PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 33, 10 February 1869, Page 3

PROVINCIAL NEWS.

'The Militia Office at Wellington was broken into last week, and Colonel Reader's cashbox, containing £50 and valuable papers, were stolen. The box was found broken open, and two men have been arrested. A "portion of the stolen .property was found on one of them. The local Acclimatisation Society's -attempt to introduce trout (by means of ova from the neighboring colony of Tasmania) bids fair to prove a complete success. It was at one time feared that the accidental escape from the breeding ponds of a large proportion of the young 'fish would militate against the wished-for result, and it is gratifying to be able to state that they have been seen ..since disporting themselves in one ot the smaller -tributaries of the Makarewa, into which the waste water of the breeding ponds fortunately led. — Southland News. The following distressing account of poisoning from eating tutu berries is from the Westport Times, of the 6th inst.:- — On Saturday morning the ferry-man at the Ohika river, on the Ruller-road, observed a man in a* frantic state on the opposite side of the river. The ferry-man, Moore, ■made all haste to get him over to the house, when it was found that he was in a state of the most abject insanity. After a good feed and resting for an hour, his recollection to some extent returned. He •could then remember that four days before, he left Charleston in company with another man whom he called 'Little Tommy;' that they arrived at Packers'' Point by coach, and proceeded up the -road towards the Lyell; that they called at the Junction Hotel and had each a glass of ale; and then they proceeded on •their journey. He remembered walking some miles when they sat down to rest in a place where there was au abundaut of tutu, the berries of which they ate freely, -as ' Tommy' said they were good for food, After eating these berries the poor fellow -could remember nothing beyond walking -on for some miles. Both of them falling very sick, they .put up their tent, when 'Tommy' was seized with violent fits. He was lying on his back and frothing at .he mouth. The other became alarmed, and in his delirium rushed off for assistance, aud for three days and nights <was rushing through the bush until Saturday morning when he happened to arrive •at the ferry in a deplorable state. He was perfectly mad, without a hat, his face -scratched and bruised all over, and his tongue swollen and covered with sores, 'presenting a dreadful spectacle. When it is taken into account that he was wandering for tbree days without food, he was not so -exhausted as might have been expected, but he was in such a state that if he had lain down it is very likely that he would never have risen again. A party started the next morning in search of the missing -man, and after ,some time his body much decomposed, was found lying in a creek with the head resting on a boulder.