NEW SOUTH WALES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 578, 18 May 1868, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES.

O’FARR ELL’S LETTER TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY. The following is a copy of tho letter read by Mr Macleay, M.P , in the Assembly at Sydney, as the dying declaration of 11. J. O’ Farrell;—

“ Being now about to appear before my Creator, I feel it my duty to give expression to my heartfelt sorrow for the grievous crime I have committed. From the very bottom of inv heart do I grieve for what I have done, i nave hitherto eaui that I Wnsj one cf many who were prepared iu do the deed had 1 not dona it. I had no foundation for such a statement. I was never connected with any man cr any body of .men who had for their object the taking of the life of the Duke of Edinburgh. Never was I in any other than an indirect manner connected with (hat organization in Ireland and elsewhere which is known by tho name of the Fenian organization. 1 wish moreover distinctly to assert that there was not a human being in existence who had the slightest idea of tho object! had iu view when I meditated on, and, through the merciful providence of Coi), failed in carrying into e fleet the death of the Duke of Edinbugh. I have written to the printers of two Irish ueriodicals an address in tho people of Ireland ; and so certain was I of the cleadi of the Duke of Edinburgh that I state.,! flu-rein that wiiie’aj I believed would be the Let ; and 1 think [ I have more than implied that I was bat one of an organisation to carry the same into effect. I need but say that the truth of qlie latter portion rests upon slighter founndstion than the former ; in fact that, unless from mcie hearsay, I had no foundation for saying there was a Fenian association in New South Wales. From continually thinking and talking of what I may still be allowed to call the wrongs of Ireland. I became excited and filled with enthusiasm, and it was when under the influence of those feelings that I attempted to perpetrate tho deed for widen i am most justly called upon to sutler. “IT. J. O’FAKItELXi.”

Testimonial to Mr. Vial.— £3oo have been raised in Sydney as a public testimonial to Mr William Vial who arrested O’Farrell whan he attempted to assassinate the Duke of Edinburgh. Thank so ivi vr, Dvr. —The 2Sth April was kept as a day oi public thanksgiving for the preservation of theiife of the Duke of Edinburgh from the hands of an ar.susm, and his restoration to health. Business was entirely suspended, and re igious services were held in the dilieront places oi worship. A Lcrc't Session.—The session of Hie Now South Wales Parliament which was opened by bis Excellency the Governor-in Chief on the 2nd July, 18(57, closed its sittings on Monday, 2,'th April. It is the longe-t session in tin- annals of Parliamentary Government of Now South Wales, — [extending, as it ilia, over nine mouths. Death ot Mu IT assart. —On the morn ing of Sunday, the 20th ult. the lu-v. Thomas Hassall. the much respected “Senior Chaplain" in the Anglican Church of New South Wale-, died at his residence at Denbigh, aged 73 years. Sydney University. —The Annual Commemoration of die Sydney University took place on Saturday, the 25th ult. at noon, when the student s who had passed tlio requisite examinations were advanced to the academical honors which they had earned. The Chancellor delivered the usual oration, and Dr Padham and the Earl of Behnore made speeches. Yioe-Eeoal Visit to the R.M S. Matattua. —The following paragraph appears in the Empire of the Ist inst. ; —Between four and five o’clock yesterday afternoon, his Excellency the Earl of Behnore, the Countess of Behnore, and suite, paid a visit to the steamer Mat-aura, of the i’.N.Z. . V A IBM. Company, which leaves to-day 1 with the mails f,r England via Panama, flic visiting party were received on board by Captain Bird, and they made a tour of [inspection throughout the ship and were {then conveyed on shore in Ids Excellency s j barge. I Day or Xhanic-gitixg-.— The Empire ’lsays the Government of South Australia | ini end proclaiming Sunday, .May 3, as a , May of public thanksgiving in all the ■:e.lurches for the recovery of 11.R.11. the , Duke of Edinburgh. I Mysteuioys Death. —The Deniliquin ,i Chronicle reports that between the 29th i'of March and the sth of .April an unoccu- > jpied hat on Cowl Cowl run, Lachlan, owned i|by Messers Syr.nott Brothers, was diico--ivered to have been burned down. Const aIbio M’Manus visited the spot, and amongst

the ruins was found the trank and skull of a man whose i einains had been consumed either in the five that destroyed the hut, or previous to that occurring. Xothing existed to lend to the identification of the de-

ceased, and the only articles found were the following —a black case of a watch, a i'nir of spectacles, scissors, file, knife, pieces of a pair of moleskin trousers, portions of a Scotch twill shirt. The body, or what remained of it was interred on tlio spot, and of course she few police the district possesses are engaged in making further enquiries. Whether another murder nasi been committed or an accident occurred] through drunkenness ; or deceased having arrived and started a fire, then laid down and died, being exhausted and ill, and the burning occurred subsequently—nothing is 1 known —and considering the difficulty in dealing with these cases in the bush, it j would appear as exceedingly probable that mothing wall ever be discovered.