PROVINCIAL NEWS

Kumara Times, Issue 2821, 6 October 1885, Page 2

PROVINCIAL NEWS

[united PRESS ASSOCIATION. 1 Nelson, October 5. The schooner Awaroa, concerning the safety of which grave fears were entertained, arrived safely this afternoon. She left Wanganui for this port nine days since, and being blown down as far as Cape Campbell made Port Underwood, and remained there till the weather moderated. The trout-fishing season commenced on the Ist. One angler to-day shows 14 spotted beauties taken in Happy Valley stream since morning, some weighing four pounds, and an aggregate of 42 pounds. Bluff, October 5. A steerage passenger from Melbourne by the Manapouri, named Mrs Winn, for Auckland, was missed on Thursday night at 9 p.m. She is supposed to have fallen overboard. Wellington, October 5. At the conclusion of the lecture on Russia to-night, which was given before a large audience at the Exhibition Building, G. A. Sala said that there was not the slightest doubt that the recent rising in Roumelia was the result of Russian intrigue, which had been thwarted by British action in Afghanistan. James Hall, fireman aboard the steamer Wareatea, was drowned this afternoon. He fell overboard when stepping from the wharf to the steamer. The body is not yet recovered. Palmerston North, October 5. The test of some stone from Pohangana reefs has been made by Mr Jennes, of Wellington, and the result is just to hand. It gives at the rate of 2oz. IGdwts. of gold, and 2dwts. of silver to the ton. TWO MAORIS DROWNED. Auckland, October 5. A sailing boat containing three Maoris was crossing the Whangarei river on Sunday morning, when a squall capsiz-d the craft. The men clung to it till afternoon, when two of them dropped off exhausted and were drowned. The third man was picked up by a passing cutter, and one body has been recovered, A SUSPICIOUS DEATH. Dunedin, October 5. A middle-aged woman named Butler was discovered on Saturday morning dead in her house, with her skull fractured, and other injuries. It was at first thought that her death was due to the bursting of a blood vessel, but au examination showed that she died from violence. Mrs Georgina Butler, whose death forms the subject of an inquiry this afternoon, was was over 50 years of age. She was known to be intemperate, and lived in a small threeroomed cottage in South Dunedin with her daughter (aged 25 to 30), and the latter’s two children. Her daughter is Mis Edward Brown, and was witness in the notorious Wain case. Her husband is at present at Ashburton. On Saturday morning Mrs Brown alarmed the neighborhood with the news that she had found her mother dead in bed. The woman was discovered lying dressed upon a small stretcher she occupied, quite dead. Her head was surrounded by a pool of blood, but there was no sign to raise suspicion of

violence. At first it was supposed that deceased, being a woman of drunken habits, had probably broken a blood vessel. Dr. Hocken made a post mortem examination and found the skull fractured, apparently from a blow from a blunt instrument. There were also other wounds about the head and hands. Mrs Brown states that she left her mother and retired to bed at nine o’clock on Friday evening, and did not see her again until she discovered her dead body. The two women were drinking beer on Friday evening, but the daughter did not say that any visitor was at the place. No arrest is made. The medical examination shows that the wounds on Mrs Butler could not have been self-inflicted, or were the result of a fall, as the wall of the room opposite the bed was spattered with blood, showing that she was attacked where she lay. Both women were drinking, and the daughter was unable to give an intelligible account of her actions on Friday. Later. At the inquest on Georgina Butler the principal evidence so far has been given by the police and Mrs Brown, the daughter. The police discovered several articles about the house with blood on them, and also, clenched in the deceased’s hands, some hairs, apparently those of a woman. A dusting brush, which had apparently been recently washed, was also found, and a hair from this was among the female hair found in the hand.