PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Kumara Times, Issue 2730, 22 June 1885, Page 2

PROVINCIAL NEWS.

[UNITED PRESS ASSOOIATION.I Wellington, June 19. The Zealandia, with the May English mails, left San Francisco for Auckland on the 6th inst., time-tab’e date; the City of Sydney, with the May colonial mails, arrived at San Francisco from Auckland on the 15th inst., one day earlier than time-table date. An old settler named Captain Edwin Stafford, well known in connection with the shipping trade between this colony and Newcastle, was found dead in bed this morning at the Lower Hutt. Death was caused from natural causes. June 20. Three very sharp shocks of earthquake occurred at 1.30 p.m. to-day, accompanied by a loud rumbling noise. Christchurch, June 19. At Kaiapoi this morning a child of Mr Harris, a carter, in the absence of the mother, who had left a bottle of iodine on the table, picked up the phial and swallowed the contents. Antidotes were used, but the child lies in a very precarious condition. The flooded state of the rivers down south has prevented many returns of the southern Maori election from coming in, and the declaration of the poll is delayed till Wednesday next. A large number of Maoris have coine to Kaiapoi, and great interest appears to be taken in the election. TamatiPratt is rumored to be the successful candidate. June 21. At 2.30 this morning, three men, W. Morr, A. F. Douglas, and P. Douglas, stuck op a foreigner named George Trugesen on the Madras-street railway, violently assaulted him and robbed him of a parcel containing a suit of clothes. Sergeant Carlyon soon after arrested two of them, and shortly afterwards got the third man and recovered the property at Douglas’s house. Auckland, June 17. Some coarse shotty gold has been brought to Auckland which is said to have been discovered in a creek near Horohanga on Waipawa river, near the route for the railway. It was sent down by Mr Helps, a settler near Alexandra. Hutchison, of Caversham, who was arrested on a charge of alleged fradulent bankruptcy, intimates his intention to proceed for £IO,OOO damages for illegal arrest on arrival at Dunedin. At the adjourned inquest on Margaret o‘Brien, Pond, the analyist, deposed to finding five grains of arsenic in the vomit and stomach. The verdict was that deceased was poisoned by arsenic, but whether inadvertently or otherwise there is no evidence to show. Deceased is stated to have an uncle at Oamam and a brother at Dunedin, The detectives are still investigating the mystery. There is no trace of her purchasing arsenic at a chemist’s shop. Dunedin, June 19. A High School pupil named Wilson had his collar-bone broken while playing football. Mary Hughan, of Taieri Beach, received severe injuries by her clothes catching ffre, and her recovery is doubtful. Timaru, June. 17. In the breach of promise case, Costigan v. Douglas, the plaintiff was nonsuited, there being no corroborative evidence. After the Judge gave his decision plaintiff' rushed at the defendant and struck him on the head with an umbrella. She was subsequently sentenced to seven days for assault. June 24. A man named Morgan had bis leg badly broken yesterday while working at a threshing machine. A tally clerk named Pollock, working on the breakwater, received severe injuries by a heavy sling.