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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1151, 20 October 1871, Page 2

The trial of Reicheldt, who was accused of setting tire to his house at Dunedin, is at last concluded, and he has been acquitted. The wearisome details of evidence in this matter have been twice gone through, the jury being unable to agree. The case, as reported by the telegraphic agents, looked very complete against him, but those who took the trouble to wade through the columns of evidence in the Otago papers would see that he had a very feasible defence. Such, at least, was the opinion of the second jury. The Echo, of the 7th inst., in a leading article, says : —Reicheldt is free. He is no longer even a suspected man. Suspicion? veil has been lifted, and he now stands as free as any other subject of her Majesty. He has been twice tried, and at the final trial a jury of his peers have pronounced him not guilty. The Crown retained one of the ablest counsel at the Dunedin bar, the police evidence was ample and minute, the skilled scientific evidence was goi up " for this occasion only,"—no stone was left, unturned, and >till, although the majesty of the law has been vindicated, Reicheldt is free, because there have been, in the first place, missing links in the chain of circums ances on which the charge of guilty hung, and because, in the second place, even if that chain were complete, it would have been just as consistent with a theory of innocence as with a theory of guilt. Hundreds believe that Reicheldt never committed the crime; hundreds believe that he vet the house on fire; hundreds disbelieve that he did it with a wilful "view to fraud. Our solemn opinion is that there was not an action performed by him in connection with the fire that was not explicable on a theory quite consistent with the complete innocence of the unfortunate accused We are delighted that Reicheldt is free; we believe he never committed the crime; and we do also believe, however, that had he had inferior defenders, he, an innocent man, might now be in a convict jacket.

With respect to the medicinal properties of the leaves of the blue-gum, a correspondent of the Wakatipa (Otago) paper wiites :—Few perhaps know the real -virtue of this tree. From some experiments recently made by the writer, he has found that it possesses more than the reputed qualities of a styptic. The Chinese having continually asked me for gum leaves to apply to wounds, I thought a solution of gum leaves boiled would answer perhaps more quickly and rapidly in effecting a cure. 1 tried it in the following instances with success: —(1) A dog got his toes cut off, and his foot divided by a broken glass bottle. He was bleeding pi ofusely, and all the licking of his tougue had no effect. He would not submit to have gum leaves tied round him; so as rapidly as possible some gum leaves were boiled, and the heat brought down with cold water. Though the water was warm, the solution within a minute or two produced a most beneficial effect. (2) Applied to a pack horse, it healed most rapidly a nasty saddle sore ; and I think it would act, therefore; as well with collar-galls. (3) Applied to a severe burn to a female on the wrist, it alleviated the pain, and an ugly scar was prevented. Titusvillians express value in terms of oil barrels. Thus, they speak of a fashionable young lady as. wearing an eighty-six-banvl opera suit.