SOUTHERN CLIPPINGS

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1177, 21 November 1871, Page 2

SOUTHERN CLIPPINGS

The Wellington Independent, Nov. 6, says :—At an early hour yestarday morning, a young man named Harry Williams died in the hospital, where he had been removed in consequence of an injury which he had sustained while in a state of excitement from the effects of drink. It appears that he had been accommodated on Friday night with a sleeping-place in the billiard room of the Bank Hotel. He had been drinking heavily, and in his delirium he leapt from the window of the room to the ground, breaking his leg by the fall. He was found in the street by the police, and was at once taken to the hospital, where he died twenty four hours afterwards from the shock which his nervous system had sustained by the accident and by his excessive indulgence in drink. The Bank of New Zealand shipped from Grey mouth the other day 1779 oz-i lOdwts, and the Bank of Australasia 9600zs ldwt 15gra of gold by the Alhambra. Canterbury is setting a good example in dealing with criminals, youthful or adult. In addition to a reformatory for boys the provincial authorities have provided a jail for females, entirely separate from the jail into which male offenders are received. The brigantine Swordfish, from Adelaide, with 150 tons of flour, arrived at Nelson on the 9th instant, just in the nick of time to save the duty ira posed on flour by the new tariff which came into operation next day The Examiner says j—Part of the cargo of the Swordfish was for Wellington, and on this the duty will have to be paid, although had the consignee been a little smart he might have had his portion of the cargo cleared at Nelson, and then entered it coastwise for We.lington.

An awfully sudden death occurred at Murray Creek, Nelson province, on the 2nd November. A man named George Howe Warr, a storeman, in the employ of Messrs Henderson and Anderson, at Murray Creek, died in the store on that day, after onlv a few moments warning The deceased had just had tea, and as he stood up from the table lie was seized with a violent fit of coughing. He put his hand to his breast and stagaered towards the door, spitting blood as he went, and he dropped dead as he reached the doorway. The deceased was an old resident of the Inangahua, having lived in the vicinty since 1866. He was 34 years of age, and a native of Kent, England.

The same party of miners at the Greenstone (Westland) who picked up, a few days ago, a nugget weighing over 670z.5, have fossicked out another in their claim, weighing 20oz. They endeavored to keep their good fortune " dark," fearinof the inconvenience of a rush, but it was impossible to conceal it for ally prolonged time, and the news having spread, the dreaded rush lias taken place. Claims have been pegged off in the locality much to the disgust of the miners on the spot, and ako of those who have erected buildings and planted gardens. A few days ago, a correspondent of a Punedin paper telegraphed that salmon had been seen in the Clutha. The local paper has a paragraph on the subject, but judgiug by it, much reliance cannot be placed on the information given. The Argus says: —We are informed on good authority that some half-dozen salmon, or perhaps brown trout, were seen in the river Clutha near the Cromwell Bridge, on Sunday last. Our informant is confident in his assertion, which is corroborated by two or three persons. One thing is certain, no brown trout could have found their way Tip the Clutha. The following incident, which is certainly the reverse of creditable to the Wellington Provincial Government, is related by "a Manawatu Settler," in the Wellington Independerit.—"Knowing the interest that is taken in the settlement of ihe Scandinavians in this district, I wish to bring before the notice of the public the facts of a case which deserves, in niy opinion, the gravest censure. These immigrants were judiciously located |in the Bush near Palmerstou, where they have been working hard during the winter on

Government ..contiacts, and many of them making progress on their land and saving money. In short, the experiment bid fair to he a success. Not very far from them is a tolerably decent publichouse. At the last licensing day at Foxton, however, a stranger, who had neither land nor house in the district, applied to the magistrates for another license, which was very properly refused, as the justices thought that one house in such a locality was sufficient. The applicant, on this, goes off to the Provincial Government, who, without consulting the local justices, give him a bush license; and forthwith, beiore, he has any decent house erected, or.any accommodation for boarders, the man hurries up with a lot of grog, runs up a miserable slab shanty, close to the Government pay office, and begins distribu - ting his poison. Broken heads, broken collar-bones, and worse, are the diate result, and the probable failure of the Scandinavian experiment. I believe there is not a respectable person in the district who is not disgusted, but the temptation at their doors will be too strong for many, and hundreds of pounds which ought to go to the Land Otfice and Savings Bank, will pass into the pocket of a shanty keeper, who, too lazy to work himself, will live on the hard-won earnings of the poor stranger." This is one more instance, if such were required, that drunkenness will ever be in proportion to the facilities for obtaining liquor. The correspondent above quoted concludes as follows: —"If the advance guard of colonisation is to be followed up with the rum-seller licensed by law, take my word for it you will see little success follow in the track of heavy expenditure for which the country is borrowing money." The Evening Post *ays ; —lf anyone were asked what part of the House of Representatives kind, gentle courtesy might be particularly looked for, the answer unhesitatingly would be, "in the Ladies' Gallery," and yet that gallery is the scene nearly eveiy evening of rudeness, which among the rougher half of humanity, is seldom or never found. The complaints respecting the incivility shown by some ladies to others have been oft repeated, and last evening wc witnessed an instance of what certainly we should not expect 10 see in a i: ladies'" gallery. A few take their seats round the door before the evening sittings commence, and all attempts by others to pass to chairs at the further end of the gallery are re-r sisted, as only " ladies" could be so disobliging as to resist. We have seen a crowd standing half the evening outside the door while chairs enough and to spare were vacant at the further end of the gallery. Occasionally the services of a policeman on duty are obtained, and tired applicants for admission at length permitted to squeeze past "ladies" who stolidly refuse to move their chaiis an inch to oblige the incomers.