AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 109, 3 April 1884, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN SUMMARY.

. I Haitian's Rowing. The Terrors of Drought. ! . ' . ; - . .: ; A . Sensational' Suicide. ; < . ' Shocking Blasting Fatality.- ' ; i 1 [per s.s. wakatipu.] Sydney, March 25. the special feature of Hanlan's rowing- here; if is pointeH out, is the wonderful manner m which he keeps his boat moving without the slightest return on the forward motion of his sculls. A. terrible accident occurred at Mount Victoria, a feeble old woman, 80 yeais of age, being burned to death through, her! hut catching -ti re. ! -■■•■* A crowded meeting was again held m the Church of England, Dubbo, to supplicate for rain. The owe is getting desperate, and a hope was ! generally expressed that the Government should set apart a given day for humiliation and prayer for rain throughout tho colony. Unless the rain comes soon lew business men or squatters will be able to tide over the present crisis. Dubbo is not the only bad district, but Ihe whole of the western and northwestern provinces are so bad that only the residents and those passing through the district realise the present extremity „. :. • ;•• v • '■'••■ Melbourne; March 25 I .' A man has been found dead on the rai.way. He was killed; by the train between North Melbourne and Footscray at about 6 o'clock this morning. His head and one of his legs were severed iiom his body. The sum of £15 was found upon his body, and also a con tract ticket bearing the woi ds "Rich urdGibbs, passenger per steamer Westmeath from Gravesend to Sydney." [ It is believed that the unfortunate man was a new arrival from England, aud i that he committed suicide. Some dramatic features were elicited yesterday at an inquest which was held on the body of Bonald Duncan/ Blair, a lumper, who committed suicide at South Melbourne the other day. He " was to have been married on Wednesday, and he was living by himself m a house which lie had taken and furnished m view of the -marriage. The evidence showed that he had placed on a box a,; wedding ring and a v>h°tograph of his intended vife, and with them m front of him, he took a butcher's knife .and: cut histhroatjhaving' tirst placed;a bucket by his side to receive the blood. When the body was found there were dis^i covered sevenother similar kpivesjaV.out. the room. He had locked himself m, iiud his sweetheart was forced lo have the |>lace broken, into- One witness, who had lodged with the deceased, said that he had not appeared to be m his mind, an his eye 3 were"always restless, us if there vas behind them an "electric battery," The deceased and, his sweetheart had a slight disagreement lately. An extraordinary case of shooting occurred near Brighton on Saturday morniag. A resident named Hawthorn was asleep m his bed; when the window of his room was gently opened and the. barrel of a gun put through close to' the sleeping man's shoulder. The gun was then fired, and Hawthorn received a" terrible wound m the shoulder. The police were informed of the I affair, "and the black ' trackers were sent and were at work an hour afterward. They tracked the footprints from the window to the house of Hawthorn's brother, and the latter was at last taken m charge. Adelaide, March 251 Two men, named Alexander James And James Krusc, died m great agony |t'roin the eftects of an accidental ex"plosion while they were engaged iv blasting operations upon the Nairne railway works. Another man was seriously injured, but he is expected to recover, He attributes the accident to a burning fuse having remained m the hole, and having ignited the charge of powder. . Bbisbane, March 26. Denis Siblane, a French escapee, who has been Hying quietly and respectably m Brisbane for some years, where he was married and gor a family, was *Jg : 4 n brought up m the Police Court to-day and charged with being an -escapee from New Caledonia. He was remanded until the arrival of the French Consul from Sydney.