PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Kumara Times, Issue 2539, 11 August 1884, Page 3

PROVINCIAL NEWS.

[UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

Dunedin, August 9

The presentation of a lai’gly-signed address was made to Mr Thomas Dick this morning, requesting him to reconsider his determination not to accept a seat in the Legislative Council if offered. Mr Donald Reid, as spokesman, pointed out that the retiring Ministry, though unpopular now in consequence of depression, left the affairs of the country in a much better position than when they took office. Mr Dick, in reply, declined, on the ground that the Legislative Council was not the proper sphere for a defeated candidate, and announced his intention on the first vacancy of seeking to obtain a seat in the House. Auckland, August 8. Shortly after midnight a fracas occurred at the Shakespeare Hotel, Wyndham street. It appears that Thomas Atkinson aud Terence Lynch, the latter a noted boxer, went into a room in which four men, James David, two brothers named Roche, and Thomas Hanlon were playing cards. The brothers Roche asked the newcomers why they had come into the room, and one of them kicked Lynch in the eye. A severe melee ensued, and when the the police arrived Lynch was lying senseless with a contused wound on his temple, and the floor was spattered with clots of blood. The visual organs of the Roche brothers were also much damaged. The police after a severe struggle, arrested the four card-players and M'Carthy, barman, for assaulting Lynch. Lynch had to be removed to the hospital, where he now lies in a precarious condition, August 9. Terence Lynch, the victim of the fracas in Shakespeare Hotel, has recovered consciousness at the hospital and is progressin g favorably. His assailants have been remanded for a week. Two of them, brothers Roche, got a month’s imprisonment for assaulting the police on their arrest. A young man named Gibson, while out rabbit shooting at Te Awanmtu, was acccidentally shot in the leg by a companion. The leg was amputated, but the sufferer died shortly after the operation. Wellington, August 9. Mr Ferry, sawmill proprietor of Papawala, near Grey town, died suddenly here to-day. Mr Ferry came to town to be present at the wedding of one of his relations, and was in robust health till early this morning, when he was taken suddenly ill and expired before medical assistance could be obtained.