Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 777, 11 April 1870, Page 2

Interprovincial Items.

A fearful and fatal accident lias occurred at Okarito to a man named Alexander Finch, who was engaged in cutting timber at a saw mill, and, while in the act of throwing a slab from off the saw bench, he slipped his foot and fell on the bench, his right arm coming in contact with the front of the circular saw, which cut off the limb close to the shoulder. In trying to save himself he placed his left arm against the back of the saw, which cut off that limb also, close to the elbow joint. This was all done almost instantaneously, as the saw was making two hundred revolutions per minute. Every attention was paid to tho unfortunate man, who died, however, about three hours after the accident. Cattle appear not to be very costly in Otago. The Balclutha correspondent of the Bruce Herald says: —" All the eloquence of a Driver fails to procure anything more satisfactory to settlers than tho delight of lucky buyers. 'Two pounds ten shillings is all I'm offered for this splendid cow, wi'h a calf at foot, two ten^—two ten —two ten. G-entlemen, she's a splendid milker and perfectly quiet, but while she stands at fifty shillings don't go near her heels or she may resent the insult.' This is about the style which delights the ears of stock breeders in this year of grpce 1870." The Thames Advertiser, 28th March, furnishes the following z —" On Saturday evening a man who was obviously suffering a recovery from the effects of continued deep potations, sauntered into the rifle gallery and demanded a shot. Something wild in his manner, however, put the person in charge on his guard, and he hesitated to supply him with a rifle. The fellow then beat a retreat, openly a rowing that it had been his intention to destroy himself. After this he visited a restaurant close by, and induced some one to procure him a bottle of laudanum to allay the pain of tooth-ache, as he said. Immediately on receiving it he made an attempt to swallow the whole of the potion, but was foiled by the vigilance of the landlord. He then declared that "if he couldn't do it one way he would another," and, drawing a knife from his pocket opened it and mada a frantic attemp f to stab himself in the throat, but the bystanders pinioned him before he had done himself much harm, an d the scene closed on him in the lockup" The following telegram, dated Charleston, March 25, appears in the Nelson Examiner: —An important rush has taken place 3 miles north of Charleston. Three hundred men are on the ground. The sinking ; s from fire to nine feet; there is four feet of black sand. The prospect is very rich. The leader is supposed- to be extensive. Great excitement is felt in consequence. The Wanganui Herald is informed that Messrs Price, of Onehunga, have completed a new machine, on the same principle as their old one, but capable of turning out a much better article, and more than double the quantity of it in the same time. A gentleman of experience in flax matters who saw it working, said the only objection he could find in it was, that it dressed too much for the feeder and receiver to manage comfortably ; but we should suppose that could be easily rectified by reducing the speed. Half a ton of fibre is is the result of a day's work from this machine. The following is from the Nelson Examiner:—On Thursday evening, March 24, shortly before 10 o'clock, there was again all the excitement of an alarm of fire, caused by the burning of a gorsa ihedge in Nile-street East, opposite the residence of Mr Pitt. As there is no footpath on the side of the street where the hedge stands, it must have been wilfully set on fire, as most probably was the case last week with the hedge at the Parsonage a short distance off. The mischief is supposed to have been done by boys in sport, but it is a pity the perpetrators cannot be discovered, as a smart whipping might teach them a lesson they are sadly in want of. A reward for the discovery of the scamps who cause these alarms is offered by the Fire Brigade. We hope an Act may be passed by the Council in the ensuing session, for increasing the powers of the Board of Works, so that the danger of gorse hedges may be removed from the central parts of the city, where their presence is always a source of danger. Mr W. J. Henningham, late proprietor >f the Evening Star and Echo newspapers^ published in Dunedin, and now an insoU vent, has had his certificate suspended foj?. icwo years.

From the West Coast Times we learn that some children were playing in Staf-ford-street, one morning recently, when one got hold of a tomahawk, and in the course of playing managed to nearly cut off a finger of a child namrd Ross. No- 1 thing connected the mutilated part of the hand but a strip of skin, but Dr Dermott, to whom the little sufferer was taken, believes that he will be able to save the limb. The Evening Post, of the Ist April, contains the following paragraph : —At Resident Magistrate's Court, to-day, the only business of interest was a double action arising out of an accident which occurred at the wharf about a fortnight ago. It will be recollected that in attempting to take on board the schooner Nile a portion of a wool-press, the crane by which it was being lifted toppled over and fell into the vessel, causing a considerable amount of damage. / The owner of the vessel, Brown, sued Tonks, the lessee of the wharf, for the damage done to his vessel, laid at £IOO, alleging that he had been told by Russell, Tonks' clerk, that the crane would lift the weight. Tonks sued Brown for the damage done to the crane, alleging that he took it without authority, and after proper working hours; the amount of the damage was stated to be £4O. Mr Travers appeared for Brown, and Brandon for Tonks, and both cases were heard together, A good deal of evidence was taken, and his Worship gave judgement in the first case, Brown v. Tonks, for defendant, with £4 18s costs, and in the second, Tonks v. Brown, judgment for plaintiff for £32 10s and costs £4 Bs. The following is from a recent issue of the Otago Daily Times: —In surveying a track for the extension of the district road over Pine Hill, Otago, a very important discovery has been made. A fine outcrop of petroleum shale has been found on Government land. The extent of the formation is unknown but the quality is good. We have seen some of the oil which has been distilled from it. The following account of a dastardly ; outrage at Moonlight, Wakatipu, is given by a correspondent of the Cromwell Argus, 23rd March:—The European miners at, the Moonlight Creek, Lake Wakatipu, have been doing a very foolish thing. ; Some five weeks ago, a number of Chinese (11) proceeded to that mountainous region and asked some of the Europeans where they might " catch him gold." They were pointed out the bed of the old, worked creek. So well satisfied were they with the results of their washing-up that they built a comfortable hut, and (hatched it with straw. They were also building a similar residence about three miles higher up the creek. The lower house is situated under a high bluff or precipice of rocks ; and on Friday night the Chinese were wakened up by finding large masses of rock being rolled down upon their roof from above. Terror-stricken, they escaped, i asking the European miners why they i wanted to kill Chinamen. One Chinaman was severely hurt, and others more or less : bo. Their appearance was also the signal . for yells of derision. When they reached . Lawton and Gardiner's station they were i given the woolshed to pass the night in. i On Monday the police received notice, and Sergeant Fox and Constable M'Grann immediately started for the locality. They returned yesterday, and report that the Chinese' statement was quite correct; that an attempt was made to burn the roof of the lower hut, but failed, owing to the grass being damp; that the upper hut (in course of erection) was completely burnt; und that the offenders could not be identified by the Chinese, which is no wonder, under the circumstances. It would be only honorable and would tell much in their favor it the other section of European miners would denounce the savages who were capable of so cowardly and fiendish attack upon sleeping and helpless men. The Chinese will re-occupy the position under the protectiou of the police. The latter deserve every praise lor their prompt action. On the 24th ult. there was a narrow escape from another serious fire in Christchurch. Mr R. Davis, Deputy-Regi-trar of the Supreme Court, was alarmed by cries of fire from a cottage. He burst in the window, and found that a kerosine lamp placed on a tabe close to the wall had burst and had set fire to the table and the building. Two children who were in bed in the room (the father and mother having gone out and locked them in) were sitting up looking at the fire, Mr Davis, having first provided for the safety of the children, pnatphed the blankets from the bed, and

succeeded in keeping the fire uuder until assistance arrived, when it was totally extinguished. The following telegram, dated "Alexandra, April 4, p.m." appears in the New Zealand Herald:—"News received at Tokangamutu by|Mannhiri, from Te Kooti, that he was wounded, four of his fingers having been shot off, and thirty of his people killed. The attack was made in the Uriwera country, by whom it is not stated, but Te Kooti says the next move he will make will be towards Auckland.