Australian Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1547, 3 February 1874, Page 103

Australian Items.

Boat Accident at Geelong. Few tales, says the Age, have been told with more effect than the lamentable catastrophe at Geelong, whereby eight persons found a watery grave. Briefly narrated, a fishing boat, capable on an emergency of carrying twelve persons, embarked as far as is known eighteen. The craft was not a licensed passenger bost, but owing to the laches of the water police authorities at Geelong, she plied for hire as if she held a license. The boat was sailed by two men, one of whom, Sharpe, was certainly drunk, the other, Thompson, was also the worse for liqnor. The place where these people had to land was one of the most dangerious points of Corio Bay. The depth of water in some parts is forty feet, in other reefs extend a long way out into the bay, and as an additional horror it is apparently a shark's feeding ground, and monsters of enormous size are often seen disporting themselves in the vicinity. The small room aiforded for managing the boat, crowded as it was, was the real cause of the disaster that occurred, she heeled over suddeuly, and the whole livingfreigbt found themselves struggling for life. The wind blew strongly, and there was a heavy sea on. The craft fortunately lay upon her side, and as one after another came to the surface they clutched at her sides, and by such frail holding about half of them were held in snspense between life and death. Some sank never to rise again, many probably falling a prey to the sharks, whose home they had thus invaded. Only at such awful moments are witnessed heroic acts that reveal the more than human in humanity. One girl, clinging to the boat, seeing her sister sinking beneath the waves, abandoned her only hope of existtence, and plunged after her. A father slowly settling down beneath the treacherous waves to his death, called out calmly to his son, who was clinging to the mast, " Good-bye, George, I can't hold out any longer," and then a huge wave covered him as with a pall, and he sank to rise no more. Fortunately another boat was within hail, but it too was fully passenger laden, and to have attempted a rescue under such circumstances would have been almost certain death to everyone. The manager of this boat, a Maltese, realised the danger, and told those who were clinging to the wrecked craft to hold on, and that when he had landed his passengers he would return for them. At this time an episode of a most painful character ensued. A boy, quite young, swam with frantic desperation some 200 or 300 yards, imploring to be taken in, but the weather it may be presumed would not permit of any trifling with it if the large number were to be saved, time in such case being everything, and the poor little fellow, beaten at last by want of strength sank like the others. It is altogether a tale so pitiful that the coldest heart must be moved at its recital, but when the whole affair is regarded from a sterner stand point, it may be asked who is immediately responsible for so awful a tragedy, and why was this over-crowding permitted by the water police authorities at Geelong ? The Plague of Locusts. Respecting the locusts in South Australia, the Register has the following : " A letter, dated November 24, received from Stirling North, by a gentleman in Adelaide, says :—' On Friday and Saturday last we had a visit of locusts; they - came in clouds like a heavy fall of snow. I expected that they would have cleared everything, but I am happy to say that i they appear to have passed on without doing much damage.' At Mount Barker the pests are still numerous, and they | consume much grass. It is hoped, however, that when hot weather comes they will be able to fly, and then leave the district. On the morning of November ' 20th, millions of the insects made their unwelcome appearance at Stirling North, j coming from the further north. Port Augusta has had a great influx of these •* visitors, which have been more numerous than in previous years, and looked like ' clouds of dust. Great numbers crossed the Gulf ou the 23rd. At Melrose the i nuisances have not been so plentiful as in c previous seasons. ' From' Strathalbyn our ' local correspondent wrote on November £ 26 : —' We are now surn.unded by myriads - of locusts, and the ground, go wherever one may, seems literally to teem with them. Wells are infested with the pests, and the River Angas in places has patches of yards in length and breadth on ' the surface all alive, not covering the water in a thin layer, but thickly, and -t heaped together. Doors, windows, and fronts otf-hoqses are'lined' with theni, and the ' incessant sound made as they jump I ( and fly against the glass is like thepatter- | !> i'ug of heavy raiii drops on the lattice. In I she river, a great many have died, and a tunk to decompose on its bed.'" I

A Smart Policeman. The Geelong policmen seem to have a happy kiiack of dealing with the insa::e. Tliu Advertiser says:—An amusing incident occurred at the lunacy ward of the hospital the other day. A woman arrested at Newton on suspicion of lunacy, was being conducted to the police court-house by a stalwart constable, when, on reaching St Mary's Church, she suddenly changed her intentions, and sitting down on the footpath, resolutely declined going any further. Under the circumstances, a countryman had to be requested to step round the corner and request assistance from the police station adjoining. Sergeant Toohey, ever ready in cases of emergency. at once proceeded to the relief of his brother of the force. "Be off with you," was his civil salutation, "and let the young lady take my arm. The constable, too glad to gut rid of his charge, made a circuitous route to the police court, while Sergeant Toohey, locked in the arms of his newly-found friend, walked straight in the direction of the hall of justice. The insane one canied an expanded umbrella, and neither this, nor the arm of her newescort could she be induced to forgo. Shortly contrary to the decorum of Sergeant Morton, the court-keeper, the Bench had the ludicrous spectacle presented to it of a sergeant of police arm-in-aim with a female lunatic brandishing an umbrella adorning the barristers' table. The sergeant endeavoured to rise, but his attempt was futile, the lunatic kept possession of his arm, and the embrace reminded him forcibly of a pair of handcuffs. The woman was remanded to the hospital, and, yielding himself to circumstances, the sergeant walked alongside the elevated umbrella till they reached the lunatic ward. Here an endeavour was made to get the unfortunate to relinquish the umbrella, hut in vain. As a last rcsourse, Sergeant Toohey adopted the happy expedient of suggesting an Irish jig. This was at once accepted by his fair partner, and, casting aside her umbrella and outer garments, to the astonishment of the warder, matron, and on-looking inmates, one of the best dances that had taken place in the insitution since its erection was performed. As might be anticipated, at its conclusion Sergeant Toohey had disappeared, and the prisoner he had so pleasantly conducted had the pleasure of finding herself in sole possession of her apartments." A Farmers' Friend. The Geelong Advertiser announces the arrival of a friend to the fanners:—Not only the insect pests, but also the sparrows, which produce so much havoc among the crops, jhave encountered a formidable enemy this season. Just as the caterpillars were beginning to occasion some alarm among the farmers of the Moorabool, a Hock of birds about the size of the English thrush, of a beautiful blue plumage, with a red breast, were observed vigdantly hovering in the vicinity of the grain crops. The constant chirruping which they maintained appeared to ketp the sparrows at a respectful distance, and, owing to the manner in which they dived among the barley, and destroyed the caterpillars just as they were climbing up the stalks preparatory to eating off the heads of the grain, many of the farmers in the neighborhood of Batesford are inclined to attribute the saving of their crops from almost complete destruction to their influence. Whether this is the same species of bird that baa been observed doing so much good service among the locusts at Inverleigh has not been ascertained. |