Australian Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 749, 3 January 1870, Page 3

Australian Items.

A sad accident recently occurred at Tambaroora, Tasmania.' Mr J. F. Weit's family were just seated at tea, when a servant, Sarah Peddar, had occasion to remove a kerosine lamp, and in so doing it exploded. In an instant the burning fluid was running over the table, the heat from which was so great, that a Britannia-metal teapot was split in two, and the crockery, &c, completely smashed. The poor girl ran into an adjoining room, returning with a hearthrug. which she at once flung upon the table, hoping to smother the flames In doing this she scattered the burning fluid in all directions, some of which unfortunately fell upon her dress, and instantly she was enveloped from head to foot in a mass of blueish flame. Frantically she rushed our into the street, where after great difficulty a blanket was wrapped around her, and the fire extinguished. Immediate remedies were resorted to, but the injuries she had! received were so severe, together with the necessarily great shock to the system, that but faint hopes are entertained of her recovery. The fire in the house was subdued without doing scarcely any further damage. A. similar case to the suicide of Wi Tamararo, has just occurred in Melbpnrne. The Argus of the 3rd inst. says: —A cabman Lamed James Green, who, while suffering ' from delirium tremens, attempted to hang himself in the watch-house a few days ago, and afterwards announced that he would never be seen alive outside the jail, having been sent there for medical treatment, succeeded in accomplishing what he had in the first instance failed to do, and hung himself on Wednesday night. He tore his bedclothes into strips for a rope, aud had so little room that he found it necessary to double up his knees in order that the weight of his body might fall upon the rope and cause strangulation. He had been in the hospital ward two or three days, and it was thought that his sui- '/ cidal mania had disappeared. At an inquest held yesterday by Dr Youl, a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned. A late member of the volunteer force in Sydney has obtained a verdict of j£so against the captain of his company for neglecting to forward his nomination for a commission. At Melbourne, a very extensive and most important seizure of goods by the Custom-House authorities has occurred, but as the department were apprehensive that any premature disclosure ol the facts of the case might lead to a defeat of justice, those who were in possession of the particulars were even more than usually silent in regard to them. The rumor, however, began to assume a definite shape, and it was broadly asserted that one of the most extensive and old established fancy goods importing firm in this city had been detected in an extensive fraud on the revenue. However this may be, the custom-house officer, suspecting that certain goods had been passed at less than their real value, ordered

same packages to be opened, when his suspicions were fully realised, it being at once apparent that they had been passed at far less than their real value. The object of this was of course to defraud the revenue to a very large extent, and as there was only too much reason to believe that the practice was somewhat prevalent among merchants, the matter was at once brought under the notice of the hon. the Commis-j sioner of Customs. On Tuesday Mr Cohen, after considering all the particulars in reference to the case, marked his sense of the transaction by fining: the importer =£l,ooo, and directing that he should pay the difference in the duty between that computed on the actual value. This will probably be a salutary caution to undetected offenders to amend their ways lest they too should come to a day of reckoning. — Leader.

The following paragraph is extracted from the Melbourne Argus:—" Our Sydney telegram contains the last aci of a drama in the commercial world that is happily of rare occurrence in these Colonies. Messrs M'Kinlay Brothers were wholesale grocers, in a large way of business, and passed as most respectable members of society. One of the brothers was on the eve ol being married to an heiress, whose fortune might have placed the firm beyond the commercial difficulties that were beginning to surround them. Bills were becoming due rather faster than they could 'be met in the ordinary course of trade, and to meet them expedients of a fraudulent nature were resorted to. Large quantities of goods were obtained on credit, and a vessel called the Snowbird loaded and cleared for the northern ports in Queensland, herself and cargo fully insured. So far the credit of the firm remained unimpaired. In a short time, however, one of the merchants from whom the goods had been obtained happened, on a visit to Melbourne, to recognise several cases entered in an auction room fur sale. This led to inquiry, and suspicion being aroused, pressure for payment resulted in the firm of M'Kinlay Brothers seeking the : protection of the lusolvent Court, with liabilities of between £30,000 and .£40,000. Circumstances seemed to warrant the arrest of the senior partner, on the charge of fraud, and this was speedily followed by the arrival of Captain Shaw at a northern port in his ship's boat, with his shipwrecked crew, and the melancholy intelligence that the Snowbird had been burned, and they had escaped with their lives, having lost everything but what was on their backs. The tale might have been credited had everything gone well with M'Kinlay, but Captain Shaw speedily found himself in jail, along with his principal, whose brother was arrested about the same time. It was then discovered that the goods had been taken out of the Snowbird, and brought on to Melbourne under th« care of Rogers and O'Brien, and sold by auction. The five conspirators have been found guilty, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment."