PARLIAMENTARY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 450, 1 December 1877, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY.

(From oUr Exchanges.)

The Government, in reply to a question, said they were attending to the matter o establishing a School of Mines. The Hon the Minister of Justice said that if the House adopted the land policy laid down in the Financial Statement 'the Land Bill would.require to be entirely recast, but until the decision of the House was taken on this portion of.the.policy nothing would be done t6 prejudice the position the present Bill held on the Order Paper. In reply to a question by Sir F. D. Bell, in the Legislative Council, whether a report which has appeared in the newspapers was correct, that a reserve of about 370,000 has been made in Otago in connection with the proposed Strathtaieri Railway, the Colonial Secretary replied that these' lands were at present held on pastoral lease and were not open for sale. It had deen merely.indicated by the Survey Department that they were suitable for a reserve in the event of constructing the Strathtaieri Railway. Ministers spoke very decidedly about restoring the Middle Island police force to their former civil status as well as regulating the real inequalities caused by the professedly uniform rate of pay. It is now rumored that the Middle Island police force will be immediately disconnected with the ■'Constabulary., and pjac-ed under Mr. Weldon, of Otago, as Commissure".Mr. Manders waxeci eloquent during the debate on Dr. Wailis' speech, in Auckland, in which some severe remarks were .made as to the purity of Parliament:—" Mr. Mariners said a number of contemptible cowaidly insinuations had emanated from impure sources this year, injuring the purity of members in a way no gentleman could notice. The Press, under the influence of. Ministers, had been • guilty of a most disgraceful license in attacking members "

The latg. Ministers are preparing to vacate the Ministerial residences, all chance of getting back to office being over for this session. Mr. Bowen is to be provided by being made editor of the ' New Zealand; Times' vice Mr. Perrier, who goes to thd ' Evening Argus.' _ '

1 CORONER'S INQUEST. An inquest wr-.f? held on Saturday last, at Longlands Station, before"H. W. Uobinson, Esq.. Coroner, on view of the bodies of John E. Preston and Thomas Turner, who were found drowned on the previous Thursday in the Uourst'oura (.'reek.

-John Pitts Moss said: I am a cook employed at the station. On the morning of Wednesday last, November 21st, John freston and Thomas Turner' left the. station shortly after seven o'clock. They were both on horseback. Turner told me he thought be was going to the Black Ridges fencing. I said—" I suppose you will be home eariy to bed." Turner replied—" Yes, we shall be home early." They did not return that day. I saw the horses they had gone away upon return next day. they were in the possession of John Smith, 1 a "laborer on the station.

John Smith said : I am a laborer employed at Mr. Preston's farm. The deceased John E. Preston managed this (Longlands) station. I knew Thomas Turner the shepherd. On Thursday, the 22nd, two horses were brought to the farm by Donald M'lntyre, It was about five in the morning. The horses were those usually ridden by Mr. J. E Preston and Thomas Turner. The horses had saddles and bridles on. M'lntyre is gone to Goodwood to tell Mr. Preston's mother what has happened. Thought that Mr. Preston and Turner must have been at Williamson's hut, about four miles from the farm.

James Williamson said : lam a shepherd in the employ of Mr. Preston, at Longlands Station. Mr. Preston was about twenty-six years of age, and Thomas Turner about twenty-two. Turner was a native of England and unmarried, and bis father and mo her reside at Palmerston. When I heard they were missing I went with Donald M'lntyre to search for them. We went along the fence near my hut until we came to the Houndbum Treek In a water bole in that creek we found both the bodies. This was between five and six miles from my hut. The bodies were both lying on their backs at the bottom of the water, about fifteen or twenty feet apart, and were naked. The waier hole is about sixteen feet in depth, and about 100 yards in length. It is on the course of the creek, which in most parts is only a smallish stream. The average depth is about seven feet. There was scarcely any current, and the water was quite clear. The body of Mr. Preston was within four feet of the bank, and that of Turner was about five or six feot distant from the north bank, and the postartfs were almost exactly similar. Mr. Preston's body lay in about six feet of water, and 1 urn'er's in about five. I saw clothes lying in two heaps on the north bank of the creek. We tir.d not interfere with anything then. We went to the farm, and M 'lntyre then went to the Kyeburn for assistance. I waited until M 'lntyre returned with Mr. Pearson, the blacksmith. We then with two others went to the place where we had seen the bodies. We fastened a rope to a long pole, and drew the bodies out. Both bodies were stiff, but not very rigid. I did not see any marks upon them. It is my belief that at the place where Turner's body lay the water was not out of his depth, but where Mr. Preston's body was it might have been. Ido not know that either of them could swim. I have once seen a man swimming in the same water hole, but the only remark ; remember his making was that the water was cold. AVe put the bodies in a cart, and brought them up to the house. Before putting the bodies into the conveyance I 3ent for the police, who arrived before they were removed. I knew the clothes belonging to each. Near Mr. Preston's clothes was a piece of newspaper, which, I suppose, had contained their "luncheon.

John .Titts M oss (recalled) said: When they went away in the morning they bad something to eat with them. Turner took from me only some biscuits and seed cakeMr. Preston also took some bread and cake wrapped in a newspaper. One day last week I was talking to Turner about people drowning, and he told me he could not swim himself. I remarked to.him that as he was like myself—subject to cramps—he had better not try swimming. I have heard Mr. John Preston say that he himself could not swim. Patrick O'Neill said: I am a sergeant of police stationed at Naseby. At half-past four o'clock on Friday afternoon I arrived at the homestead. 1 was shown two dead bodies in a conveyance The bodies are the same of which the jury have now had view. They were by my direction removed to where they now lie. I examined both bodies carefully, but found no external marks upon either.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental drowning. _

. The Bashi-Bazouks and Turkish irregu%ars furnish the black picture of the war. black sheep, who alienated from Turkey the sympathy of every civilised power last autumn, continue their deplorable course of ruin, plunder, and outrage. In a letter from the ' Manchester Guardian's' correspondent with the army of Mebemet Ali occur some passages which sufficiently indicate the invariable accompaniments of Turkish warfare. The correspondent describes how, in riding over the recent battle fields on the Lom, lie traced everywhere in the mutilated bodies the handiwoik of the Turkish irregulars. "Two-thirds of the corpses were headless; the heads' were lying about in all directions. They had been kicked from one direction to another by the reeking,mutilators—from over hedges to the ..foads, from the road into the houses-." A correspondent of the ' Times' confirms the sickening tale. The Shurala special of tho ' Daily Telegraph ' bears the following testimony to the dauntless courage with which " Baker Pasha" conducted himself at the encounter hear Eski Djuma : —" The successful manner in which Baker Pasha and his English officers led the decisive charge just at the critical moment deserves to be prominently noted. The highest compliment, however, that they could receive was paid them by the wounded who were taken back to Eski Djuma. They declared that they would be,ready to follow the English Pasha and his officers anywhere, saying with them it was always 'Come on,' riot 'Goon.'" "The English officer, Baker Pasha, greatly distinguished himself," telegraphed Me--hemet Ali Pasha to the Porte in sending intelligence of the victory which he won over the Eussians at Ejjrahassankoi recently; and a subsequently published despatch in the ' Daily Telegraph' informed us that Baker Pasha had been decorated with the Oder of Osmanli. We may here quota, what the 'Hornet' says of the ex-Colonel's military capacity and services:—" Baker is not merely a dashing hussar officer, as is usually supposed, but an 'all-round' soldier of no ordinary merit. It may be mentioned that he was a member of the council for the reorganisation of the British arm}', and now that he is again to the fore, the following brief resume of his military career and experience will prove interesting:—Cape war, two years; Crimean war, one year and a half; Italian revolutionary war; French revolutionary siege of Paris ; four years' Indian serrice; fourteen years' c&mmand 10th Hussars; frequent commands as brigadier-general.- He was also Quartermaster-General at the Camp of Instruction at Aldershotts"