DUNEDIN.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1469, 19 April 1873, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

L • " i (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) April 12. ' Your correspondent has just returned > from a short tour through the chief agri- : cultural districts in the southern parts of \ the Province, during which he had a fair 5 opportunity of ascertaining how things '. stood with the farmers as regards the returns from the crops of the late season. . As a rule, these returns are good, though ' occasionally rather light. The stacks look ; large, and are pretty thickly studded over i the fields ; and in many instances the J threshing machines were busily engaged I in preparing the grain for market. The appearance of one of the large first-class threshers, with its accompanying steam--1 engine and elevator, attended by ten or a dozen men and lads, all hard at work, forms a very animated scene, and the rate . at which the sheaves disappear into the , machine is something marvellous. Green • crops, particularly turnip 3, are very s patchy, sometimes the fields not halfL covered, the effect of the long drought about mid-summer. The plough was pretty generally at work on the stubble, preparing for the next crop. Double and treble furrow implements arc common. The quarterly sitting of the Supreme Court commenced on Mouday. There were eight cases for trial, rather over the average. Public interest centred on the case of Ryan for shooting at, with intent , to kill, Detective Farrell, and it was taken ' first, as it happened earliest in the quarter. Both of the men being well known, and the very peculiar circumstances Avhich i caused the crime, drew a large crowd together, and the Court House accord--1 ingly was crammed, and numbers of people were on the terrace outside nearly all the time (three days) the trial lasted, The reading of the letters found in Ryan's box (from Mrs Farrell to Ryan) caused , great excifement, and their publication i in cxtemo in the papers next morning in- [ creased that excitement tenfold. As specimens of erotic letter writing they beat s all that ever was written here before. The . principal witness in the trial was, of : course, Farrell himself, and he gave his ; evidence in a way which was hardly straighti forward, and seemed inclined at times to . fence with the question put, for which he was reprimanded by the Judge. In his cross-examination, he was rather severely handled by the prisoner's counsel (Barton), but he failed to shake his testimony in auy way. The evidence of the other witnesses was unimportant, those for the defence trying to prove an alibi. Both counsel delivered long addresses, and the Judge summed up decidedly against the prisoner. Tue jury retired -to consider their verdict shortly aft«r live o'clock, but it soon became apparent that nothing like unanimity reigned among them ; and n being called out about eleven o'clock

he foreman intimated that there was not p be slightest chance of their agreeing, so B ;hat they were locked up for the night, ii tfext morning, on being brought into the r Dourt, things remained the same, and the f Judge ordered their discharge and a new f trial, which will iake place after the other a 2ases are disposed of. On Thursday, 1 three other prisoners were tried, and the r Court adjourned for the usual Easter j holidays. ] At- the meetiug of the City CounciL-on- t Wednesday evening,, several, new works i were proposed and others hinted at, as i well as a few recommended by the Works s Committee. A discussion ensued, in £ which most of the members took part, the c result being a recommendation to the A Finance Committee to inquire into the i practicability of further borrowing a sum i of LIO,OOO, for the purpose of street im- i provements of a permanent character. 1 During the past few days the streets have been swarming with Chinese, a large ( party of whom are about to retiirn to the Flowery Land with their earnings. I hear 1. that as many as 100 are going by the Nebraska, via Honolulu and Japan. The .: barque Chatanooga is also in harbor, and likely to sail for China shortly, also taking \ a lot of passengers. '' The correspondence columns in the newspapers are still occupied with letters on Spiritualism. I think it high time the editors put these wordy communications into the wastepaper basket. The • public are really tired of the subject. There are plenty of other matters much more worthy of public attention, and requiring a ventilation, on which the talents of these letter writers might be much more profitably engaged. Yesterday, being Good Friday, was of course observed as a holiday, and the weather being fine, a large number of the citizens availed themselves of the various facilities offered them for enjoyment. The Port Railway was crowded every train, and had to ruu a special in the evening to fetch home the stragglers. The steamers on the Bay were also well patronised. There were also a pigeon match, apic-nic, and sundry other junketings. ■-•■•■