INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 349, 9 April 1868, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

c | y The Balclutha correspondent of the r Bruce Herald of yesterday writes ; — "A fc more mournful and heartrending story than the one it is my painful duty to ' furnish you with, could hardly be raked My from the fertility of fiction, Only this . night week 1 was penniug for your paper B the melancholy details of the death from drowning of Mr William Ford's eldest daughter. To-night, a. sad prematurity ? calls for the record of the fate of the un- . fortunate man himself. Deceased (as, ber fore stated) Avas a, punt keeper ; and B after completing his day's work on Thujs--7 day night last, left the. Balclutha Hotel i about nine o'clock, with the avowed intention of crossing the bridge to his resi- ■ dence on the south side. Owing to the l very temporary nature of the footway at . present laid down on the unfinished bridge great cantionjis necessary in using it a&a s means of transit to the other, ev§n in broad daylight' On such a night as that of Thursday last, nothing- short of motives 1 arising from his late bereavement could 1 have induced the unfortunate man \a 5 attempt it, in order to be at home with c his family. That the attempt failed, and i f that it resulted in the loss of his life, there B is only the too convincing proof that he never arrived home, and has ever since ' been missing. Up to the of writing, every * effort to recover the bodj', by means of J dragging, has been unattended with sucfc cess. Deceased leaves a wife and four 3 children totally unprovided for, I trust 1 this brief notice will not meet the eyes with out touching the hearts and opening the purse strings of suchjof your readers 1 as may be fortunately able to preform the 3 good offices of assisting the widow and the * fatherless." The body of a man named Thomas y Weston, was found on the bank of the ' Upper Buller river last week in a state of considerable decomposition. Westion was 1 drowned while attempting to cross the 3 Matakitaki in the end of January last ; 3 and his body was identified by the i clothes. ) The body of a miner named Grey has . been found in the river Baton. Grey, it " will be remembered, was with a companion [ left behind by his mates while sleeping off 3 liquor on a journey from the Karamea to I Nolson. His mate afterwards went on before, taking the swags, but Grey did not { make his appearance, and search for him b was found fruitless, although it was rer peatedly made. Last Sunday his body was found on a bar in the river Baton wher9 late floods had no doubt deposited L it, as the place had been examined by [ both search parties It appears likely that . on awaking he had gone back with the i , intention of returning to Taylor's store on I the Baton, which river he would have reoross, and in doing so must have been drowned. His money was found on his person. J On Monday last the body of Frederick * Toft, the brother of a settler having prot perty in Pig Valley, Waimea South, near r Nelson, but who is now with his regiment [ in India, was found lying dead on the floor of his house, shot through the, head. ■ An inquest was held on the hody by Dr L Squires and a Jury ; and from the evil dence it appeared that deceased was in a 1 melancholy state of mind on the day before. A letter was found, addressed to f his sister-in-law, enclosing a key and his ' discharge from the army. It was deposed by Mr Bachelor that he knew of no cause ■ for the deed, except it were that deceased b had been losing money on the run, and ( had also experienced a good deal of worry through his sheep trespassing on his , neighbors' land, and had indeed received a summons for such trespass. The Jury returned a verdict to the effect that de--1 j ceased shot himself while laboring under temporary insanity. * .