Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 989, 11 April 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1871.

The Oddfellows' Ball, we are informed, came off last night at Meanee, and was very successful. The usual monthly inspection parade of the Napier Rifle Volunteers will not, it is announced, take place to-morrow ; it is also notified that the weekly parades will cease until further orders'. Hapuku's trap and harness were sold to-day by the bailiff of the Court, to satisfy a claim for debt. The sale was effected for £,4:2. The purchaser was Mr Maddock. The horse will be sold at noon to-morrow. A Black Swan was seen this morning for «ome hours, swimming about in the lagoon opposite the Steam Mill. He was "the observed of all observers," and appeared quite conscious of. the fact, as he repeatedly came quite close io the shore, displaying his graceful form to the best advantage. The Adjourned Inquest on the late fire at Puketitiri was held this morning at the Napier Hotel, at half past nine o'clock. Israel Trask, sworn, deposed : I was a resident in Mr Hallet fc's house, Puketitiri, recently destroyed by fire. The only occupants of the house were myself, wife, infant, and the deceased, Daniel Welch. The house was a two-storey weatherboard building, containing four rooms on the ground-floor and two above. Myself and wife slept in a room on the ground - lloor; deceased occupied a room upstairs, above the parlor. On Saturday the l.vt April we all retired to rest about 9.30 p.m. We had not used the kitchen fire since 6 p.m, and by 8 o'clock it was apparently quite out. About 3 a.m. on the 2nd my wife heard the cat run down stairs from deceased's looms. She got up, and looking out of the window, saw the garden all nated, She awoke me, and I went through the passage to the kitchen. There was no light, there, but the place was full of smoke. I saw fire breaking through into the passage from above. I

called to my wife to take the child and go out, which she did. I drew out my bed, and by that time the flames were issuing from ihe. front door, so that l could not return. When I first left my room I heard the deceased in his room, crying out. I called to him twice, but received no reply. His cries did not last qur.te a minute. I could not by any means get to his assistance. I did not see or hear any more of him. His remains were afterwards found near the chimney in a charred condition. Our light was extinguished as soon as we got to bed. Deceased had told me that he seldom went to sleep before 3 a m., and that he was in the habit of reading in bed. We burn home made candles. That night he took nearly a whole candle. It was in a flat bedroom candlestick. He used lo place the light on a small board by the side of his bed. The level of the board was lower than that of the bed. I do not know whether he had any snuffers or scissors with him. He was a smoker, but Ido not know that he smoked in bed. There was no intoxicating liquor on the station. My impression is that the bedclothes must have come in contact with the candle. By the jury.—l had no time to save my clothes ; I escaped with nothing but my shirt. The morning was line, with a light breeze. Myself and wife were always very careful about fire. Deceased was about 27 years of age, and had Jately enjoyed good health.— James Hallett deposed : I am owner of the station where the fire occurred, and the house and property destroyed belonged to me. The house was insured for .£l5O, and the furniture for £SO. I estimate my at upwards of .£3OO. The jury, after a brief deliberation, returned the following verdict : —" That the house took fire by accidental means, in consequence of which the deceased lost his life,"

Resident Magistrate's Court.— This morning the to]lowing civil cases came before the Court :—Higgins v. Matene. —Adjourned, on the application of both parties, for six weeks. Higgins v. Ahipene. —A claim of £ls 15s 6d for goods delivered—Judgment by default for amount claimed and Ml 17s costs. (Defendant afterwards appeared in Court, and stated that he had been delayed through a difficulty in catching his horse. He. bowevei, admitted the claim ) Higgins v. Hemi te Puvehi.--A claim of £5 lis for goods delivered, • —Judgment for amount claimed, and £1 lis costs. The Superintendent v. Alice Casey and v. Joanna Casey. — Two claims, of £8 each, on account of promissory notes. Mr Fannin, the Immigration Clerk, who appeared on behalf of the plaintiff, stated that the defendants had been in Napier three weeks; that the Government allowed them a year to pay the money in, if they .stayed in the Province; and that the present action was instituted solely because the defendants intended to go to Wellington.—The defendants admitted their liability, and said they could give security that they would pay the money. They would pay it as soon as they could do so, but as yet they had been unable to find employment. They were quite on their own resources, as they had been obliged to leave the Immigration Barracks. They wished to so to Wellington, asthev could there obtain situations at j£4o per annum Mr Fannin said that each of these passages cost the Province £lB, of which only £8 was charged to the immigrant, on the understanding that 1 hey should remain in the Pro since.—Mr Scully said that the defendants had had several opportunities of obtaining situations, but would not accept them. —The defendants said they were qualified for nursery governesses; they came out to find employment in that capacity, not as servants in public-houses. —His Worship said there were surely many families in the country who were in want of governess ss, and would be glad to give them employment. They should endeavour to obtain situations in Hawke's Bay, as it would be manifestly unfair to the Province for them to go elsewhere.—Judgment for amount claimed, with 13s costs in each case.— The defendants endeavored to make certain complaints as to the manner in which they had been dealt with by the Government; but these his Worship declined to hear, as they did not affect the case before him.

The following latest mining items, from the Thames are from telegrams in. the Auckland Evening Star, April 8 ; —The Caledonian have taken out some splendid stone this morning, and the, mine generally is looking excellent. The Beach crushing is not yet completed, but promises vrcll for a rich return, The Golden Spur have crushed 40 tons, which have yielded an ounce to the ton. The Alburnia are takingout grood stone. The Golden Crown, crushing of 120 tons, has given 272 ounces. Kelly's triouter's have ob* tained 360 ounces from 63 tons. The. Una have lodged 289 ounces retorted from ] 20 tons. The share market is. active. Caledonians sold from £lO5 to £10.6 ; Thames, £l9 10s to £2O, firm ; Cures, 9s 6d ; Alburnias, £2 ss; Junctions, .£2; Tookey's, £7 10s to. £7 12s 6d. In our telegraphic column yesterday mention was made of a fatal landslip at the Thames. The following account of the sad accident is from the Thames Advertiser of the 6th instant: —The incessant rain and storm of Tuesday did not, we i egret to find, pass over without a terrible accident and loss of life, resulting from a landslip. The accident, by which a mother and child were buried alive, occurred yesterday morning, on the Midnight Goldmining Company's ground, Canadian Gully, Moanatairi. A miner named John Riley resided with his wife and family of three children in a house situated on. the Midnight claim. About 4 a.m. we learn from the man Riley that he heard I he roof of the house crack, and fearing clanger he caught up two of his children, one under each arm, and the wife took up the other, which she carried. Riley states that his wife and the child went out of the house before him, he following with the other two. Just then, the landslip came clown, and carried the house into the gully. .Riley was caught in the debris, and was severely bruised, but managed to exti icate himself and the two children he carried. He could, however, discover no trace of his wife and child, nor of the house which he had just left It was quite dark at the time, and raining in torrents. At daylight a number of men came to his a*sistance, and it was found then that the house had been broken into matchwood, and buried under'a huge heap of earth in the gully, but no trace whatever of the wife and child could be discovered, The slip commenced about one hundred yards away from, the back of the house, and must have been carried down with tremendous force, as it stripped the surface for die >hole distance. The men set to work co clear away the debris and extricate the bodies, which there was little doubt must have been buried by the falling earth. Dr Trousseau arrived on the spot, and examined the wounds of the unfortunate man Riley, directing his removal to the hospital, to which he however declined to go under the painful circumstances. He was by the direction of the doctor, then removed to the Junction Hotel, while about 50 men continued their eiforts to recover the missing bodies, About two years ago an accident similar in every particular occurred in this loeality from the same cause, a landslip occurring which carried away a house and buried in its ruins a wife and child, and also a mate of the husband, who resided with the family. On that occasion also only the husband escaped. This part of the field is more subject to accidents than any other, owing to the loose character of the surface, which makes it particularly liable to landslips. As soon as the remains of the unfortunate Mrs Riley and her child are discovered an inquest will be held. Mrs Catherine Riley was a young woman of 31 years of age, and her son James, whom she was endeavoring to have when she was overtaken by the fallen earth, was only fifteen months old. The family were highly respected in the neighborhood in which they lived. Up to a late hour the bodies had not been recovered, although a large number of willing hands lent their efforts in turning over the :.tuff and searching for them. There wa* a shaft sunk near the bed of the creek, directly under the house, and it was thought that the unfortunate people must have been precipitated into it. The men are now clearing out the shaft in the hope of finding the bodies. We may mention that Riley had taken %

contract in the Moanataiari mine a fewdays ago. It has not been ascertained how the accident was first discovered, but the men of the mine have been at work since an early hour yesterday morning in the effort to recover the "bodies of the wife ami child of their mate. The men continued their labors up to dark last evening, and had then succeeded in dealing the shaft to within about three feet of the bottom, without finding any traces of the unfortunate victims. The search will be resumed this morning, Mr Gribble, manager of the Moanataiari mine, having consented to give as many men as can be spared. The door of the house has been discovered on the bank, and if the bodies are not found in the shaft it is intended to commence removing the stuff bodily from the face. Riley himself is doing as well as can be expected, although he is severely bruised and shaken. The other two children have escaped uninjured. The New York papers give an account of the capture of some of the swindling firms who have been sending -circulars to England offering to supply counterfeit sovereigns in large quantities. Those persons have, it appears ftorn their book*, which have been seized by Ihe police, been making large profits— sometimes as much as i;800 a t (ay—by supplying forged notes at the rate of 100 dollars for every five dollars of cash remitted to them. Their plan wa--, it appears, to obtain from all parts of the country ihe names of the most likely dupes, and to tempt them with circulars, stating that the forgeries were such as to defy detection ; that the orders for them, accompanied by a remittance, were to be addressed to the firm, as if for so many hundred years; and that the required quantity would be forwarded by express. In return nothing was sent except boxes of rubbish, and the victims were obliged to remain quiet or avow their own criminality. Many of the letters of persons who had thus been duped were found on the premises of the firm, and have been published, v ith their names in full, in the New York Sun. Among them is one from the agent of an express corn pany, offering to aid the swindlers in their operations; another is from a writer who states himself to be a member of the Tennessee Legislature; another is from a resident in the State of Georgia, who is confident he can pass off a great many among the negroes ; another is: from one of the keepers in a State prison ;' -another is from an "attorney and councillor at-law " in the State of Georgia, who describes himself as a member of Congress, and consequently an " honorable." The business was carried on in the most regular manner; there was a " correspondence department," a " mailing department," .&&, and, in one of the establishments at the time of seizure, there were sacks containing about 10,000 letters from persons in all parts of the Union. The experiment of offering to sell counterfeit sovereigns appears to have been only lately tried. These coins', it was stated in the circulars, would be made of aluminium, and would be found precisely equal to gold in every respect, except that, the aluminium being 1-12th less in weight, they were obliged to be made a little thicker than the genuine coin. Their manufacture would, it was stated, be superintended by a person who worked in the British Mint for 18 years, and they were offered at a price of £2 for twenty sovereigns, or, if a quantity were taken, at something less. How far the scheme succeeded in EngJand is not yet known, but if any dupes weie found there will now be a great probability of their names and addresses being published. The Ordnance Department in Melbourne has invited tenders for the supply of shot and shell for rifled guns.

The Evening Post says :—A curious instance of the real value of New Zealand flax as a rope-making material, and also of the extent to which it is used, may now be seen on the Queen's Wharf. The large hawser with which the barque Southern Belle is now moored to +he wharf, was bought in Melbourne as Manilla cable, and the price of Manilla (70s percwt.) was paid for it. It is, however, unmistakeably composed of New Zealand flax, and flax only.