PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 160, 3 December 1872, Page 7

PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL

At the inquest upon the Auckland fire, a verdict of accidental origin was returned. At Tuapeka, a subscription has been started for the family of the late Mr George Brodie. Property in Queenstown bought three years ago for £2OO was sold the other day for £450. Three Roman Catholic priests for the Diocese of Dunedin are now on their way to the Colony. On the 25th ult., a destructive fire occurred in Christchurch, doing damage to the amount i of £IO,OOO. , il Sir James Fergusson. our new Governor, ,t| who is a widower, will, it is rumoured, be >tl married shortly. 11l On the 19th ult., at Ly ttelton, a man named >l Nelson Bell committed suicide by nearly cut--0 ting his head oft". "' A man named Higgins has been committed • } ' for trial (on bail) at Drybread, for an indecent assault upon a girl ten years of age. At Grahamstown, Francis Conway, a man ' 79 years of age, has been committed for trial , ( j for a rape on a little girl, eight years old. >„ A late Wellington telegram says the Gene-, ral Government have decided upon declaring a general amnesty to the Maoris in a few ffi days. to The Wellington Independent declares that the Immigration arrangements at Home are y, indolently, slovenly, and insufficiently carlie ried out. The Port Chalmers railway is to be for'c mally opened by Governor Bowen on lis arejj i rival in Dunedin, which will be about the ' ; 20th December. On Sunday, the 24th ult., a little boy, the .. i son of a miner named Davis, fell inio the '' I Mataura river. His sister jumped in to | rescue him, and both were drowned. The Rev. Mr Coffey, of Queenstown, who • proceeds to Tokomairiro, is to be succeeded by the Rev. Mr Smith, one of the clergymen who accompanied the Bishop of Dunedin to the Colony. SThe Wakatip Ma il says Mr Beetham, R.M. , lias received instructions from Government to examine the two routes to Martin's Bay and report thereupon, as well as upon the settlement itself. The General Government have giver. £IOO to Mr Jeffries, proprietor of a public house :_ at Clive, Province of Hawke's Bay, as comyde pensation for damage done to his premises be- by the Maori riot on last Queen's birthday. Mr A miner named .lames Burwood lost his • v 'i- footing in the Pumping Association's si aft at irsn Grahamstown a few days since, and fell down : "** it, a'distance of 100 feet, being crushed to vU "' death. He leaves a widow and rive children. There are some good claims yet in Otago. "ij The Break-'em-All claim, Winding Creek, 0!r . Switzers, turned out £IOOO worth of gold myl during the last eight weeks. The last week's I work yielded 07 ozs. of the glittering metal. thel —Titapebi Times. and On Monday, Nov. 25, the Rev. Dr Staai't urn- lard the foundation stone of the new Knox 7 Church in George-street, Dunedin. Eighteen , m j / ministers were present, and a numerous gaiir thering r>f spectators. The building, mivas j me , the seats, is to cost £OBIB, and is to aecunmodate 956 people. from ie Resident Magistrate at Christchurcl is the apparently resolved to put down the larrikin I costal nuisance there with a strong hand. Time wa m larrikins were one day last week sentenced o t fol pa\' a fine of £5 each, or go to prison for a 1 not rmiuih in default, for insulting females oi the previous evening. At the same time, M*! r had Bowen expressed his regret that he could no j rpnse w der these social pests to be flogged. ' mm Mr John Mellor's range of stabling at Dry-! bead was destroyed by fire on Tuesday last, Y. the 20th inst. Besides a quantity of saddlery, Ivre- c -> two racehorses were burnt. The Dnult f or Ami Tunes- says : —" Coquette, one of the roved horses destroyed, was a valuable mare, and ;y for Was in course of training for the up-country dant) meets. The poor beast was burnt almost to oount a cinder, all efforts to get her out of the burn--1 ser- ing building being futile. Merrylass, who thing was also in training, was, after great trouble, g oin § and at some considerable risk to Lafferty (the trainer), got out, but was frightfully burnt. pro f' The poor beast, when out, maddened with ' fain, gallopped a distance of about half a " ' mile, when she lay down, and was humanely d ] ia ,j ™ot. The estimated loss sustained is about ie tk- totally uninsured." An inquest was held in Timaru a few days tack upon the body of Murdoch M'Lean, aunsel *'Mch, as we noticed last week, was found in anient Ie Washdyke Creek on the 21st ult., with a he run heavy piece of iron round the neck. From «e report of the inquest in the Herald, we site the following :—"The Coroner summed ; Lug" 'P- He said he thought there was no doubt lto the identity of the deceased. Owing to «reports which had been current in Timaru, 'the effect that the man had been murdered -winch view of the case had been somewhat lengthened by the money which he was imposed to have had upon him being mis/e and ■ng—he had caused a post mortem examina- ■ llJ tt to be made, which, however, disclosed W marks of external violence. He thought others, Hue man could hardly have been murdered — J° lin Bjd put into the creek without being first nAtt down, and some such mark left upon P' e ex P resse( l his willingness, if the ■JT desired it, to adjourn the inquiry, in n °, re ■ lat more ev id ence might be got as to crwe fc s or otherwise of the deceased ; but Brought that they had sufficient evidence \ re* ■ • to a 'l° w °f their coming to a dei com' K )n, ~"The jury were then left to consider the ol> P r vej dict, when they agreed to the foltrranteds* in S : ~'That Murdoch M'Lean came to ion.—*- E deat]l °y suffocating in the Washdyke for noil- W% but by whose hand there is no evii to show.'"