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Dunstan Times, Issue 566, 21 February 1873, Page 2

An inquest was held on Saturday morning last, the loth instant, at the Dunstan District Hospital, on the body of Samuel Howell; who died suddenly on the Thursday previous. From the evidence, it appears that [the deceased, who resided at the Bannockburn, had, on the morning of his death, complained of being unwell, his mate at once conveyed him to Cromwell for medical assistance, and from he was thence taken to the above Ins’itution, into which he had barely got, when he expired. A postmortem examination was made, and it was provertthat the heart, lungs, and liver were all diseased, and death resulted therefrom. The verdict of the jury was that deceased died from natural causes. The remains were removed to Cromwell, and interred in the cemetery. The Arrow Observer says—“ An accident occurred to Mr. H. J. Cope on Saturday last, whereby he lost a valuable horse, and had a narrow escape from losing his own life. From what we can learn it seems Mr. Cope was driving his team —three horses—with a load from Queenstown, and at a nasty turnon thcFrankton road, abouttwo miles from town, a cloud of dust obscured the driver’s vision, the horses swerved, and before Mr. Cope could get them righted, the dray and load fell over the bank, which is most abrupt, dragging over the horses. The owner had just time to spring out of the way, or ho would assuredly have been crushed by the waggon, which bad on between two or three tons. On examining the horses, the sliafier W'ns found d ad, the two others getting off with a few bruises. Fortunately the load chiefly consisted of timber o that the damage dona was not so great s otherwise might have been.

TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES —o— Dunedin, Thursday, 3, pm. February 20. The Albion has arrived, she brings dates up to the 15th instant. The cable bus been interrupted since the 9th. Mr. Duffy was knighted on January 10. London, Feb. 5. The vessel which sunk the Northfleet, was the steamer, Murillo. The .owners of the Northfleet are suing for 14,090f., damages. Parliament was opened da the 6th. The Queen’s speech congratulates the country, upon the friendly relations with other pov.’ers. Deference was made to the award by the Geneva arbitrators, as to the necessary payment of the damages awarded. it also refers to the Slave trade, and an acknowledgment is made of the services of the Emperor of Germany as arbitrator in the San Juan question, when the award was immediately executed by withdrawal. The correspondence with Russia, on the ' Central Asia question, is promised. The revenue of the country continues prosperous, but no reduction is made in the estimates for tbe year, in consequence of increased expenditure. The Commercial condition of the country continues generally satisfactory, there is no increase in pauperism or crime. Among the measures promised, are, Irish University and Education Bills, Bills for the reconstruction of Supreme Court Appeals, Measmes dealing, with Land Transfer, Local Taxation, and Law Reform. When the Commons met, Disraeli and Horsman attacked the Government on their Foreign policy, specially with regard to the Alabama question. Mr. Gladstone defended the action of tbe Government. No amendment was moved, and the address was agreed to. MELBOURNE. Only 30,0001. of Government 4 per cent, loan have been taken up. The Inter-Colonial Conference at Sydney has completed its labors. Postal, submarine telegraphs, light-houses, and Customs questions wore considered ; also the desirability of a union on the basis of a common tariff and patent laws. The Newcastle miners’ strike has terminated. Webb’s agent received a telegram that the Nebraska left San Francisco eight days late. Notone Auckland March 3 (?). Tenders have been accepted for eleven miles of narrow guage railway, Ballarat to Cresw ick, at 3,2221. per mile. Consul March, of Fiji, in Sydney, denies his recall. INTER-PROVINCIAL. The Charlotte Gladstone, emigrant ship, admitted to pratique to day. Captain Paddle complains of the low status of the i emigrants, and says there was no medical I inspection before they came on board j disease'!. Dr. Burns has resigned his seat ! at the Roar! of Health because the vessel j was released sn soon. j The Captain of the Christian M'Ansland I has forwarded a report to the Government, i c omplaining of the low physique of the : immigrants by that ship, stating that if there was any medical inspection, it was of a very indifferent character. The Government intend introducing Education amlßaukruptcyßills this Session. The former in main features to be similar to Fox’s Bill, but will be of an empowering character, enabling any Province that may chouse to adopt it. Government will a Iso introduce a Bill to define more exactly, and increase the powers of Provincial Legislatures to pass measures heretofore deemed ultra vires. The Governor has given one hundred guineaf towards founding a Scholarship in

the Univeiaity. Reynolds and Vogel are expected in tie Hero to Auckland. Mr Featherstone resigned his seat in the Directory of the National Bank of New Zealand, he says he intends to justify his conduct, and deprecates the action of the Cabinet. Tire Southern Cross publishes an account of an imaginary attack on Auckland by a Russian iron clad ; it caused considerable excitement, but generally condemned as stupid. Several women went into hysterics, and two had premature deaths. Threats were made, breaking the office windows. The Dunedin University Council are establishing I,aw and Medicine classes. Corporation sections in the heart of the City, sold at an average of 7 1 3s. 6d. per foot on a twenty-one years lease; the highest realised 117. ss. 6d., and was the Section next Mercer’s corner. The Independent says, except two or throe intercolonial questions, the delegates have not agreed upon any unanimous action. No arrangement made regarding Webb’s service. Kermodo and Moore’s station properties sold in Christchurch yesterday realized 1887. (?). Mr. Stafford bid up to 51,0007for Ashburton Station. He subsequently offered Moore 5007. for his bargain, which was refused. TUAPEKA RACES. Lawrence, Feb. 20, 3.56. Maiden Plate: No Gentleman first., Little Dan second, Romeo third. S'cveu'startcd. Lawrence Handicap : Wilbboy first, Malice second, Atlas third. Nine started. Hack Race : Sultana first. Eour started. Handicap Hnrdle Race : Mcdora and Tambourini started, the latter baulked and was led off the course, leaving Medora to walk over. AnotherSCorrcspondcnt says : Hurdle Race : Medora first. A perfect swindle. The residents of Queenstown appear to be entering largely into building, and seem anxious 'heir oparaiions should bo finished before the winter sets in.

A hospital is about to be started at Tokomairivo. At the Resident Magistrate’s Court, Lawrence, a man named- Tighe, was sentenced to three months' imprisonin' nt for stealing a lamb. A large number of Chinese, in all, about 8 0, are located on tho lower Pomakaka, and are reported to be doing very well. A party of four miners at the Upper Shotover are reported to be doing very well, and are said to be getting one hundred ounces of gold to the paddock, one of which is taken off about every eight days. A serious fire occurred at Christchurch shortly aftfir midnight, (the 13th instant), totallv'destroying eight buildings, an 1 damaging many others. The cause of the fire is unknown. In Auckland according to the Herald, — “ Journeymens’ Societies seem to bo greatly on the increase ; already we have the following combinaHons The bootmakers, the bakers, the drapers, the seamen, the lumpers, the bit hers, and several others, while all classes of business pe' p'c are banding together with a view to improvement. "We have often wondered if it would be possible to gefr up a short hours’ movement for people engaged on the newspapers. We feel not ? The Melbourne Argus contains the fol lowing description of a sheep shearing machine, shown by Mr. Darcy, an American, at the exhibition in Melbourne ;—The motive power used is compressed air, produced by means of a small rotary pump, composed of two cylindrical wheels, which work into each other, and which are set in motion hj the turning of a crank. The air is drawn through a hole in the bottom of the pump, and forced through a flexible rubber hose to the shearer, in which is another small rotary engine, by which the knives of the shearer is worked. The knives are very small, and move backwards at a quick rate over a stationary comb, which prevents tho animal operated upon being cut by the knives. This shearer is moved up and down the sheep’s back until the operation is ended. The advantages claimed for the invention are that a considerable saving of time and expense is effected, that the fleece is clean cut, and that the sheep farmers nee ’ not be dependant on a chance supply of labor. A correspondent of the Canterbury Press informs it of a recent va’uable importation in agricultural machinery by a farmer of West Melton, ofthename of Kemp. The implement in question is a stripping mach no, which can collect fifteen to twenty

acres of grain a day, and requires the services oi only one man to direct it, and a boy to drive the horse. Tho machine is of the simplest construction, and effective inprincipie, the machinery stripping the ears and collecting the grain simultaneously. Tho after cost of cutring the grain into thorough marketable order is from fifteen shillings to one pound per one hundred bushels, the expense of harvesting tho .grain being loss than one shilling and six-pence per acre. Tms machine is in common use in South Australia, and is admirably adapted for light soils ; and from what our correspondent informs us we believe its cost to bo very moderate. A strung" fact for anatomists comes from Fort Chalme's. A bullock, weighing 1t.2 i lbs. and bred near Oamaru by tho Hon. M. Holmes, was re e illy killed by Mr. Wilson of the Tort. After the usual dissecting process had been accomplished, it was found tnat on-the near or left side, there was no kidney where a kidney ought to be. As if to compensate for this deprivation, nature provided a kidney of abnormal size on the right sine The average weight of a Kidney is (jib , but this one weighed upwards of 31hs. The fat in the place of the missing organ presented the ordinary appearance Daily Times. The news of tho ex Emperor Napoleon gave occasion (says the Jlount Alexandra Mait to one very enthusiastic publican in Chewton to display his loyalty in a .rather peculiar manner. Having procured a small coffin, a figure was placed therein, and the supposed body “waked” in proper stylo, six wax candles lighted being placed around, the coffin, a figure W'as placed therein, and the supposed body “waked" in proper style six wax candles lighted being placed around the coffin placed on an appropriate catafalque | nd surmounted by a mourning conopy, bearing the following inscription:— “Napo” Icon Bonaparte, died Jan. 9, 1873; Bismark outwitted; Germany defeated and broken up.” Strong feeling was manifested dining the evening, and tho following d.iy was far spent before the shedding of tears ceased. We draw attention to the programme of the Bald hill Flat Race Meeting, to take

place on Monday the 17tli of March. There are six events, and the total stakes to be run tor is GW. At the weekly meeting of the Waste Laud Board held on the 14th instant, Mr. Fraer, on behalf of the Committee of the Church of England at Cromwell, applied for the right to purchase a reserve in Done-gal-strcst, Cromwell. Tiie application was refused, on the ground that the piece of ground was reserved for public purposes. Th »Grey River Argus says:-“A well-known bonifaco at No Town, rich in flocks and herds (of swine) was recently served with a summons to appear at the President Magistrates's Court there, on a claim made against him for damages committed by a brood pig, the mother of a long line of rooters, on the property of a miner, one ‘Bullerook’ by name. The following hill of particulars was at*,ached to the summons. ‘To your sow eating 4J of cheese, 4s fid do do (dh tobacco, 3s; dodo package thread and two boxes vestas, 2s; do do 21b butter with the basin, 4s7<l; do do 41b sugar, lib tea, 21h butter, at different times, 8s 4d do do packet tacks and tomahawk, 5s Gd; do 5s tent and fly ha’f eaten, 15=, to*al 21 5s .Id. .The defendant cnmpnrse the claim to nrevent it coming into Court, but be intends to have the original bill of i’ems photographed an- 1 hung up in a prominent place in his bar.”

Brogfler.’s tender for portions of the j Moeruki-Waitaki lino from Oamaru south- | wards is expected to he in to-morrow. | The Italian Frigate Garibaldi, with the i Duke of Genoa on board, is expected to visit Melbourne in April. A most revolting act of cruelty has been brought under the notice of the Creswick Advertiser. It is no less than tho setting fire to a cat after having kerosene poured over it; tho poor animal being thus literally ■roasted alive. A Queensland telegram states that flour at Kavenswood is 90/. a ton, 100/, at Charters Towers, and JSC/. a ton at the Seven-Mile diggings. An allotment of land at the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets has been sold at the rate of 372000/. per acre—the highest piice ever obtained for land in the Australian colonies. We are requested by the Treasurer of the Uunstan District Hospital to acknowledge the receipt of sixteen pounds sterling collected by Mr. D. Scalley and Wing Yet from the Chinese of the Nevis.

The Gazette of the 23rd contains some important Civil Service regulations. All appointments above 200/. a year are to bt made under the Civil Service Act, by the Governor, with the consent of the Executive Councd, and all paid appointments must be gazetted. Mr. J. G. Grant' delivered a lecture o Spiritualism in the Athcnreum, Dunedin, on Friday evening last. Ho characterised spiritualism as a loathsome superstition, and all its followers as either idiots or impostors., and contended tnat nothing war known of life beyond the grave. Referring to Mr. Peebles remarks upon the teachings of Christ—he said that the latter taught the existence of a petsonal devil, a penal hell, and a vengeful God. He thought that as ilr. Peebles professed so much respect for the teachings of St. Paul, he should take that xVpostle’s advice in the regard of wearing long hair. The incompleteness of our criminal law was exemplified at the Thames recently. A woman was charged at the Police Court with pawning a coat which had been left in her charge, for which she got 3s. Her defence w- s, that the owner of the coat owed her some money, and that she intended to redeem tho pledge. If the woman had stolen the coat, she would probably have been imprisoned in Shorthand Gaol;for about a month ; but having pawned the coat without the leave of tho owner, it appears that the law makes it imperative that she should be sent to the supreme Court. She will consequently have to remain three months in gaol at the country's expense, the witnesses will have to bo sent to Auckland and paid for their attendance, the Crown Prosecutor will be paid for the case, and all for pawirnga coat worth three shillings. Some time ago, a description was given in ! the Lyltleton Times, of an American wind pump, which was ennstrusted with a view' to decreasing the risk of breakage of the machinery when a gale occurred. The pump as then stated only occupies a space of four feet square, and the sails consist of sheet iron, which are fixed perpendicularly on iron rods in such a manner that as the wind i increases in violence, so do the plates turn S on the rods and offer a decreased surface to its action. Any increased force in the w hid therefore expends i'self on the spring fixed at the back of each sail instead of upon the machine-y, and the pump cannot be worked above a certain speed, no matter how strong a gale may blow. The machine, which had been purchased by Mr. J. E. Brown, at the Sydney Exhibition, was erected on his run at Swannanoa, and has over since worked in a most admirable manner, supplying alone tho water for stock running on nine hundred acres of laud. The saving to tho machinery-so Ion" desired in th’S kind of pumps is complete, and Mr. Brown has ordered a second pump, which is to be manufactured for him by Mr. T. Williams Christchurch. Mr. J. T. Peacock has also procured one, and is equally pleased with its performances. The following instance of woman’s wit is related by the New Zealand Herald —A little episode occurred in Wyndhamstreet on Satuadav afternoon, which has its amusing as well as its saddening features, and which tho plaintiff, in a late assault and battery case, figured somewhat conspicuously. His ‘ better half ' had, it appeared become ‘ deeply agitated with benzine ’ — hot words ensued between the pair, ending in her prompt ejection into tho street. She again returned, again to bo forced from the threshold, to which she firmly clung with all its ‘ hallowed associations.’ But when did woman’s wit ever fail her in her hour of need, or at her last shift? A new idea flashed upon her mind ; rushing in, the fair Milesian whipped off her dress and robede. mat, and triumphantly defied him to put her out ! •Baffl'd and disgusted, tho irate husband gave up the struggle after some incidental acts of violence.”

A friend tolls a story of his experience of a pious aunt, which is edifying. He had suddenly to take a long journey, and on his way to tho station called on the respected aunt to inform her of his intended journey. She seemed very much concerned about providing him with something nice to take and ul‘innately ho saw her deposit a small parcel in his overcoat, at the same time expressing her regret that she had nothing she could give him. Ho did not attach any importance to the statement. Half way on the journey he felt inclined for a repast. “Oh!” thought he, “there’s the parcel my aunt put in my overcoat.” He dived into the capacious pocket and brought out the packet. Was it a score or so of neatly-folded sandwiches? Not it, hut a formidable hatch of “tracts,” calculated to supply reading for a six hours journey.' Ono would bn curious to know what expectations the old woman raised of tho possible good to be done by exasperating an empty skuna-di w>'th t'rcts.