddocks under cultivation on the low banks of the latter river have been damaged by the inundations.