Untitled

Dunstan Times, Issue 250, 8 February 1867, Page 2

An inquest was held at the fTospi al on Saturday evening last, the 2nd Inst bebore 11. W. Robinson, Esq. Coroner., on toe body of a man named Goss, who ■ died from injuries received through falling from the Imperial Company's fluming, a cross the River Molyneux, at Alexandra. It appeared from the evidence, of the numerous witnesses, thajj_ the deceased and three others, ail copartners wanted to cross the River, and for that purp mo went on the Fluming ; when about midway, one of the supports broke, and from a height of ever seventy feet precipitated ihe deceased on to the rocks below, thereby causing the injuries, tha caused death, abo one of the other men, named Bell, was cast into the River, from which his body has not I eon recovered, the others escaped unhurt. The evidence of Miller, the manager of the Company, went to shew that the Company wereawareofthefaulty nature of the support that broke. The investiga. tion lasted between four and five hours at he end of which time, the following Verdict and Rider attached was returned. That deceased died from congestion of the brain, caused through falling from the Imperial Company's fluming, and the Jury beg to express themselves, that great neglect was visible, by the imprudent conduct of crossiug the fluming with the knowledge of the faulty nature of the •support. A meeting of the ?chool Committe? was held on Friday evening the 25th ultMr Ziele occupied the Chair. After the preliminary business .f reading theminutes oflastmeeting wasgonethrough, two letters were read from Mr Hislop, Secretary of the Education Board, and one from MiEdwards, tendering his resignation as member of the Committee. The report of the Schoolmaster, Mr 8. M. Clarke, and the financial statement and report brought forward by the Secretary. The letters were ordered to be received. Mr Donald M'Pherson was elected in the place of Mr Edwards nsigned. The Schoolmaster's report, shewed the number t-f pupils, on the new 801 l to be forty nine, boys, twenty seven girls, twenty two, and laid bare, the system of education, he purposes adopting, during the present year. The financial statement, shewed the receipts, cxclu" B'>ve of Government paymdntsto lie .£lB2 17s 3d, and the expenditure including Masters salary .£l7l 17s 4d, leaving a balance in hand of £!0 IDs lid. The reports were well received, and the meeting terminated with the customary vote of tha ks to the Chair. The Post Ofilcs Savings Banks, that have pre-en to be so great a boon to the poorer classes in England and Victoria havo been started in 1 unedin. The power cl appointing the Post Offices to receive monies on deposit, is vested in the Post Master General, let us hope he will exer. eise the power, and proclaim the Clyde Post Office a Savings Bark, as we doubt, not, but that it will be well supported. By the courtesy of Mr Grabb, the Post Master, who, having placed in our hands, the

Act and instructions, relating to the same we are enabled to give a short digest of the same. The following are the principle clauses :—Amounts to be received shall range from one shilling and upwards. Interest at the rate of 5 per ceut per annum be allowed on sums under £2OO, over that amount, but not above £SOO 4 per cent. 2 the Interest being calculated to Dec. 31st of each year. Moneys will bo receiv ed and placed to the credit of infants, to whom repayment will i>e made, if required after ' seven years of {[age, if necessary, to withdraw prior to that age, can he bone by one or other of the parents making a daclaration, on behalf of such Minor. Any communication by letter, to the Post-mas ter General, who is the head of the Department on the subject of deposit, or otherwise, passes through the Tost, free. On the removal of a Depositor, from one Province to another, by application, and by giving authority, the balance of account is transferred. The depositor receives a book in which, all entries of amounts as they are paid in are entered, in each year. <in the anniversary of the day, on which the first deposit was made, each depositor has to forward his book to the Post-master General, to J audit and tol add the amount of interest accumulated to the total deposited during the year. There are several objectionary clauses, but when once it is fairly set in motion, if they should prove, as we anticipate, a check upon its working, doubtless they will be removed.

It is desirable that caution should he used by merchants, shopkeepers, and others, in receiving £5 no es pu porting to be of the Bank of New i-outb Wales, as there is reason to fear that forged ones are or will be put, in circulation here. A Frenchman named Louis Borcard was recently tried at i : okitika, and sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment, for issuing two counterfeits of notes of the Bank and value mentioned. In conne:tiou with the case, the police at Nelson seized counterfeit £5 notes, but all the efforts of the officers have failed to trace the stone from which those notes were printed; though the officers did find the letters or block with which thn word " }> uckland," was impre.-sed on the body of the notes. One of |he forged £5 ote3 has been seat

to the Commissioner of Police, it pretends to be of the " Bank of New South Wales. New Zealand." Its execution is sufficiently good uot to excite the suspicion of any one who is not an expert in respect to the genuineness of Bank notes : and the paper, though, perhaps, thicker than is ordinarily used by the Colonial Bauks, might also well fail to suggest doubt to the majority of persons. It is feared that the producers of th se counterfeit £5 notes have produced others purporting to be of higher valuer. "Daily Times.'

11, is reported (says the Evening Post) in j the political world that the Hon. Major ttichardson resigns his Taranaki seat in the Assembly, and goes into the Legislative Council. Apparently the Government wish to draft all the clever mea into the Upper House, as should the rumour about the gallant Major be corrected, he will make the third and last of the wits of the parliament who have stepped from the Lower to the Upper (hamber. It is almost a 'pity |that the eloquence of a I'omctt, a Mantell, and a Richardson, should bo toned down to meet the octogen arian stolidity of " the Lords." Mr James Osgood, proprietor of the Empire Motel, Wellington, being desirous of retiring from business, is about to put his establishment up to lottery. There are to be 900 subscribers at £lO each.— ' Nelson Evening Mai!.' A petition to bo presented to His Ex. cellency the Governor during his visit, setting forth the desirability of the separation of the Middle from the Northern Is land has been during the last few days extensively circulated, and we learn that no less than fifteen hundred signatures have been already appended to it. The ! 'aris Correspondent of the " fouthorn Cross " says :—" It is related in f c " Phare dc la Noir" that the Mayor of a commune, having received a letter from the p'efeet. ot his drpar 4 i:ient enjoining him to make all necessary precaution in case of cholera making its appearance in his village, replied that he had already made every preparation. ' he prefect, Dot co te wilh this answer, visited himself the said commune, and to hia astonishment and dismay, found that the worthy mayor had caused as many graves to be dug in the churchyard as there were inhabitants in the village." The Melbourne Argus strongly urges the aclcpMon of an uniform posial and tele grapLic rata throughout the whole of the Australian, it Bays:—Postal and tolegraphic management should be conducted on strictly business principles. The transmission of inforaatio l and the interchange

of ideasare important agents of civilisation, and when tho Government Las command of the media of such transmission ai.d interchange, it is hound to afibrd every possible facility for their being freely used by the public, even though tome loss of revenue should acci ue from the lowering of postal and telegraphic fees.