NEWS OF THE DAY.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 658, 29 July 1876, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Lyttelton Bobotjgh Council. We remind ratepayers that Monday is the last day on which they can inspect the burgess list. Presbyterian.—The usual weekly services will be held by the Kev Joshua Mcintosh at the Oddfellows' Hall, Lyttelton, tomorrow. Theatrical. —We understand that Mr George Darrell, who is now sojourning in Christchurch, has just completed a new three act piece, which is likely to be produced first in Dunedin and subsequently here. The piece is very powerfully written, the plot and language alike being good, whilst there are some sensation scenes in it which have the merit of being both original and effective. St Michael's.—A meeting of parishioners of St Michael and All Angels will be held on Monday evening to fill the vacancies caused by the resignation of the parishioners' churchwarden and the members of_ the vestry. We learn that in order to avoid the the inconvenience felt last Sunday, the vestry have arranged that the Ven Archdeacon Willock shall conduct the service to-morrow morning, and the Ven Archdeacon Wilson in the afternoon and evening. Narrow Escape.—Ab the 12.30 train from Cbristohurch was proceeding to Lyttelton yesterday, a woman was observed to be crossing the line between the former station and Opawa. She seemed to be bewildered on seeing the train approaching, and at a loss to know which way to turn. In endeavoring to leave the line, her foot caught in one of the sleepers, throwirg her across the rails. After several struggles she turned over the rails just in time to escape the engine. The Case op Accidental Poisoning.— We learn with regret that Mr F. E. Fuller, who for many years was employed at the Museum as taxidermist, and whom it is believed accidentally took a dose of poisonous solution used in skin preserving on Wednesday last, died at his residence, Stanmore road, last evening. Dr Guthrie left him about a quarter to nine, and was sent for again immediately after reaching home, and informed that a sudden change for the worse had taken place. He at once returned, but before reaching the house Mr Fuller had expired, i Tuesday's Concert.—A meeting of the ; general committee appointed to make arrangements for the concert to be held on Tuesday next, in aid of the widow and 3 family of the late Mr D. N, Dunlop, took ; place last evening at Warner's Hotel; Mr R. Davis in the chair. It was reported that eight hundred tickets had been printed, and that the ticket committee had been most successful in disposing of a large number. The Oddfellows' Hall had been engaged, and other necessary arrangements made. A large number of ladies and gentlemen well known 1 in the musical world had kindly offered their ; services, and the difficulty had been to • arrange a programme within the limits of the evening, to include them all. The pro--3 gramme submitted by the programme comi mittee, which includes the names of Mes--9 dames E. H. Palmer, Winter, and Bowler, t Misses Winter and Ness, and Messrs M. a Winter, Hobbs, J. T. M. Smith, Ape ylibr, Sheath and Walker, the Orchestral Society, and numerous other friends, was approved. It was stated that the committee i of the Oddfellows' Hall had generously e offered the hall free of rent on Monday a evening for rehearsal, aud it was believed t they would extend their kindness on the s night of the concert. An application is to 1 be made to the gas company for free gas on Tuesday evening, and it was believed that s the pianos required would be carried to the a hall free of cartage; a hope being expressed f that the committee would be thus enabled to devote the whole of the proceeds towards the f object in view. Donations of £5, £2 10s, - and £1 had been received from Messrs H. fc Packer, T. S Duno<*o. and J. Anderson, and each of thp"= gentlemen had in addition , . v. ase d a number of tickets. The hon n treasurer, Mr E. Davis, said he would be 'i happy to receive any donations which the ; kindly disposed might desire to present to increase the sum it was hoped would be . raised. After transacting some detail busiI ness, the meeting adjourned; Fatal Accident at Otago Heads.— 1 The Daily Times gives trie following parm or' this accident:—" A sad accident is reported from Otago heads by a fisherman r named John Alfred Johnston. Accompanied by h : s two mates, named John and Alfred , (their surnames were not known to him), he left the heads in their boat on Monday ( morning, and proceeded to the fishing ground r off Cape Saunders. That evening it came on ' to blow, and the sea rising, they were unable I to land, and remained out all night. Next day the boat sprang a leak, and being driven ' by stern necessity, they ran their boat ashore on some rocks, a little above Sandfly , bay, abandoned her, and scrambled ashore. Tbey were unfortunate in their landingplace, as the cliffs there rise nearly sheer up for two hundred feet, and thus a perilous climb to gain level country above was necessitated. Johustou and the man named Alfred essayed the ascent. The first overcame it and reached the top safely, but Alfred, when about half-way up. took hold of a piece of loose rock ; it gave way with him, and he fell on to the rocks below. Johnston, pcrceiviug what had occurred, procured assistance, and a rope being lowered down, Alfred was made fast to it by his mato, John, wdo objected to attempt climbing the cliff, and was hauled up, as also was the other afterwards. Alfred, however, only lived four hours, having sustained deadly injuries. He was about twenty-two years of age, and a native of Nova Scotia. The coroner was informed of the circumstance by Strgeant Morkane, of the Port, and Constables Poffey and Mitchell were despatched to the Heads yesterday forenoon to bring up the body, upou which the usual inquest will be held. The report of what had occurred was given to the police by Johnston yesterday morning." Reported Gold Discovery at Wellington.—The New Zealand Tunes of the 27th. gives the following particulars of this discovery:—"The report of a gold discovery in the neighborhood of the Hutt caused io little excitement among the inhabitants of the Valley ; while in the immediate locality of the alleged find there is quite a gold fever. We despatched a reporter yesterday to the' scene of operations, which he found to be in the Waiwetu district, on the side of the dividing range which separates the Wainniomala and Waiwetu districts, and not more than an hour's walk from the Lower Hutt

railway station. Mr George Knight is owner of most of the property on the Waiwetu side of the range, while the Hon Mr Fitzherbert owns the major portion on the other side. Some time ago Mr Knight leased part of his property to Mr McQairk, who was induced to search for the precious metal on the land by the representations of Mr Devereux, butcher, of the Hutt, who stated that he had found gold seven or eight years ago in the locality. Mr Willcox, also an old settler of the valley, is firmly of opinion that gold in payable quantities exists in the locality, and we are told has now in his possession some fine gold found in the Waiwetu at various times. The result of Mr McQairk's search has been to find the color in several places, but as yet nothing has been shown to prove that the ground would pay for working. Two brothers named Farrelly have also been doing a little prospecting, and have obtained a small quantity of gold, together with an amount of other metal which they take to be gold, but which others of experience are of opinion is a mineral of a less valuable character—namely, mica, so often found in connection with gold. In one of the rivulets that flow from the dividing range Mr McQuirk panned off some stuff taken from the bed of the creek in the presence of our reporter, and the result was several specks of gold of a light color, and much resembling Thames gold. It bore no traces of being alluvial. The gold was of a light scaly nature., and evidently a deposit from quartz carried down the range by water. The stuff it was washed from had all the appearance of quartz tailings. We are informed that there are large bodies of quartz on the top of the range. But at present no prospecting has been done, and the limited explorations made are not a sufficient guide as to the formation of the ground. However, those who wish to prospect are offered every facility by Mr Knight, the owner. It was reported in the early part of the week that four and a half ounces of gold had been obtained from tha workings; but this is a great exaggeration. As many grains would be nearer the mark. In fact there has. been no sustained operations carried on, and scarcely an attempt at prospecting in a systematic way. The ground has yet to be tested .before any definite result can be arrived at. In many other places gold has been found in far larger quantities, and yet never turned out to be a payable field. At the same time we have seen less likely looking places than the Waiwetu and Wainuiomata districts the scene of operations of thousands of gold-miners."

The Escaped Fenians—The AucJdand Herald publishes the following account of how the escape of the Fenians in Western Australia was brought about : —" The report which comes from New York of the rescue of the Fenian prisoners from the penal colony in Australia has created considerable interest in this vicinity, from the fact that the details of the plans were arranged and partially put in execution in Boston some two years ago ; and the mention of Mr John Boyle O'Reilly's name in connection with the affair induced the writer to call upon that gentleman this morning with a view of ascertaining further particulars. Mr O'Reilly said it had been incorrectly reported that he was the leading spirit in the scheme, although he was aware of all the details from its inception, and from his knowledge of the topography of Australia, and the official management of the colony, he was enabled to give much information and many suggestions of value to the active participants. In the first place, a large sum of money had to be raised by the Irish Nationalists to effect the object desired, as the field of operations included almost an entire circuit of the globe; and the obstacles to be overcome at the colony would have been deemed insurmountable, except by men actuated by the highest purposes, strengthened and emboldened by invincible courage. There were eight prisoners to be rescued, two of whom were located in the great central stone prison of Freemantle, and the others were distributed among the convicts engaged in making the roads, hundreds of miles apart. A sufficient sum of mouey having been readily raised, one of the best and most trusted men of the Irish National Revolutionary party came to Boston, and in about six months his plans were completed, A ship was secured and fitted out for a whaling voyage, under the command of a New Bedford seaman, whose nautical experience peculiarly qualified him to execute a plan with which he expressed a hearty sympathy the moment it was mentioned. Messengers were despatched by steamer to Australia and to other parts of the British dominion, to put themselves in communication with the prisoners. The gentleman who was the master spirit of the enterprise intended. to go to Australia himself, but it was thought best for him not to do so, as he had been confined in a prison in England, and a successful disguise would have been next to impossible. It was arranged that the vessel 6hould reach the Australian coast at a certain time, and signal the men on shore, and the plan was to rescue the prisoners, convey them across the country, and have them all meet together on the shore at a certain time, to take passage on the vessel. Means were furnished for supplying each prisoner with a horse, suit of clothes, and a revolver immediately he escaped. Each individual e3cape had to be managed independently of the oi hers, and each had its peculiar difficulties io be overcome. These plans were all carried out and ready for execution some six months ago. It is understood that many of the British officers in Australia can be ' approached,' and that the only question is often as to the ' price' of a rescue ; hence the managers could readily secure certain of their men, though how many (or whether any at all) were rescued in that way will not be known until they arrive upon American soil, safe from arrest by British officers and free to relate their experience in detail. The signal which was agreed upon that the rescue had been successful was the cutting of the cable, which, it appears, was done about the 2?th of April, between Java and Australia, and which served the additional means of preventing pursuit. If the surmises of those familiar with the [plans arc correct, the vessel ought to be nearing some part of the Pacific Coast about that time, and further intelligence will be waited with anxiety. The prisoners whose rescue was so boldly planned, were all humble men, private dragoonß in the English service, were sent to Australia in 1866 to be imprisoned for life, and were thus severely punished by the English Government in what was apparently a spirit of vengeance after the leaders of the movement were all free. If they are arrested before reaching this country, or some other safe point, their exe cution on the gallows will J speedily and assuredly follow. During the pleasant conversation with Mr O'fitilly he said : « There are many faots and details which cannot be

spoken of until the men are absolutely safe. Its true meaning was to show England that she has got to accept the alternative of giving Ireland a better Government sooner or later, or those men will do everything they can to assist in destroying her prestige ; and as Wendell Phillips said, as soon as she goes to war, they will stab her to the heart. They have asked in every pacific way for better treatment and a better government of Ireland, and have been scornfully refused. It was in Mr Disraeli's power to make this whole movement contemptible by granting amnesty to these men when Victoria assumed the title of Empress ; but he did not choose to exercise his prerogative.' Mr O'Reilly and Mr Cashman, also connected with the Pilot, were the only residents of Boston fully cognizant of the scheme in all its details, and it is understood that a New Bedford city official was very active in superintending the fitting out of the whaler, which it is repotted has on board a considerable supply of oil, which has been taken since she started on the cruise."