THE PROVINCES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 291, 24 July 1865, Page 2

THE PROVINCES.

WELLINGTON. We hare our filoj to the 15th:— Assaults at Sea. —On Thursday last, Alexander Cootes, master of the barque Mary and Edith, now lying alongside the Queen’s Wharf, was brought up by some of his crew for Tiolently assaulting them on the high seas. Mr Button conducted the case for the prosecution, and the Captain was fined £3 for the assault and £1 for the other. We understand that a further enquiry will be held relative to the Mary and Edith. This morning the crew in a body and one of the officers, lodged a formal complaint against their captain, and Mr Button has again taken the matter up. The crew intend applying for their discharge on various giounds. They state that the ship is unsafe, the rigging rotten, the spars and yards in the same condition, and the general usage decidedly bad. One old salt, who had, as he termed it, 41 being knocking about” for five-and-twenty years, bad never seen such a system of tyranny and bad treatment. A little boy had been thrashed with a three-inch rope until he was black and blue, and another was severely flogged for not licking up some tar which he had accidently let fall. We reserve all comments on the merits of the case until the examination takes place in the course of next week, and, in the meantime, simply publish the statements made by the crew in open Court feeling convinced that justice will be done, and that their interests will be taken good care of by Mr Button.—lndependent. Accident.— -On Thursday afternoon a little crowd gathered on Lambton-quay, nearly opposite the Tolies Court,' to assist a cabman in extricating himself from a difficulty into which he had fallen. U appears that one of those hard-worked animals, a cab-horse, had at last succumbed and fallen down on his head, much to the inconvenience of the living freight he- had been drawing and greatly to the delight of 44 the boys.” After the usual suggestions of 44 sit on his ’ead” bad been made, the poor animal was unharnessed, rubbed down, put to again, and driven of!'. During tiie late inclement weather our cabs have been in great request, and neither drivers nor driven have had much rest.—lbid. The Waieaeapa Election. Mr Edward Pearce is now fairly in the field as a candidate to represent the Wairarapa in the General Assembly, and his address will be found in another column. He is a supporter of the Weld Ministry, approves of the troops being withdrawn, and the internal defence of the colony being intrusted to a Colonial Force, while be thinks that the costs of the war should to some extent be paid for by the confiscation of Native Lands. Mr Pearce’s address will repay perusal, though in principle it is almost identical with that of bis opponent.—lbid. Fiee in Cuba-steeet.— A fire occurred yesterday evening in Cuba-street in one of the row of houses at the back of Mr Philips’ shop (late London’s.) A person, whether policeman or civilian we do not know, gave the alarm at the Te Aro lock-up, when the fire-bell was immediately rung, and a number of the Wellington Volunteer Fire Brigade members directly collected about the premises in full uniform accompanied by a number of citizens, i t was then discovered that the rafters and shingles around the chimney of Mr Minifie’s house were burning. One of the firemen of the Brigade,'named Frazer, mounted the roof, and, wet sacks fading handed up to him, by placing them on the burning parts he succeeded in completely putting the fire out. This is the first time the Brigade have been called out, and the alacrity they displayed upon the occasion speaks well for their efficiency in case "of need.—Advertiser. Polling Places outside ElectoealDisteicts". —We received last night a General Government Gazette containing a proclamation by his Excellency the Governor, countersigned by Mr Weld appointing the Public Market Place, at Messrs Bethane & Hunter’s, in the City of Wellington, a polling place for the electoral district of the Wairarapa. We regret for the sake of the Weld Ministry that this unprecedented, this un-English, this unfair and unjustifiable course has beentaken.* We regret, in the interest of Mr Pearce, that a proceeding has been had recourse to so well calculated to promote the success of his opponent. It is our firm conviction that a more impolitic a more ill-advised step could not have been taken, and we earnestly trust that the proclamation will be at once rescinded.'—lbid. WANGANUI. Suicide. —On Wednesday night, between nine and half-past eleven o’clock, a man named James Barlow, a sawyer, committed suicide in the goal here. He was in the lock-up along with another drunken man, and while his companion was in a comatose state, fastened a black silk to an iron bar of the window about five feet from the ground, after having tied it round his own neck by a slip knot. His companion came to himself' and cried to the policeman that Barlow was either dead or feigning to be so. He was found hanging with one knee on the ground and

immediately cut down, Ur Gibson being at the same time sent for, who arrived within 20 minutes, but life was extinct. It appeared that deceased had some weeks ago, quarrelled with a woman who had been living with him as his wife for the last eight years, and that at the time he had threatened to commit suicide, taking with him a razor when ho went to bed, which the woman found under his pillow and concealed. He then left the woman and they had a quarrel as to who should have their three children, whom the mother wished to keep, but she eventually gave up two of them. Within these few days he asked her to take them back, which she refused to do, although he offered to pay money for their main* teuanca and had no friend to whom he could entrust them. It was supposed by the jury at the inquest yesterday that the distress and anxiety he felt regarding this matter had unhinged his mind, and they returned a verdict to the effect that he had committed suicide, being of unsound mind. He most have been determindly bent on the act, as bis head, when in a standing position, was higher than the bar from which he was suspended.—Chronicle.